stash enhancement

yesterday my mom and i trekked to new hamburg, a small town twenty minutes away, for the annual mennonite relief fund and quilt sale. mennonite quilts are not really my thing but my mom was in heaven (quilts were going for $1700!). we ate some apple fritters and gawked at quilts and then we headed uptown to shall we knit.

karen, the lovely lady from the LYS and fellow guild member, recently decided to strike out on her own and open her own yarn shop. in kind of a jump-first-and-ask-questions-later way, she and her husband purchased a gorgeous century home on the main drag in new hamburg, intending to have the yarn store on the main floor and live upstairs. their impulsive plan has hit more than a few snags and instead they have secured a storefront location further along the main drag.

they are still working on opening but in the meantime karen obtained permission to open from her home this past weekend. karen has always been so nice to me; i can't wait for her store to open and be a success. i love her philosophy behind a good yarn store and i look forward to her enabling my habit and my helping put food on her table.

with that in mind, i bought this:

i can't even being to describe the softness. it is called sublime and it really is. oh my, so lovely. the yarn is "cashmere merino silk aran" which makes me laugh since there is only 5% cashmere but it doesn't seem to be hurting the yarn in any way at all. i am in love.

stephanie has written here and there about the strong desire to roll around naked in yarn and i've always thought, hee hee funny but not likely. this yarn may change all that. i want this stuff next to my skin.

since i am heading back to the working world in july when the air conditioning is always jacked so high that my extremities literally thaw on my drive home, i thought i would knit this wee ball of happiness into a sort of neck cowl -- something to pull over my head and wrap my neck in warmth. i can't wait to cast on.

new project

for years and years, my husband has wanted a knit tie. since his first official father's day is coming up, i'm knitting him a tie.

specs

pattern: from knit 2 together (co authored by tracy ullman!)

yarn: black koigu

needles: itsy bitsy 2 US i think.

how long do you think i can knit it in front of him before he asks what it is or figures it out on his own?

bitten

my mom liked the bag but LOVED the michael buble cd. becky, i want to mock you but i wont since i know what else you listen too. plus i've got lots of formage in my cd collection too.

i don't know why i feel compelled to make stuff but i do. i surf crafty sites and get all excited. i want to make fun stuff too! i think i can blame my mom entirely since she was always taking tole painting courses or flower arranging classes or sewing god damn ruffles on my t shirts (from target! the adoration for all things tar-jay started at a very young age for me).

here's the thing, i've always been mildly interested in sewing but exposure to cool and exciting fabric is non-existent in this town. everything about this town is middle of the road. fantastic if you want middle of the road but i want something different. i could head to TO to find what i'm looking for but i don't know where to start. which is why the more interesting and imaginative people i'm finding on the net are inspiring me in leaps and bounds to create. i've been bitten hard.

anyway, i used a indigo gift certificate to buy a few things recently (some advice, if at all possible, avoid using a gift card to make online indigo purchases. in a word: painful!). the lily allen cd, the yarn harlot's latest book (von, you want knitting rock star, go visit the yarn harlot's site. that woman could incite riots if she so desired.), and lotta jansdotter's simple sewing.

i knew i wanted to use an amy butler fabric to make lotta's sun hat. i'm not down with buying fabric on line yet. i just made the leap to buying yarn on line; i'm working my way up to fabric. i did a little digging and found a little quilt place in guelph that carries amy butler fabric. i packed up the wee monkey and my mom and we headed to the pretty, pretty town of guelph. seriously, why is guelph so pretty and k-w so not? sure we have pockets of pretty but you have to know where they are. guelph is teeming with picturesque views and old stone houses.

this is what i brought home:
a wild print for the hat and monkeys for a monkey blanket!

p.s. no progress on the plum gable.

pressies!

oh what a life i lead, blogging on a saturday night! i just finished my mom's mother's day present so i am sharing. my mom has to carry around a cell phone for her job. when she is out and about she tosses it into a shallow plastic bag because she'd never get to it in time if she shoved in her purse. the plastic bag thing bugs me. so i made her a bag.

