Roam - If you want to....

The new Fall Knitty just went live and there are lots of scrummy patterns to choose from, as well as a great article on Stash Storage (which is something I have a serious problem with).

I have to say that my ab fab fav for patterns is Roam by Laura Chau. Cute hoodie with great detailing and made with the most divine Handmaiden yarn - Great Big Sea. I am a huge Great Big Sea fan, both the yarn and the band, if truth be told. Really surprised that more folks haven't featured this yarn.

I bought Great Big Sea for the first time, because I loved the name, since it reminded me of the band Great Big Sea... but after that first skein in Peridot, I was sunk. :)

Great Big Sea is just luscious. 50% Silk, 30% Wool, 20% Seacell® Yummy, yummy, yummy.

I have 5 skeins of Peridot that I need to use up before I feel justified in getting my supplies for Roam. I want to make Roam using a darker colorway.

Oh! I have to mention that the Handmaiden 12-ply cashmere is gorgeous as well. It so soft and cuddly and feels a bit spongy when you are knitting it you. Just amazing.

Turning into a serious Handmaiden and Fleece Artist fangirl.

Knitting Experience Questionnaire

I have seen this popping up on various knitting blogs and thought it looked kind of fun. I was suprised how many of these things I have done.
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Here's how it works:

Bold = have already tried this
Italicized = Plan to try this
Unemphasized = Have no desire to try this

• Afghan
• I-cord
• Garter stitch
• Knitting with metal wire
• Shawl
• Stockinette stitch
• Socks: top-down
• Socks: toe-up
• Knitting with camel yarn
• Mittens: Cuff-up
• Mittens: Tip-down
• Hat
• Knitting with silk
• Moebius band knitting
• Participating in a KAL
• Sweater
• Drop stitch patterns
• Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
• Slip stitch patterns
• Knitting with banana fiber yarn (where does one find banana fiber yarn?)
• Domino knitting
• Twisted stitch patterns
• Knitting with bamboo yarn
• Two end knitting
• Charity knitting
• Knitting with soy yarn
• Cardigan
• Toy/doll clothing
• Knitting with circular needles
• Baby items
• Knitting with your own handspun (have some of my own handspun, no knitting with it yet)
• Slippers
• Graffiti knitting
• Continental knitting
• Designing knitted garments
• Cable stitch patterns
• Lace patterns
• Publishing a knitting book
• Scarf
• Teaching a child to knit
• American/English knitting
• Knitting to make money
• Buttonholes
• Knitting with alpaca
• Fair Isle knitting
• Norwegian knitting
• Dyeing with plant colors (I actually grow some of the dye plants as well)
• Knitting items for a wedding
• Household items
• Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars
• Olympic knitting
• Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
• Knitting with dpns
• Holiday-related knitting
• Teaching a male how to knit
• Bobbles (hate making them, but love the way they can look)
• Knitting for a living
• Knitting with cotton
• Knitting smocking
• Dyeing yarn
• Steeks
• Knitting art
• Fulling/felting
• Knitting with wool
• Textured knitting
• Kitchener BO (horrible at it)
• Purses/bags
• Knitting with beads
• Swatching (not as often as I should)
• Long Tail CO
• Entrelac
• Knitting and purling backwards
• Machine knitting
• Knitting with self patterning/self striping/variegating yarn
• Stuffed toys
• Knitting with cashmere
• Darning
• Jewelry
• Knitting with synthetic yarn
• Writing a pattern
• Gloves
• Intarsia
• Knitting with linen
• Knitting for preemies
• Tubular CO
• Freeform knitting
• Short rows
• Cuffs/fingerless mitts/armwarmers
• Pillows
• Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
• Rug
• Knitting on a loom
• Thrummed knitting
• Knitting a gift
• Knitting for pets
• Shrug/bolero/poncho
• Knitting with dog/cat hair
• Hair accessories
• Knitting in public (nearly everyday - I knit on my bus ride to/from work)

So a Frog crosses the street.....

I am frogging my Jaywalkers (sounds like the beginning of a joke). The decreases are looking a little too funky.

I seem to have an odd knitting style...self-taught at a very young age and left-handed apparently make for an interesting technique. Or so I have been told on numerous occasions. Been working on unlearning my bad habits by taking technique classes over the years, but some things are harder to unlearn than others.

Decreases always seem to be the most troublesome. It's the way the stitches layout. My decreases always seem to go left when they should go right and vice versa.

Since my decreases were looking little odd after the first few rows following the pattern, I switched to a k2tog, pass next stitch over the k2tog stitch. This definitely was not the correct thing to do. Not sure what was going thru my mind at the time.

