new yarns

We've recently received some new yarns.

We're most excited about the Rowan Demin. The finished garment fades and shrinks just like jeans. Like many things in life, normally that's a bad thing, but since it's purposeful it's cool.

What are these droplets?

I would like to assure you before I start my actual post that I will refrain from mentioning Singles Night (9/14 6pm). I've already posted about Singles Night (9/14 6pm) and I would guess that most of the people who read this blog also get our newsletters and are tired of being reminded that Singles Night is this Friday at 6pm and that we'll be providing some cheese, crackers, and non-alcoholic drinks (we're saving the bubbly for Martini Night (9/22 6pm)).

I woke up this morning and noticed that it was a little darker than usual. I just assumed it was a manifestation of my then current mental state, but I realized as soon as I closed the self-locking door and walked down the porch and into the foggy drizzle that it was completely stupid of me not to have looked outside before exiting the building. And it wasn't as if I was driving to work that day. I was, of course, late to catch the train (light rail system to be exact). I really need to start watching the weather channel, or at the very least not smile and nod and secretly say in my head "poor woman, she has no idea what she's talking about" when a customer tells me the weather is going to be cooler tomorrow.

Yesterday was Noah's birthday, so we ate out at Stinking Rose. Hana and Noah claim the restaurant is under new management because the menu is different and the mash potatoes don't taste the same. I wouldn't know about that, but I do know Garlic Ice Cream is good. I also know that excessive amounts of garlic make one very volatile. At one point in the evening mom asked some question which required an explanation of opossums and the news that the "Jingle Cats" CD she gave me 5 years ago has finally been appreciated, though perhaps not as originally intended.

Mom's response to the opossum story was "yes, I know, I read your blog." Oh dear, is nothing sacred! In an instant she had shattered all my dreams using this blog to air my family's dirty laundry and reduced my topics of appropriate posting to the weather.

Church of Craft tomorrow

The next Church of Craft meeting, Eagle Rock congregation, is tomorrow, September 10th, from 2:00-5:00 or so at The Coffee Table on Colorado in Eagle Rock.

I'm going. See you there.

The Love Scarf Project

That Yarn Store is supporting a new charity, The Love Scarf Project. Drop in and donate a handmade scarf or cap.

About The Love Scarf Project
The Love Scarf Project collects handmade scarves and caps to be distributed on Christmas Eve to men and women living with cancer at City of Hope, a southern CA institution dedicated to the prevention and curing of cancer and other life-threatening illness.

Singles Night, countdown begins

Singles Night is 8 days away.

So far we've had more men than women RSVP for the event and it's going to be very awkward if Singles Night turns out to be a room full of guys, Frannie, and I. Especially since Frannie and I aren't single ...

Come on over to singles night, don't be shy, it's basically just going to be a knitting and crochet circle for people with at least one thing in common - that they're single. So bring your friends, and bring your knitting, we're also looking for volunteers to teach those that don't know how to knit or crochet. Did I mention we'll have refreshments?

Opossum revisited

Last night (UFO Night) I was asked about the opossums. Well, sad to say, the issue has not been resolved.

I had done a fair amount of research, looked at several possum websites, including www.opossumsocietyus.org, etc, called animal control but apparently they only catch dogs and cats and then claimed there were no other city services that trapped wildlife, so I then called up a couple of professionals... Then nothing. I got overwhelmed, and dad's solution of get Max (he would be leaving in two days) and Noah (a sixteen year old) on the roof, at night, to board the hole just didn't seem like something I wanted to do.

I love my brothers, I don't want to send them on the roof at 10:00 at night. More to the point, I don't want to send them up on the roof at 10:00 at night, only for them to fall off and leave me with the guilt of their neck-down paralysis for the rest of my life.

After a not so brief consideration of hiring one of the trappers for $350 and more attempts at the ammonia buckets, I temporarily gave up.

Then, after a so far successful ridding of the fruit flies two weeks ago, I've been alternating between zealous fits of "must be on offensive against possum" and "I'm too lazy to sit in the backyard with an empty trashcan, a stick, and a piece of string."

The last fit of offensiveness involved going out at 9 pm and buying 3 boxes of aluminum foil at the 99 cents store and $20 of aluminum at Home Depot, the thinking being that we could wrap aluminum around all the trees, and then the possum wouldn't have any surface to cling to as it's climbing up the trees. Well, 45 minutes into the plan we (jessamy and I, mostly Jessamy) had just finished wrapping a 3 inch in diameter vine when we realized that the opossum, which had previously been on the ground, had made it's way to the roof via an unknown route. Suddenly, that plan got way too complicated for our tired little brains.

