Ravelry vs. The KnitBlog

I have long been suspicious that Ravelry would be the death of the knitblog. The other day I was looking at my list of blogs for new posts and realized just how many of those blogs had not been updated in a really long time. I've know for a long time that I should delete most of them, but I just couldn't seem to give up on the idea that my virtual friends will return someday. Now it seems that Bloglines is shutting down and I need to move all my knitblog RSS feeds to my Google reader, so I will probably finally give up on all those long quiet blogs.

Why has my list gone from 15 active blogs to 2 or 3? I think for most knitters Ravelry gives you what you need with less of a consistent time commitment. Don't get me wrong, I love Ravelry. It is a HUGE improvement over googling around trying to find someone who made a particular pattern and blogged about it. The tools, organization, and community are something that I would not give up now that I am used to it and I use it all the time. However, I find that I blog much less in part because I spend my "free" time on Ravelry instead. The problem is that you just don't communicate the same way on Ravelry as you do when blogging. A blog is a sort of soliloquy that you can make as short or as long as you desire, as personal or intimate as you dare, and as silly and off-topic as you feel moved to be. Crazily, you then allow the general public to read and comment on it. You get to know people more intimately, as if you are reading their thoughts, and it's so much different than the type of dialogue you get from Ravelry, FaceBook, or Twitter. Perhaps the knitblog will revive, but I fear that it is on the way out.

On to actual knitting. Back in August while in Santa Barbara for a wedding, I bought some fantastic new yarn to make a baby sweater. It is Punta Yarns South American Cotton Space Dyed in a beautiful soft lavender:

I am planning to make the 5 hour baby sweater in a newborn size for the new baby. With RJ, the 0-3 month size took quite awhile to grow into, and even newborn sizes were big at first. So, against all the advice I am going to make something very tiny, because if this little girl is anything like her sister she will be pretty small and will definitely need at least a sweater and several hats when she is born in late December/early January.

Yarny Prizes!

One really fun activity I participated in via Ravelry was the Ravelympics this past winter. I was part of a knitalong for my good friend and designer, Anne Kuo Lukito of Crafty Diversions. I made Linh's Ivy, a lace scarf pattern of hers that turned our great. As part of the knitalong, I was put in a drawing for a prize and I won! Here is the selection of beautiful yarn I received:

It included: 2 balls Berroco Comfort; 2 skeins Berroco Bonsai; 1 skein Elsbeth Lavold Silk & Wool; 1 skein (3.5oz) chunky weight 100% kid mohair hand-dyed by Anne; and 1 skein (5.6 oz) fingering weight 100% pima cotton hand-dyed by Anne; 2 1.5” knitting buttons that I made.

I am so excited to make something out of the beautiful yarns!

Summer Projects

As you have probably noticed I am not keeping up with my blog posting as well I'd hoped. In the beginning of the summer I was teaching, and that seemed to take up all my time. Within a couple days of my class ending, we left on vacation to visit my husband's family in Trinidad for two weeks. What a whirlwind! (I will post details and photos of our vacation later.) What has really taken up most of my time, however, is that I'M PREGNANT! I am due in January, and we are quite excited to be giving RJ a younger sibling. I have had a few ultrasounds already, so we just found out that we are having a GIRL! We would be thrilled either way, but knowing the sex allowed me to buy some yarn just for this baby. So I got some beautiful lavender space-dyed cotton by Punta Yarns:

After I bought the yarn, I remembered that RJ had two lavender handknit sweaters that she would be passing down, but it is such a lovely color and so soft that I'm not too upset. I got the yarn at the lovely yarn shop Loop and Leaf in Santa Barbara. We spent the weekend in Santa Barbara for a wedding and had a wonderful time. Here is RJ at the wedding, looking adorable in her orange dress:

I have FOs, and other summer vacation photos to post, so hopefully I will catch up on things soon.

Birthday Yarn

It's been a really hectic few weeks, although mostly things have been going well. I had a big event I planned for my department which nearly 300 people attended and it was a big success. We've also had other good things happening at work and school. The only negative was a recent bout of illness. I was just catching up with the grading I missed while planning the event when RJ got really sick and the hubby quickly followed suit. We missed work and school for a couple days, they both ended up needing antibiotics, and no one slept well for days. It was rough, but now everyone is on the mend.