So, back to the drawing board. Might try some different yarn I have lying around. This pink & grey Step is a little *too* 80s for me. It's actually sort of grating on my nerves first thing in the morning. I mostly work on these babies on the bus to and from work.

Austermann Step is interesting yarn. The Aloe & Jojoba are very noticeable - not in a bad way... my hands feel nice. But the yarn splits something terrible for me. I am using these blunt little stubby 4 inch dp needles. Which may the problem. Honestly, I have huge hands. Come from a long line of Dairy and Fisher folk -- that's my explanation for the wide palms :) These short little needles are incredibly tough for me to work with. I really need something longer. Hence my earlier rant about not being able to find 2mm dp needles anywhere locally.

Oh! I almost forgot. Cindy, a very thoughtful co-worker, was up on Whidbey Island this weekend and brought me back 2 of the sweetest skeins of Alpaca that you have ever seen. They were spun by a 10 yr old girl whose family raises the Alpacas.

Its a 4H joint. Gotta love that.

Now I need to figure out how to best make use of 3 oz thick & thin alpaca.

Have to admit, I am also sort of itching to dye them. There happens to be a glorious Earthues Dye Kit calling out to me from a shelf in my basement...

Can I also point out how well I have trained my co-workers? I have only been with this company since March and they are already starting to bring me yarn.

My manager is soon off to Italy for a few weeks. I wonder what sort of hints I should drop before he goes?

Rowan Magazine #42 - I am in serious lust

I picked up Rowan #42 yesterday and have not yet finished mopping up all the drool. This is the first Rowan mag in quite a while that has inspired seriously twitchy fingers.

Usually I find 1 or 2 things an issue, but in this particular issue I have 8 things bookmarked as "For Sure" and the same number marked as "Potentials".

I also enjoyed the "how to wear colour" article that shows the Design team wearing sweaters from the issue. Gave me some great ideas for color and other pattern modifications, as well as showing regular shaped people wearing the designs.

My "For Sures" in no particular order:

Earn
Bressay Hap Shawl
Budapest
Cologne
Earth Stole
Petersburg
Rannoch Dress
Tartan Scarf

And can I just mention that I *LOVE* the fact that sweater dresses are back. Probably the fact that my formative years were during the 80s, but I luuvvv sweater dresses! Seriously rocked them in college and so happy that they are back. Have a beautiful one on order from Boden, and am thinking that Rannoch Dress from the Rowan mag might be the first project I tackle. Or maybe I'll attempt to turn Earn into a sweater dress. Hmmm...

So much for stash busting... Maybe I'll research a few addition stash busting projects to balance things out. I am trying to not buy any new yarn until I have made a serious dent in the wooley behemoth in the basement... but it's so dang hard with all the fun new stuff for Fall.

Now if only I could find a turtleneck t-shirt dress like J Crew used to make in the 80s and I'll be set!

For the love of DPs

I have been to 4 LYS over the course of the last 3 weeks and not a one had a pair of US 0/2mm double pointed needles in stock.

Perhaps I am the last person in the greater Seattle area that is not using circular needles for socks? None of the LYS folks seemed all that concerned about not having these needles...actually they all encouraged me to try the circular method for socks. Hrrmmpphhh.

Don't get me wrong, I love circular needles and use them almost exclusively... except for socks... and lower bits of sleeves... and some hats.

I just really really like using double pointed needles. Maybe its the challenge of keeping track of where I am, or trying to keep stitches near the end from popping off.

Anyhoo, seems like I am going to have to start purchasing all my needles online. Bummer. I really like supporting my LYS.

Ravelry...So freaking impatient to get in

I heard of Ravelry several months ago and thought it sounded very cool. I was positive that I had signed-up for an invite at that time (June? May?) But, could not find either of my email addresses in their database when I checked a little while ago. ;(
So... I signed up again and here are my stats as of this morning:

You are #29373 on the list.
18020 people are ahead of you in line.
1262 people are behind you in line.
36% of the list has been invited so far

So - if their rate of invitations is correct - here is my best estimation for when I'll get in:

150 invites per day = approx. 120 days until my number is up, or 17 weeks, or 4 months. Sigh!

I have really been enjoying reading about how great Ravelry is on all the cool kids blogs. I'll just have to be patient and remind myself how much better the product will be after a few more months of tweaking.

I have a friend who is tight with some folks at Make and Craft mags and it seems like they are on the invite list like everyone else, and still waiting to get in. I thought that this would make me feel better... maybe it does... slightly.