Becca, who's very nice and owns sugarbutterbex, has had a raccoon problem for a number of years, and has convinced me to rent a trap. Fortunately we have a park a block away from my house (I'll tell you about the rat relocation one of these posts), so I'll be able to relocate the animal easily. Though I just now realized that I shouldn't get my hopes up, since that advice is given from someone who has had racoons for a number of years.

Until then, Jessamy and I have decided to go the General Noriega route and blast Jingle Cats out of a stereo placed right under the ceiling (while we're out of the house, of course).

UFO Night Tomorrow

UFOs, otherwise known as Unfinished Objects to those in the knitting acronym circle.

Friday, September 1st
5:30-7
Bring in any projects that are ... well ... unfinished.
This is the chance you've been waiting for to finish that shawl hiding under your sofa.

(I'm going to be bringing that linen shirt that's been sitting in the corner for months)

Eagle Rock rocks

Today Frannie and I went around to various stores in Eagle Rock to promote our Martini Night (Sept. 22nd) and Singles Night (Sept. 15th). Everyone was very nice to us. It was interesting how some were really into the idea of a Martini Night (like the guys at the Underground store on Eagle Rock blvd.) and some couldn't care less about booze, but thought the idea of a Singles Night was great (like the guy from the ballroom store). The biggest dissapointment of the afternoon was the fact that the firestation was closed (no fires in the afternoon?), but we did put a singles night flyer in their mail box (don't worry, I'll be personally delivering singles night flyers to the Highland Park firestation).

Even though I seem to pass out flyers every few months, I'm always surprised how wonderful the Eagle Rock community is, and how the people who work and live here are friendly and great.

I heard from a number of those business that things are really slow right now, so I want to encourage everyone reading this blog to support Eagle Rock business. Instead of going to Target to buy your next t-shirt, check out some of the cool stores like Regeneration on 1649 Colorado blvd. or Eagle Rock Underground 4690 eagle rock blvd. Shop at Colorado Wine Company, 2114 W. Colorado Boulevard, the next time you're in the mood for wine (they also have a weekly Sangria Saturday which I hope to go to this weekend).

In short, please support your local business, they need your patronage in order to survive, and we need them to help make our community safe, interesting and unique.

Almost finished hat

I more or less have finished the hat for Max. I'm not sure if it's the right size for him so I haven't closed the top of the hat yet.

It's an entirely unimpressive hat, but I think that's what he wanted.
To be honest, I'm not sure. When I asked him what kind of hat he wanted he replied "you know, a hat." So that's what I made. The color's nice at least.

I'm almost tempted to leave the needles permanently on the top. It reminds me of those propeller beanies, but a lot more dangerous. Maybe I can start a line of knitwear called "At Your Own Risk." It will feature clothes with knitting needles still in them, pins holding sweaters together, rusty nails woven into socks ...

Somehow I don't think the line would be very successful.

Spin a Good Yarn Night

Spin a Good Yarn Night is tonight at 7:00

Bring stories, poems, gossip. Or, if you're shy, just bring yourself.

Return of potholder

I did finish the potholder, 3 hours before Max left for SF.


I was asleep by the time Max got back from the Hollywood Bowl, so I didn't see his reaction, but when I showed the potholder to Noah he said "wuh, it actually looks like a potholder, if someone were to ask me what this was, I would say it's a potholder." What that comment actually meant, I'm not sure, but for now I'll take it as a compliment.


Next on my knitting to do list: a hat for Max, per his request (he'll be back in LA in two weeks, so I have another deadline) and a pair of socks for Noah for his birthday (mid September), Noah didn't specify what kind of socks, so I'm thinking I'll make him pirate socks. Black and white stripes, maybe a simple skull, depending on when my yarn comes in.

This just in:
You may have heard of the craft group called Church of Craft (not affiliated with That Yarn Store). They are a cool group with local meetings all over the US. that get together and do crafty things. We think the group is great, and want to let you know that the next meeting of the Eagle Rock congregation is September 10th from 2:00-5:00 or so at The Coffee Table on Colorado in Eagle Rock.


Current project:


I'm working on a pot holder for max, who's moving into an apartment in less than a week. It's made with cotton licious. The black will be regular single crochet, the white will be a single crochet through the back loop.

Let me be, oh opossum

We have an opossum in our attic.

Every couple of months we'll have a rat in an unused closet (closing the hole would require cleaning out the closet which crammed with crap, literally and figuratively, so I don't think that problem will be solved for a while). I've already learned what to do when we have a rat, turn on a light in the closet. Since they are nocturnal it takes them a very long time to adjust, and the noise aspect of the problem (the one that affects me the most, and this the only one I care about) is solved.