Unfortunately, all this stuff going on has meant no time to blog. I am finally blogging now about my birthday yarn, which I got at the beginning of March! It was such a fun day. A couple of friends and I went to Alamitos Bay Yarn Company on one of my furlough days and then went out for sushi for lunch. Yum! It was especially fun to go yarn shopping, because in the month of your birthday you get 20% off your purchase at Alamitos Bay, so I went a little crazy (for me anyway). Here is what I bought:

First, I got the new Interweave Knits. It has some great patterns, including one by my good friend Anne Lukito from CraftyDiversions. I love her Rose Window Beret! I also got some navy blue acrylic blend yarn to make a sweater for RJ, and two skeins of turquoise Brown Sheep Serendipity Tweed to add to two I already have. I plan to make myself the Transverse Cardigan with the Serendipity Tweed. I got enough for a whole project of those two yarns. I also got a skein of Blue Sky Alpacas in orange to use in addition to some other cotton yarn to make RJ the dotted chicken from Itty Bitty Knits. If I like the yarn, I may pick up more to make RJ another sweater. She seems to favor orange and pink when picking out clothing. Along the same lines, the pink skein will be combined some Blue Sky Alpacas in a slightly darker pink/magenta to make a tonal striped hat for RJ for next winter. I may even add a fun feather topic like this hat to add some fun. The yellow and green is a washable cotton yarn called Cottontail made by Classic Elite that I picked up to play around with. It seems like it would be a good baby/kid yarn. Of these last few yarns I got a skein or two to try them out. If I like them I will probably go back and buy more for a bigger project. That, and the yarns were all so luscious and soft to touch I probably got a bit carried away. Seriously, how many hats, toys and sweaters does one child need? Based on this photo, probably lots. She is a born shopper:

Good Yarn Karma

Thanks for all the well wishes regarding getting RJ into her own bed. After a week of working on it we are at RJ=1, parents=0. I think some significant teething pain is complicating matters, but there is probably a good measure of manipulation going on. Either way, I have been outmaneuvered by my 15-month-old. Damn her cuteness!



I just want to pass along some good yarn karma to Karen (aka Auntyk) on Ravelry. Actually, this story starts with a kind gift from Rachel (aka cupcakegirl on Ravelry) who started to knit something for RJ, then when she ran out of time decided to just give me the yarn, which was some lovely, soft, peach Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. RJ's favorite yellow hat this past winter was knit from this same yarn, so I figured a sweater for next winter in the same yarn would be good. However, I didn't have enough for a sweater so I searched on Ravelry and found that Karen had three skeins she wanted to get rid of IN THE SAME DYELOT! Yes, miracles do happen. As if that weren't wonderful enough, when I contacted her, she offered to send me the yarn without any payment. (Believe me, I offered to at least pay postage, but she refused.) I was very touched by her kindness and wanted to share my wonderful experience and pass along some good karma to Karen. Knitters really are the most wonderful people!

Update on Life and Birthday Yarn

I turned in my grades over a week ago, and I moved to a lovely new office that is slightly smaller, but has windows with a great view. What a difference natural light makes! Last week I spent a lot of time working on getting a research project up and running as well as organizing my office (with some help from the hubby, thanks sweetie!). What does all that mean? I finally have some free time to blog. I am way, way behind on blogging about my life and knitting-related stuff. I will try to catch up in the next few posts.

First, an update on all of our bad luck this semester. My broken foot has pretty much healed and really only aches a bit now and again, just to make me feel old (although turning 36 will also make you feel old). The hubby is still looking for another job, unfortunately. He's had several phone interviews and a couple in-person interviews, but no offers. We are hopeful that he will have something by this fall, but right now we are taking one day at a time and spending more time together as a family. In unequivocal good news, our illnesses have momentarily abated. Just yesterday I finished my last dose of antibiotic for a sinus infection and RJ's most recent ear infection has cleared up. Overall, things aren't perfect, but they could be a lot worse and we are hopeful that they are getting better.