and look what is peeking out:

a michael buble cd. she asked for it. i was kinda mortified standing at hmv buying that cd. to temper the purchase, i picked back to black by amy winehouse. i've been meaning to pick up this cd for ages. a couple weeks ago i dithered between it and lily allen and lily won out. i've been listening to both a bit obsessively for days now. lily is fun with a capital F, absolutely perfect for summer, bopping around, and being silly. amy makes you want to break out the whiskey, light some candles, toss a scarf over the lamp, and fill an ashtray. the album is filled with demented do-wop songs about tragic love affairs. i totally get her drug/alcohol addictions. i'd have a smack problem too if i sung my guts out night after night like she does. go listen to her. i think she's only 24.

finally!

see? this is what comes from spending way too much time surfing the net. i saw this poster on someone else's blog and had to have it. coincidentally, michael's was having a 50% special off custom framing (yipee!). i picked it up on friday night and hung it in the front hall on saturday morning. it looks awesome! i am so glad we went with custom framing.

and since this is a knitting blog: i made the felted clutch from one skein. i started it friday night i think and finished it sunday morning. i was going to make a bowl to felt as well but figured if the clutch was gonna dry in time for the guild meeting on tuesday that i'd better get it into the washer asap (which explains why i forgot to take a before picture).

the bag ain't much to look at but i do plan to jazz it up a bit with buttons, as the pattern suggests. it is cute though. i can see myself maybe using it. don't know when because at the moment whenever i go out there's usually a water bottle, some cheerios, a package of mum mums, at least two baby toys, my blackberry, wallet, keys, lip balm, a hat, sometimes a sweater, a knitting project, etc. i think i should have made the felted tote instead of the clutch. ah well, if i ever go out sans monkey, i'll be sure to use the clutch.

wool: patons classic merino in gray, double stranded.

needles: big fat ones. denise size 8 mm.

notes: it felted exactly to size. i find the handle openings a titch too small. next time i'd cast off 14 or 15 stitches instead of 11 or 12 (whatever the pattern calls for). i'd also knit two extra rows before binding off; i find the handle themselves a titch narrow. i do wonder how well the handles will hold up after i load the clutch with my wallet (which is admittedly huge), blackberry, keys, and lip balm. maybe the point of a clutch is to carry only the essentials. but uh, those are my bare essentials. maybe i need a smaller wallet.

when i was almost finished knitting i remembered that i have some fingering weight blue wool that my mom rescued from a thift store. if i ever make this clutch again (which is likely, it'd make a nice gift), i'd triple strand -- two patons stands, one blue strand. i think it'd give the bag a bit of dimension and subtle shimmer. i'm actually pretty curious to see how it turns out.

also on the felting front, we bought a front load washer & dryer yesterday. on one hand i'm all thrilled with the thought of appliances that are not older than me (and hence way more efficient, faster, better for the environment, easier on our water bill, i could go on...). but part of me is all aghast that i wont be able to felt in the washing machine. two hours, a bucket, a potato masher, and blisters do not sound fun. i'll just have to convince my mom that a little dish soap is not going to hurt her washer...

WIP friday

here's where i am on the green (plum) gable; trucking along just fine. the rows are going faster and faster thanks to the decreases. it fits fine but i think i could've probably gone smaller. the sleeves will be less bat-like once i add the ribbing. they wont be tight but they also wont flare out so much which is a good thing.

i need to take a small break from the sweater. the guild issued a felting challenge for the next meeting and that's tuesday. eep. i think i'm going to make the clutch from one skein (i love this book) using some stash (!) patons classic merino. of course i do have some lovely lopi in the stash (!!) that would work just as well...

p.s. please ignore the slightly stunned look on my face. the wee one just had a traumatic launch into his nap. nothing serious but oh the tears.

p.p.s. ms. hedda, did you know crazy aunt purl has a book?

this

i am in love with this and this.

i am this close to ordering them.

herein lies the danger of spending my days surfing crafty sites on the internet. this could be my doom.

edited to add: ever step back and look at a word and wonder if it is correct. suddenly *this* looks like the weirdest word ever. this. thisthisthisthisthisthisthis. weird.