I assumed the recent stint of noises inside the walls was another rat, a very active, and large, rat. Then I heard that Noah was complaining about an opossum which was making a lot of noise in the yard while it was climbing a tree. Ah ha, it all made sense now. I told dad, thinking that would make the problem go away, a week later I was awoken at 4 in the morning, and was kept awake for another hour. The next day I mentioned to dad the little problem again, and again I felt sure that the opossum problem would magically get fixed.

Well, it didn't, and this past week, just like the week before, I've been awaken most every night by an incessant scratching right above my head, and last night it lasted from 4-5:30 in the morning. I just did a google search, and apparently one should not use poison, or board up the hole (which dad claims is hard to reach and near the roof) while the possum is out because babies might be inside. So, I'm going to try using a rag soaked in ammonia, and if that doesn't work, I'm calling a trapper. Which of course means if I want to get it done soon I need to call the trapper myself, and just fork over the money I was saving for a dentist appointment. Right now the need for uninterrupted sleep is greater than the need for good dental hygiene. And did I mention we also have fruit flies? What a cruel, cruel world we live in.

yummy goodness

The Stitch n Pitch Dodgers game was a lot of fun, I think I watched about 5 minutes of the game, was too busy working with thin novelty yarn. Don't worry if you missed the event, the Dodgers promised to have another one.

Besides the linen shirt (I really, really don't want to do the math) and arm warmers I started on two years ago (don't even remember the needle size!), I don't have any other projects on the needle right now. To be honest, for the past two days I've been playing Rail Baron in all my spare time. Fortunately, Max requested a hat, and picked out the yarn today, so I have a project I can start tomorrow, right after I buy all the rail roads and laugh at Noah and Lily because they lost.

David has been on a free-form crochet representation of real life object kick lately. First it was the star fish (complete with little suckers), next an octupus, and he just finished this ice-cream cone.

Finished Dishcloth

I finished Max's dishcloth

The pattern's very simple.
Row 1: *P1, k3*
Row 2: *K1, P5, K1, P1*
Row 3: *K2, P1, K3, P1, K1*
Row 4: *P2, K1, P1, K1, P3*
(the picture is sideways)

I CO 40 sts, started with 3 rows of garter stitch, then started each row with slip 1, k3, and ended with k4. When I got to my desired length I purled 3 rows. And voila, a dishcloth.

Lucinda, who occasionally teaches classes at That Yarn Store, has a knitting machine she would like to sell. Here's the information, if you're interested please email me at thea.yarnstore@gmail.com and I'll pass on your information.
Studio 360K (standard bed) $200/obo
Built-In Accesory Box
Row Counter
Main Carriage
Clamps (2)
Auto Tension
Yarn Rod
Claw Weights (2)
Transfer Tools
Needle Pusher
Tappet
(English directions - Xerox copy)

Max is moving out of the dorms and into an apartment, so I'm making him a dishcloth. It's out of a grey/brown linen. I call the color ugly, Jessamy says it's manly. It's probably both, but I don't think Max will care either way.

Haircut?

For my birthday Sarah bought me a gift certificate to a hair salon.

Just like with other life-changing events - weddings, births, etc. - haircuts require an extreme amount of planning and forethought. To my recollection I've only really had one bad haircut, and that was by a teenager who didn't speak English. Instead, what repeatedly happens is that the hairdresser disregards my plea that it be a wash and go cut. So the cuts look great at the solon, and crap at home. The past two hairdressers didn't believe me when I said that my hair takes too long to blowdry. After 10 minutes of "drying my hair" they believed me.

I've spent the past few days looking at salon websites for inspiration. But it's hard to find a short haircut that's cute but doesn't need gel. I like messy cuts, and love the idea that I could let my hair go wild, maybe brush it every other week. How is that any different from what I do now, you may ask. Right now I just ignore the fact that I don't brush my hair, but if I get a haircut that's supposed to be messy I can feel good about the negligence.

Of course one of the main ironies of life is that you can't just jump out of bed and get something like this:
oh no, it takes hours of preparation to look like you don't give a crap about your hair.

That picture was from the website of a salon in London, www.colournation.com. So far this week I've looked at maybe 10 sites so far. Most of the websites just have pictures of bad haircuts on bored looking women, but Colour Nation brilliantly got around that by showing bad haircuts on two bored women nearly kissing. At least I assume they were bad haircuts.