In yarn-related news, I had a fun shopping trip for my birthday all the way back in March which I never posted about. I went to Alamitos Bay Yarn Company, which took an hour to drive to, but only 30 minutes to drive home from (I used the GPS, so maybe it led me astray on the way there?). My friend Kim came along and we took advantage of my 10% birthday discount to treat ourselves. I didn't want to go too crazy, so I just bought a few things. Here's what I got:

First, one skein of Berroco Twist Variegated to go with some I got free from my good friend Marie. I'm not sure exactly what to do with this, but perhaps I could make a summer top for RJ or a scarf. I love the vibrant color, but I heard this yarn is difficult to knit with (snagging and splitting). Perhaps it would be better to crochet something?



Next, I got two skeins of Dale of Norway Svale in a dusty purple. This I bought to go with a small ball of lighter lavender silk blend yarn that I also got from Marie. I am making RJ Katja from Knitty Spring 2006. It is an adorable halter top and is coming along nicely. I will devote a post to my progress soon.



Finally, I bought one skein of Blue Sky Alpaca & Silk. It is lusciously soft and I thinking I will make some fingerless gloves or a small scarf out of this. It would be for a gift since I already have scarves and gloves, but I haven't decided for certain who I would give them to. My mom would like the color, but she always insists she doesn't need any knitwear. I am thinking that it may work for my niece for a birthday gift. Honestly, I would love to go back and get a few more skeins for a sweater for myself, but it's so expensive. Maybe I can use it for the contrast trim on the Diane Cardigan from Knitting Little Luxuries?

The Stash Groweth In Unusual Ways

This past week I attempted to organize the craft closet. The craft closet might already be organized if it weren't also the crap-that-has-no-place-else-to-go closet. Actually, we have another closet dedicated to crap and this one is just overflow crap. The dedicated crap closet REALLY needs to be organized, but neither the hubby nor I are brave enough to tackle that without a large chunk of time and some really good reward waiting when we're done.

In the course of organizing I realized that compared to my Ravelry stash, my real life stash had grown substantially, but not in a way that I can easily add to Ravelry. What do I mean? Well, just take a look at this:



Various friends have donated leftover yarn for baby socks, baby hats, baby sweaters (are you sensing a theme?). I absolutely cannot pass up free stuff (one of my many faults), so I have accumulated all these tidbits. I really do think most of it will work up into cute stuff, and the challenge of using it all appeals to my frugal side.

America's Biggest Threat: Bears!

For those of you who are Stephen Colbert Report fans (and besides Barry Manilow, who isn't?) you know that Stephen has a strong hatred of bears. Evidently, all these months of watching the Colbert Report with Mom and Dad has led RJ to feel similarly about bears. She was sucking so violently on this bear's leg, I'm not sure if he will ever recover:


Don't think for one moment that this is an isolated act of violence against bears for RJ. She has a long history (well for her anyway) of attacking the fuzzy teddy versions of these obviously evil animals. Just look at her during her three-month old photo shoot. This bear clearly had it coming, trying to hog the spotlight during her photo session.


I apologize for the long blogging absence. We are going through what seems like all the daycare illnesses one by one. RJ has been sick every week, and she has been kind enough to share many of her illnesses with me, my husband or both of us. Thankfully, this is just a phase which will surely strengthen our immune systems in the long run. I hope to blog more regularly now that I've lost my voice in the most recent illness. I won't waste any of my time, you know, talking to people. Despite the illnesses, I do have some knitting related content for the blog. I just purchased this beautiful hank of Paca Peds in the colorway Fireside from Anne at the Handicraft Cafe:


It will be the sock portion of this pair of socks for RJ. I started the cuff in a dusty apricot color, but I don't have enough for two whole pairs of socks (I managed to secure a bunch of sock yarn leftovers from my wonderful knitting friends to practice with. Thanks guys!). I think the colors have a very fall look. Maybe I will make a matching pair of mittens for RJ in the Paca Peds?

Party Like It's 1979

My wonderful knitting group, All Things String, had it's annual holiday party this past Saturday. Last year we had fondue and it was such fun that we did it this year too. The fondue party of the 70's is definitely back in full force! If you dip vegetables in cheese and fruit in chocolate it seems like overall the meal must be healthy. At least that's my theory (please don't correct me). We ate, knit, did a white elephant gift exchange, and ate some more. It was a fun time!

The gifts were all really nice, no true white elephants in the bunch. At first, people were playing nicely and there was very little stealing. We had a second round, just to make sure that this niceness didn't last. I was extremely happy with the gift I initially chose (some beautiful stitch markers and a bracelet counter brought by Crafty Carolyn). The fun of stealing was much too tempting however, and I am also very happy with my final gift, which included a Starbucks gift card (the knitting group meets at Starbucks), the newest issue of Stringing, and a beautiful skein of yarn handspun by Zona of Twirl Girl Fibers. It is spun from wool roving and Sari silk. Cool huh? I haven't decided what this yarn should be yet, but it sure is lovely to look at isn't it?



Knitting and crocheting are actually getting done these days, so I'll soon have some more completed projects to post about. Also, I want to give my husband a big congrats. He became a US citizen yesterday!!

Selfish Knitter

First, I apologize for the long absence from the blog. I'm pretty sure this is a fluke and that I will be able to keep up with it better from now on. Several events conspired to keep me away from blogging and knitting this past couple weeks, including a conference presentation submission that was due and a husband with a bad back. On to actual blog and knitting content.

I admit it, I'm a selfish knitter. Even though I've made some gifts lately, when going through my stash (to add to Ravelry) I realized that nearly all my large yarn purchases are earmarked for knitting things for myself. Part of it is that I don't want to give away items that aren't wearable. So as a new knitter, I use myself as the guinea pig for practicing my craft. Also, I like the challenge of knitting sweaters, and let's face, fitting someone other than yourself is pretty difficult. Honestly, fitting oneself isn't all that easy, but at least I always have myself handy for a try-on session. Even though I am a selfish knitter, I figure that it's my hobby so I can knit for whomever I like. Other people's hobbies rarely result in benefits for anyone other than the individual, and that's OK. I don't expect my hubby's weekly tennis game to benefit me in any direct way (although I do use the time alone to craft. ;)

In order to buy more yarn for me, I recently went to a wonderful store in the area, Wildfiber and bought a couple skeins Cascade 220. The new owner, Natasha, was friendly helpful and even made us tea! I wish Santa Monica were a little closer so I could go more often. Below you can see my two new skeins of Cascade along with some pink TLC Cara Mia. I plan to use both to make the two-tone shrug from Fitted Knits (you can check out some examples here.

My Congested Hat

I have a severe dust allergy. Oh sure, you say, we all sneeze when we encounter a little dust. This allergy goes way beyond that. An allergist once told me that on a scale of one to four, four being the worst, I was a five-plus (this is after he put the offending allergen under my skin, resulting in a rash which nearly sent me to the emergency room). At the time I decided that I really needed to take care of myself and acknowledge my limitations and give up any hobbies that were bad for my allergies. I decided that quilting would be my main hobby and I would give up everything else in the interest of good health. However, I discovered that taking a quilt in your purse to work on while you wait at the dentist is a little impractical. I've now decided to compromise and be careful about storing yarn in sealed bags inside plastic containers. Unfortunately, I am still trying to use up some fairly old yarn and it causing me to get congested every time I knit with it. I present to you my congestion-causing version of the beret, Le Slouch:Barring any significant allergic reactions, I hope to finish it quickly and move on to more healthy yarns. This week I also finished the knitting on the spiderweb capelet. I need to block it, crochet the ties, and make pom-poms for the ends of the ties. For my first real lace project, I think it turned out pretty well. I would also like to thank Theresa for the lovely yarn she gifted me. She sent some beautiful lace weight that I plan to use to for Mystery Stole 3, and as "padding" she included some Bernat cotton in a sunny yellow. How sweet is that?

When Crafting Wasn't Cool

As I've mentioned previous posts, I am addicted to crafting. To say I was a crafter before crafting was cool, would be pretty accurate. Not that I'm trying to brag about my "street cred" as a crafter or anything, I just think this gives you an idea of the magnitude of the problem. As a college freshman, other girls went to the clubs a few nights a week. I completed a needlepoint of a Native American riding a horse in the desert (I picked it up partially finished at Good Will). I even did a term paper on quilting as a social event in the American west. How nerdy is that?