I'm having a hard time finding pictures of nice haircuts on people with my face shape. I've basically narrowed the choices down to one.

What do you think?

7 months late

I finished (almost) mom's Christmas present (for last year). Her birthday is in late August so now it's a birthday present. Though technically I still owe her a present for last Christmas. Maybe I can make Birthday socks which will be ready by Christmas.



I did actually finish a second sock several months ago, but the guage was off by a lot, so I donated it to the store as a sample. This one isn't a perfect match in terms of size, so I'm hoping blocking will help.

First it was the Swedish Heart, now the socks. Could the summer knitting blahs really be over?

Wonky Heart

Lucinda, who taught the knitted gnome class in early July (yes, we will be having another gnome class), asked if she could teach a beginners crochet project class in September. I said, "of course, we're not picky" which on second thought was not the best response. In any case, she dropped off a sample of the "Swedish heart" that she had made,and the pattern so that I could make the store's sample. When I finished the store sample I thought it was a nice enough decorative item.

That is until I took another look at her piece. Then, all I could see was ...


Knitting is supposed to be an art - soothing, unique. And yet it brings out this competative nature that almost always results in my crochet/knitting self esteem in being completely demolished. And it's not even when comparing similar items. When someone remarks on how even my stitches are I immediately begin to point out each ugly stitch. It's sad and depressing, but I know it's not just me. One of the hardest parts of teaching someone how to knit is trying to convince them that it's ok if their stitches are uneven. The first knit piece is supposed to look uneven, I tell them that one of the great things about hand knitting is that it's imperfection makes it unique, and makes it yours. 9 times out of 10 they don't believe me, and why should they when the little voices in my head are wispering "lies, all lies."

Moldy fruit and science fiction

It's sad, but true, the nectarines grew moldy. Well, techinically a few of them grew moldy, but I'm not about to eat, or gift, nearly moldy, not that dehydrated fruit.

Today we had one of the most pleasantly weird customers. He was in some way associated with a science fiction convention in August. He was looking for scraps of yarn to be placed on a map, the yarn would show the route of travel across the oceans. Apparently he also judges the fashion show at the science fiction convention. He liked the word of the day, even went so far as to say "that is humorous." His response to "how are you today?" was, "I'm feeling quite well, thank you." In other words, he was acting like an alien trying to fit into normal society.
I've actually been to a Star Trek convention. And although I like science fiction (not obsessively so, but up until recently it was most of what I read) I don't really fit into the crowd. I have the same crappy social skills, that's for sure, but it's astounding to me that the super comic book/science fiction fans are so unapoligetic about their personality. This guy was a very outgoing person, he obviously liked to talk, liked to meet people, yet he seemingly had no idea that "that is humorous" was a strange response. Or did he?

The Peaches!

At 12:30 last night I was awoken by a terrifying crash. I immediately woke up and yelled "oh my god, the peaches!" As it turns out, the noise wasn't a creature casually destroying my food dehydrator, but instead the animal, presumably the same one who has been treating one corner of my balcony as a toilet, had tipped over a plastic chair that was leaning against the house, and the chair in turn knocked down my stone gnome. Just to be safe, the food dehydrator spent the rest of the night indoors.

DAY TWO, hour 26:
I came home from work to find that the towel that had been on the dehydrator (I had placed it outside at 8 am) had blown off. When I took off the lid I noticed two objects fly out of the dehydrator.
hmmmm
Do I:
1) Just throw out the peaches, declaring nature the winner.
2) Continue with the experiment and either a) Throw them out once I've determined how long it takes food to dehydrate b) Still eat the peaches when they are done, because fly eggs are good for you, right? c) Keep telling myself that the two black objects were not actually flyers, but stray hairs that were blowing in my peripheral vision d) Give the finished product to my mother in law.

I decided to go with choice 2, though I'm still not sure what I'll do with them once they're done.

Of course, the nectarines might never dehydrate, this just might end up being a documentation of how fruits rot.

As you can see from the picture, they aren't looking very appetizing

Not done yet

DAY ONE, hour 10:
Very minor dehydration is evident. Then again, today's temperature was only in the low three digits. Actually, I have no idea how hot it was today. It's turning out to be a humid night, so I just might find myself with hydrated nectarines in the morning. I also realized that I should have put a dish towel on the nectarines to prevent small unwanted visitors from sampling it. I'm a little afraid of what the squirrels might do if they find it. Well, if they do end up distroying my food dehydrator at least I'lll get a few amusing pictures out of it.