I organized my crafting supplies at the end of last week and realized that once again I needed to purchase more containers to hold it all. I have now hit the limit on what our apartment will credibly hold, without getting rid of some other items, such as clothes and food. Thus, I must craft from the stash or be consumed by the yarn, fabric, paints, embroidery floss, aida cloth, beads, rubber stamps, card stock, etc. (not altogether a terrible way to go though, right?). I could get rid of some of my less-used supplies (really, when was the last time I needed aida cloth?), but I just can't seem to part with them. Ever since I gave away the giant wooden bow, I've been haunted by the idea that I will create the perfect project, or at least it would have been perfect if only I had a wooden bow. I just don't feel I should take any more foolish chances with my craft supplies.

Even with this knowledge, a couple days ago I went to Michael's and bought more yarn to crochet two more baby blankets. A sign of a real addiction? Perhaps, but nevertheless this seemed like a necessary exception. I just found out another friend of mine is having twins! (Perhaps being my friend is akin to some sort of extreme fertility charm? Be warned!). I am using up some yarn I already have, but needed coordinating yarn to have enough and to make the afghans more interesting. It is the age old problem: Using yarn requires buying more yarn. Here is the yarn for blanket 1 (both the dark blue colors are new):


And here is what I got for blanket 2 (the cream and red are new):

The Addiction

“Just cause you got the monkey off your back doesn't mean the circus has left town.” - George Carlin (a very monkeysexual quote, don't you think?)

Anne from Crafty Diversions often says that yarn must have some inherent addictive properties. I largely agree, but must add that there seem to be numerous crafty items that contain addictive substances. For example, embroidery thread. That must surely be the reason I own two boxes of the stuff, plus an entire gallon bag of aida cloth (hey, cross stitch was very popular in the 80s and 90s, what can say?).

Also, fabric clearly is addictive. How else can you explain my three underbed boxes filled with it? What do all these things have in common: FIBER. I feel that fibers, regardless of whether they are plant, animal, or manmade, have inherently addictive properties, which unfortunately some of us are particularly sensitive to. For some people it's crack, for me it's alpaca. This would surely account for my recent weakness on a visit to Suzoo's. I planned to merely exchange one ball of yarn for another color and somehow came home with four balls of yarn, a set of addi turbos, and some dpns. It's not my fault, I was overcome by the fiber.
I bought two skeins of Bamboo Soft to go with some light tan Patons Decor leftover from my first sweater. I thought the gold and olive green along with the light tan would make a neat men's hat.

I then bought two skeins of Frog Tree alpaca to go with this hand dyed mohair from Anne (aka Sugar Apple Creations). I love the blues and purples in the mohair, and the purplish blue of the Frog Tree should set it off nicely. I plan to knit them together to make a lacy, but not too delicate scarf.

So, does anyone know of a 12 step program for crafting?

A Manly Project

There's nothing like having a blog to use as an excuse to avoid work. The end of the semester is kicking my butt, however I'd much rather knit and blog about said knitting than actually do that work. I figure after 12 hours of work, my mind needs a break! It may very well be that knitting is the only thing keeping me sane.

With that in mind, I want to show off my latest FO for 2007.



Yarn: Unger Aries (45% wool/55% acrylic) in light gray
Dale of Norway Sisik (30% mohair/30% wool/34% acrylic/6% rayon) in #156
Knitted with both yarns held together

Pattern: Manly Scarf pattern from Knitting Queen

Changes: adjusted the number of stitches cast on to suit my desired width with the doubled yarn

Yardage: about 300 yards of each

Needles: US size 8

Start/End Date: Started on January 3, 2007 and finished on April 30, 2007

Notes: Fun, easy pattern that really does look "manly" but interesting! You can see the lovely texture and colors below. I sure hope the recipient likes it!



I feel like I'm on a roll turning some long-term UFOs into FOs! I have another project that only needs seaming and a crochet edge, and it will be done too.