It starts

DAY ONE, hour 3:
At first glance, it seems like only the lemon liquid has dried off the peaches, but on closer inspection, and after careful prodding (with unwashed hands), I've come to the conclusion that the said peaches are actually nectarines, and that they have already started dehydrating.




Yum

It's hot ...

... so hot, fruit will dehydrate instantly, or at least that's the theory.

DAY ONE, preparation:
1. The first step to dehydrating food is to purchase food. I chose three peaches from the local farmers market. Make sure they are fresh, bruises do effect the taste of dried fruit. If you don't have lemons, purchase one.
2. Cut the lemon in half, and squeeze the juice into a bowl, the flatter the bowl, the better. Put in some water, enough so that fruit slices will barely be covered. The lemon is to prevent the fruit from becoming brown (I think).
3. Start cutting the peaches. Occasionally place them in the bowl of lemon juice. I still haven't figured out how long they need to soak, but I would think 30 seconds would be fine.
4. When they are done soaking place them on a surface with vents or holes. They will need to
have the hot air move around them.







(I have no idea why this picture is sideways)











5. Continue cutting the peaches, placing them in the lemon juice, and then onto a surface. Make sure the peices don't overlap, or else they won't dehydrate very well.

Please, resist the temptation to consume said fruit prior to dehydration. The outcome will not be dehydrated fruit, just lunch.

DAY ONE, hour 0:
So far the fruit has been in the sun for -1 minute. It does not appear that the peaches have commenced dehydration.

naked sheep

Yesterday was my birthday, happy birthday to me. My family spreads out our birthdays over a week. It's nice in terms of having presents spread out, but after hearing "Happy Birthday" repeated over the course of a week it's starting to lose it's meaning. In case you're wondering, I'm 25. A quarter of a century, no longer in the 18-24 range, and end of an era.
Maybe it's because I'm older and wiser, or maybe owning a yarn store has just made me into a more material possession kinda person, but this year was the first time that I can remember where I actually made numerous present requests. All of the presents satisfied some need, like a new phone (Jessamy took over mine last year, yet she continued to claim that she didn't need one), AAA renewal, haircut, and ... roving.
Jessamy bought me a quarter pound of sheep hair, and yes, that was on my wish list.


















She bought it at Pets with Fez, a cool weaving store on York and 51st. They offer spinning classes, so we assumed they would also have roving. As it turns out they don't sell roving, but they do have it. This was part of the owner's personal collection.




And notice the semi appropriate bag it came in.

Que?

I have a hard time retaining oral information.

My boss (at my other job) will say, I need you to print out a case summary for the Bunbury case, and take out the trash, and feed the chickens, and shave your eyebrows. Five minutes later, all I'll remember is that she asked me to do something. It's actually surprising she hasn't fired me yet. Is my memory getting worse, or is it stress. Or did all my other jobs just require me to do one thing at a time? Don't know, can't remember.

Not all of my memory is bad. I'm excellent at remembering faces. And the other day my boss asked where a certain document was filed, and I was able to remember that. But more than one spoken instruction, and I forget what my name is. The simple solution of course would be to just write down everything she tells me to do. But that would require remembering to write down everything she tells me to do.

The birthday party was a lot of fun, but you wouldn't know it to look at the pictures.
Here are some of my favorites:








Finished socks! Please note the Dr. Pepper stains at the toe, courtesy of Noah. He of course denies any wrongdoing. Fortunately, I've been looking for an excuse to try koolaid dyeing.

We're almost a year old!

That Yarn Store is turning a year old this Sunday.

So, if you're in the area please stop in.

You are invited to our
Christmas in July, One Year Anniversary, Charity Fest, Birthday Celebration Party!!!
Come on over for:
9:30-12 Knitted Gnome Class $28, materials extra
12-1:30 Live music by Tom McNally
1, to 3, to 5 pm Charity knitting. Come in for free patterns and pattern help for your charity project.
6-7 Live music Tom McNally
Sunday, July 9th, 9-late

That Yarn Store
1578 W. Colorado Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90041

Gnome on the range

Isn't he lovely? ...

















And no, he's not naked, his shirt and pants are just white. Maybe I can knit him a blue scarf, then he'd be a patriotic gnome. Then again, gnomes might be too free of spirit to be tied to one country...

...and these are the beautiful stitch markers (bottom right) that Joan made. I actually didn't realize that she had also painted the bag and the candle holder too. But she did, and they're signed too! Thank you Joan!















Happy 4th!

Angel with a pocket full of quarters

I'm at work. I wouldn't normally do personal internet stuff at work, especially since I only work 15 hours a week at the office, but something amazing just happened.

Pasadena has free street parking until 11. I typically leave the office at 10:55 and walk over to my car and feed the meter. The little ritual started the same as always, got the quarters out of the jar, went out the back door, walked over to the car. I was about to put in a quarter when I noticed that the meter was not flashing the annoying little 0s. The meter actually read 1 hour, 41 minutes. It must be a mistake, I thought, someone clearly does not understand that you must put the quarters in the meter in front of your car.
So, I walked to the big pick up truck in front of me, ready to put in some quarters. And there on the meter were the same numbers, 1.41, staring at me. I looked at the next meter, the same thing, and the empty parking space, same thing.

A parking angel must have graced the streets that day.

I've actually considered doing the same thing, just putting a few quarters in any low meters which I happen to past. I'd be able to feel good about myself and I'd be fighting against "the man." What more could you want. Of course, I have so little money I actually went over my credit limit the other day, and I can't really see myself "casually" looking at parking meters to see if they're out. And I'm not about to make a special trip just to search out expired parking meters because actively trying to improve your good-will tally is just sad, and just defeats the whole purpose of doing good for good's sake.

Thank you to whoever put in those quarters, and to all of you out there who have put money in the parking meter of a stranger. I salute you.

Knitted gnomester

I'm working on the store sample of the knitted gnome. The pieces on the bottom are the boots, on the left is the body, arms, and then the hat. And to think it'll look even cuter when it's put together.















I went to the Pasadena Stitch n' Bitch group today.
It's a fun group, and I wouldn't be surprised if you already know all about them since half of people have blogs.
There are a number of SnB groups throughout the country.

I hadn't been to the group in over a month, but Joan was nice enough to have made me a gift bag for the group's anniversary which was last week (I think). One of the presents was some very pretty stitch markers, I'll try to take a picture of them.

Joan says she reads the blog. So if you're out there,

Thank You!

Hyperbolic Crochet oh my

I haven't been doing a lot of knitting lately, but I have been crocheting.
I did this hyperbolic crochet with a 3.25 mm hook. Yes, I agree, that is small hook.

Submitting your work at the county fair and the new S n' Bitch book

Everyone loves to be recognized. Here's two ways to flaunt your knittyness:

Enter your work to the LA county fair. The Entries must be postmarked by July 12th.
http://www.fairplex.com/2006/Competitions/Tapestry06/index.asp

And this is the email about submissions to the new SnB book.

Dearest stitchers 'n bitchers:

I'm gearing up to get cracking on my next Stitch 'n
Bitch book. It's going
to be an advanced knitting manual, and I'm looking
for patterns that
incorporate a bit of fancy-pants knitting such as
cables, lace, color work
(either intarsia or fair isle or, hell, both!),
beading, etc. The book will
be covering these techniques in great detail, as
well as much more.

Patterns can range from clothing to accessories to
household items to baby
things and pet items. Even first-time designers are
invited to contribute.
I'm looking for lively, fun projects, and I'm
especially interested in
sweaters and socks.

So put on your thinking caps, cause submissions are
due June 19, 2006!

To submit, please send the following:
1) If you have a completed project, please send a
few good-quality photos of
the item, along with a detailed description of it.

OR

2) If you can 't get a large project done in time to
meet the deadline, don't worry. Just send me a very clear, detailed sketch
of your project idea
(include basic measurements, fit information, etc),
along with a photo of a
rather large swatch (at least 10" x 10") made in the
yarns and stitch
patterns you plan to use.

Photos of projects and swatches can be emailed to me
at
stitchnbitch@bust.com, or mailed to me here: Debbie
Stoller, BUST Magazine,
78 Fifth Ave, 5th floor, New York, NY 10011.

IMPORTANT: Please be sure to include your full name,
email addresses,
daytime and evening phone numbers, and mailing
address, along with your
submissions. Include a SASE (self-addressed stamped
envelope) if you'd like
me to mail your submission back to you after I've
made my selections.

It will take me at least 2-3 weeks to make my
selections. If your project is
accepted, you will be provided with the yarn you
need to produce a sample,
which will be photographed for the book and kept by
me (to take on tour, 'natch!). You will also be paid for your submission,
your pattern will be
credited to you in the book and will run alongside a
brief bio, and of
course, you will receive a free copy of the book
once it is completed.

If you have any questions about the process, feel
free to email me. Thanks
in advance, everyone!

(I apologize to any of you receiving this call for
submissions more than
once; I'm just trying to get the word out to as many
of you as possible.)

xxxooo deb
-----------
Debbie Stoller
http://www.knithappens.com

It's starting to look like something ...