Riding the Bus

"Everyone wants to ride with you in the limo, but what you need someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down." - Oprah Winfrey

I confess, I am a bad Californian. I don't have a car, and I often ride the bus. I only live a couple miles from work and using the bus system is free with my University ID, so I figure it makes sense to take advantage of public transportation. When I tell people that I use public transit the usual reaction is shock and dismay with a smattering of pity, particularly in this California car culture. They are particularly flustered when I tell them I actually LIKE riding the bus. As a psychologist public transit provides an opportunity for naturalistic observation of my fellow humans. Rarely does the bus disappoint. Just the other day, as I walked on the bus a fellow in the front flashed a handmade sign that read "Impeach President Bush." I'm not sure that he will get much traction in his crusade on the local bus system, but you never know. I have to admit that the seriousness of his message was somewhat hampered by his attire. He was wearing what appeared to my keen eye to be a handknit, orange fun-fur hat, complete with earflaps, worn in 75 degree weather no less. As I said, the bus rarely disappoints.

This past weekend, the husband and I availed ourselves of public transit and took the metrolink into LA. Our destination? It depends on who you ask. The hubby wanted to see the tourist sites of the city and wander around a bit. I wanted to hit a fancy schmancy LA yarn shop. Anne facilitated this by giving me detailed information about which trains to take to get to a couple shops near Union Station. Then she told me that Black Sheep Knittery was having a 50% off sale. What could be better?

We had a great day in the city. We went to the Grand Central Market, Angels Flight park, walked around the fountains in the financial district, and browsed Olvera Street. Here are some photos:




More importantly (for knitting blog purposes, anyway), I got some lovely new yarn and patterns at Black Sheep:



What you see here is 8 balls of Cashsoft DK in a silvery sage (sorry about the bad photo), the new issue of Rebecca, and some sock needles. I also got a new bottle of Kookaburra wool wash and a book on how to remove stains. Actually my husband picked out the last two items (I guess we know who does the laundry in our house!). Frankly, this shows a remarkable amount of restraint on my part. Almost no one left the shop with under $100 worth of yarn, some spending as much as $300. My spending was slowed by the realization that I don't really have room for any of it, and I might actually have to turn the yarn into bedpillows to make a place for it (do you think it would be too lumpy? could I leave the ball bands on?). Now I've just found out that Suzoo's is having an April Fool's Day sale. What's a yarn addict to do? (do you think anyone would notice if I replaced the futon mattress with yarn?)

As Long As It Doesn't Itch

"I base most of my fashion taste on what doesn't itch." - Gilda Radner

A couple weeks ago my local knitting group had a fantastic yarn swap, hosted by the wonderful Anne from Crafty Diversions (she's know as the "crafy McGuyver" in our group). The swap had a Bollywood theme, with appropriate attire encouraged. I completely forgot about the dress-up component, but Ann had a full stock of lovely Saris, etc. for us all to wear. We were a lovely, colorful bunch. The Indian food was also fabulous. Knitters appear to be excellent cooks.

The point of a yarn swap, I am told, is to get rid of yarn for which you have no use and exchange it for yarn that you can use. However, I seem to have missed the memo and came home with much more yarn than I brought. I did donate a bunch of acrylic yarn that seemed unsuitable for baby blankets to Project Linus, and traded a couple ends of some nice stuff for things I found more useable. However, as we got towards the end of the swap I just couldn't resist all those sad little abandoned skeins, left without a home. They looked so unloved. So, I took them in and gave them a new home. Below you can see most of my colorful acquisitions.



I got 2 skeins of yellow cotton ease, 2 balls of pastel hand dyed wool, bright pink Sears brand mohair (any thoughts as to how old that is?), 2 skeins lavender in some soft blend, 1 partial skein of a soft, blue, loopy yarn, and 4 balls of orange cotton. I did pass on some yarns, honest! There were several more colors and brands of mohair that I didn't take, for example. Why is it that people are always trying to get rid of mohair? Maybe people always buy too much, or only realize they are sensitive to it's major fuzziness partway into a project? I am hoping the pink will make a fun lacy shrug, like the Reading In Bed Shrug in the latest Interweave Knits. If not, it will make a repeat appearance at next year's yarn swap. I also took all the blue and purple fun fur that people were giving away, for which I have fun plans. Just a heads up, I will be posting a new FO soon, once I weave in ends and do the seaming!