I've been able to work on my lace shirt recently and I finally figured out what I'm going to be doing for the top half of the shirt - knitting stockinette with big needles. Of course that meant I had to do another swatch, but that wasn't much of a sacrifice.


Debbie Stoller is doing a new book on advanced knitting - lace, fair isle, etc. and she's looking for contributions, so I'm going to be submitting the pattern. You just need to submit a picture of the work and the pattern, so I think I'm ok, unlike the LA county fair where it's actually going to be "judged" and scrutinized.

Book signing and UPS

Our first book signing was today. A woman who owns a knitting store in Big Bear was the first person to come in. She actually arrived at 10:30, half an hour before Katherine. Actually, until 12:30 she was the only person to come in for the signing, and we were all feeling bad about the whole situation. Then all of a sudden, at 12:30, there was a rush, at one point there were 6 or 7 people milling around the books and looking at the samples. Janice and Barbara, two women who also go to Jewel City Knitters, a knitting guild Jessamy and I go to, came in.

We actually didn't get the books until last night. The publishers for some unknown reason didn't seem very eager to sell us the books, so we weren't able to actually make the order until last week, despite the fact that I first contacted them a month ago. David wasn't here Friday morning to receive the package, so they left a note saying it would be delivered later, David read it would be delivered from 12:00 to 2:00 on Friday, when I got in at 2:00 I looked at the UPS paper and saw it said 12-2 on MONDAY. So, of course I freaked out. I went on their website and scheduled a same day pick up, thinking that when UPS called back to schedule a time it would be at 4 or 5 o'clock. Nope, we had to go pick it up between 8 and 9 at night.

The UPS same day pick-up turned out to be frustrating and boring to the point of mind numbing, like waiting at the DMV. It worked like an oil deficient machine. There was even a line of cars to get into the parking lot, not because there wasn't enough parking spaces, but because they had to first look on several lists to find your name (they found mine), there were the unlucky (or lucky?) few who weren't even let into the parking lot and had to wait in their car by the curb.

Apparently, after the day's deliveries all the UPS trucks in LA drive to a couple of central locations where the packages are taken off the trucks and put into a warehouse. Except, some truck drivers for one reason or another don't get to the warehouse until after 8, then some of the drivers don't even bother unload the trucks. So the 5 or so people who are working at the same day pick up have to take down everyone's name and number, then go look for a package which might not even be in the right area, sometimes even going to where the truck is parked and looking through all the packages in the truck. There were maybe 40 people who came in for their package while we were there, two of which went up to the counter and complained very loudly that they want their package NOW, and about 20 of which kept pestering the workers. It would suck to work there. I ended up waiting an hour and 45 minutes for my package. Jurassic Park 3 was playing on a TV screen hanging from the ceiling. You would think, with all the stress that's associated with the job they would pick a movie that is a little more soothing and calm. But no. Instead, occasional screams echoed throughout the building. How appropriate. I think I thought it was ok in the movie theatre, not the best movie, but it served it's purpose. But at the UPS center the movie was dull and tedious, kind of fitting actually. The bizarre thing is that after all that standing and waiting (they only had three seats), everyone I saw walking out of the room were clutching a package and smiling. I guess we have short memories.

Book Signing/Trunk Show this Saturday

We're having our first booksigning!

Katherine Lee, creator of SweaterBabe.com, is signing copies of her first book, SweaterBabe.com's Fabulous and Flirty Crochet Saturday, July 3rd, from 11-1pm.

11-1: Book Signing.
Chat with the author, get your booksigned, and admire finished samples from all of the projects on her book.
1-2: Crochet Help Session.
Ask Katherine Lee your crochet questions, or bring in a project for help. Free with purchase of SweaterBabe.com's Fabulous & Flirty Crochet.

Also, stop in for:
light refreshments
free raffle giveaways
and more!

Hello Hello
Spin a good yarn night was fun. There wasn't as many attendants as last time, but that's life ok. There was a lot of general chatting. I read something from the "Good Citizens Handbook" about courteous driving. There were a lot of recitations of Ogden Nash poems (some by memory). Two people brought in original pieces. One was Sarah's friend from work, unfortunately I can't remember her name (it takes at least three introductions until I can remember someone's name.) Andrea read a piece from her just published book. I believe this was her first public reading. Everyone enjoyed it, and it's possible we might have some book kick off celebration thingy with her.

I'm trying to form a Northeast LA Craft Alliance, so I'll be stoping by two of Eagle Rock's craftie stores today. I started a new job last week (part time), an assistant to a solo practise lawyer. She's very nice. Despite this being the slowest period since we opened, I'm extremely busy and crazed, but that's life ok.

Spin a Good Yarn Night - Wednesday night

Spin a Good Yarn Night
Wednesday, May 24th, 7:00
Spin a Good Yarn Night will feature poetry, jokes, passages from novels,
improvisational storytelling, and the soothing click, click of knitting
needles. Everyone is invited to share or to simply listen and relax.

We already have one published author promise to share some of her works, we're on the top 7 of LA City Beat, and on a podcast at LAwithkids.com. It's looking like it will be a very interesting evening, so stop by.

Live Music Tomorrow (Tuesday)

Daughters of the Purple Sage
Tuesday, May 16th, 7:00 pm
Our next installment of Music To Knit To features a wonderful group called Daughters of the Purple Sage. Daughters of the Purple Sage specializes in songs of the Golden West and classics such as Tumblin' Tumbleweeds and Shenandoah.

Named "Rising Star of the Year" by the Academy of Western Artists, Daughters of the Purple Sage was nominated "Group of the Year" by the Western Music Association. Please join us for a pleasant night of yee-hawing.


www.thedaughters.com/

Men's night and legal pollution

Two guys came for the Men’s Night (not including David and Noah, of course). And both were named Daniel. Coincidence? According to Dad they had a wonderful time talking and that it was just like the knitting groups we have at the store, except they were talking about guy stuff (like how their wives don’t understand why they buy so much yarn??)

I got my car smog-checked yesterday. The mechanic said it barely passed, and that I was lucky. Yes! I get to spew out barely legal amounts of pollution. Good thing it’s in such crap condition that I can only bring myself to drive it two days a week. The mechanic was a super nice guy, and he’s right across from us, ok, right across and half a block from us.

Men's Knitting

So, my dad was sitting in the store today, minding his own business, when the door flies open and a woman shouts "see, there's a man in here." As it turns out she was talking to her son, who was standing outside the store. She had taught him how to crochet when he was young, but he was so ashamed of being a guy who knew how to crochet that he hadn't taken crochet classes, or told the people at yarn stores that he was buying the yarn for himself. Anyway, he ended up asking dad a lot of questions and was happy to learn that we had a men's night.

Every profession I can think of (the only exception perhaps being midwifery) in our male-dominated society was once, well, male dominated. It seems as if there are a good handful of professions which are now female dominated – teachers, art conservators, nurses, and yarn store owners (Funny enough, although there seems to be a dearth of male yarn store owners, many of the owners of the yarn manufacturing companies are actually male). Knitting was once chiefly done be males (for fishing nets, as the hypotheses go), and is still chiefly done by guys in other cultures, but in American culture a man knitting or crocheting is looked upon as something out of the ordinary. But here we women are, trying to level the playing field, convince guys that it's ok to knit and crochet. We have to convince, in some cases beg, guys to try knitting.

And if there was any point I was trying to make in this blog posting, I've forgotten it. Maybe just pointing out the general idea that gender stereotyping is stupid? Hmmm, nothing original there.

We should have a weekly contest. We can name it the "Try and guess where Thea was going with her post contest."

Or maybe I can just try and post in the daytime, while my brain is still functioning.

In any case, we'll be having our next Men's Knitting and Crochet Night this Wednesday, May 10th, from 5:30 to 7ish, so tell all the guys you know!

Lame post, I know, I can't always be brilliant.

I've made a little progress on the linen shirt. Made some mistakes, and my tension is crap, but not bad enough for me to frog it.

These women could be your neighbors

What? Why? How?
I just hope the "try to look like a creepy plastic mannequin" trend doesn't have a comeback.

I saw eddie izzard last night! It was in a room with less than 100 people, and he was working on new materials. I was close enough to see the spit fly out of his mouth! *enamored sigh*

The Black Creepy Rider

On Saturday I went to see a performance of The Black Rider at the Ahmanson. The play is directed by Robert Wilson, who's famous in England for his original and unconventional plays, written by William S Burroughs (who based the story on German Folklore), with music by Tom Waits. Combine those three together and you have one trippy play. I had actually seen it in San Francisco two years ago (that cast was better) but even with a second viewing it was still bizarre. I had bought 2 tickets for my sister for her birthday, since she can appreciate the stranger things in life, thinking that she and her boyfriend would go. But, her boyfriend is so anti-snob (a form of snobbery, if you ask me (but he is a nice guy)) that he refused to go. In any case, if you have the chance, go see it. The directing, stage design, music, etc, all blended into a perfect and unsettling performance. But if you do go see it, forget everything I said! It will probably be best if you're surprised.

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