Pooling knits

Last summer, one of the members of the Atlanta Knitting Guild brought in a scarf she had knitted in which the colors pooled into vertical columns. Can I say amazing and beautiful?

She had read about pooled knitting on Ravelry and found Gladys We, one of the yarn floozies. Gladys has explored using handpainted yarns to their full pooling potential and sharing that knowledge with masochistic knitters everywhere.

Masochistic, you ask? Yes.

I've been working with one of the skeins I dyed. I love the colorway, Mood Ring. I had dyed a skein of Knit Picks Bare, the silk and merino blend, which I had purchased before I had started Fiber Charmer and could get yarn from wholesalers. Besides, I figured I'd keep this for myself as I didn't think that Knit Picks would really be a good source for undyed fiber.

So, some of the knitty gritty about why I think this is good for masochists.

1. There's swatching. Lots and lots of swatching. When I'm working at the LYS, I advise people to swatch. You can learn a lot from swatching. That said, I rarely swatch. I knit a lot of toe up, plain stockinette socks, and I never swatch for those. I know there are times when I should swatch, and I have done it, but I've also discovered, as Yarn Harlot herself has mentioned, that swatches lie.

With pooled knitting, you have to swatch. There is no way around it. Swatch and rip, swatch and rip, swatch and rip, eye the bourbon and switch to spinning.

Actually, that's the only reason I think it's good for masochists. Once you get past that, get your gauge and your needles, it's smooth sailing.

Well, I assume it is once you get all that. What I've discovered is that this skein, wound by Knit Picks mill, is shorter than the skeins I wind. I'm talking about a smaller circumference and not the yardage of the skein. I've been getting 37 -38 stitches as my magic number, but when I start knitting, my colors travel. I can correct that by examining every single row and then determining if I need to switch needle sizes yet again.

Honestly, that's way too much work for me. This one is getting frogged, and this yarn that I bought and dyed for myself is going back into the bin. I'll see what I've got in inventory and start again.

I hope that you have a happy 4th! I won't be working on pooled knits today, so I plan to enjoy mine!

Hah! You've heard this before

But I'm really going to make an effort to blog regularly again. I used to blog at least every Sunday morning. Remember those days?

Now I've been using Sunday mornings to update Fiber Charmer's etsy shop. I don't always succeed, as I think I updated sometime Sunday afternoon.

While I know running your own business takes a lot of time, I didn't realize just how much time it does consume. Add to that a kitty with idiopathic cystitis and multiple trips to the vet, and the time zips by before you know it.

I think earlier this year I mentioned my going gluten-free because gluten aggravates Hashimoto's. All went pretty well until Maryland Sheep and Wool. I started eating bread again. Yummy, delicious peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I'm not being facetious. Try giving them up and see just how wonderful they taste when you start eating them again. A few weeks later, I was at the Carolina Fiber Fest, eating sandwiches again. I was thinking, hmm, I don't feel any different.

It was too early. I've been feeling so tired all the time, and I know it's the gluten. I've got to start all over again to clear it all out of my system. That sucks, because I feel tired all the time now. However, I also know that I can do it (again), and that I'll feel energetic, like a "normal" person.

Anyway, I'll end here. I might get too whiny, and really, who wants to read that? Look for me next Sunday, if not before, and I'll get back on track with Sunday pictures again.

Wow, time goes by so quickly!

I'm sorry for the lack of blogging. I knew it had been awhile, but I didn't realize it had been so long.

I've been busy, and I foresee getting busier in the near future.

I'm on the board of the Atlanta Knitting Guild, and I didn't realize just how much work there is in volunteering. I said that to Keith, and he said that's why it's called volunteer work, not volunteer fun.

Hmm.

One of the things that has bothered me most about being an adult is why do work and fun seem to be so mutually exclusive? Isn't there a way to meld them together?

And despite the work, I've actually been enjoying what I've been doing for the AKG. In fact, this upcoming Friday night, there will be a Stitch and Bitch at the American Craft Council show, and I've put in a fair amount of work with the local stores to get sponsors for it. We'll be teaching brand spanking new knitters some of the basics. It's from 5-8, March 11. Admission to the show is only $5 after 5. If you bring your knitting, you can get in for free.

Yvonne Monet of Dave-FM will be joining us too. I think that it's going to be a lot of fun.

I've also been working on Fiber Charmer. Just a day or two ago I realized just how little time I have before Stitches South. I think I'm about to panic! I've got so much yarn to skein and dye, and so little time! I foresee not doing much of anything that isn't fiber related for the next little bit. First Stitches, then Maryland Sheep and Wool where I'm working for Gale, then Carolina Fiber Fest. I need to turn into a dyeing machine and get some more product stockpiled. I had considered being lazy today, but I see that's not possible.

In other parts of my life, I've been thinking that I/we need to grow more of our own food. Gas prices are only going to make grocery shopping even more painful, so I thought about what do we really eat. Yes, last year's cucumber canning experiment led to way too many cucumbers going into the compost pile. I sat down with some seed catalogs and spent some time mentally reviewing what I buy week after week. This year lettuce is on the top of the list. Tomatoes, carrots, celery, these are veggies we eat all the time.

I just had Arborguard come out and trim an oak tree that was shading about the only part of the yard that's suitable for gardening. Limbs were also growing onto our power lines, so now the lights won't flicker when it's windy. I've got to figure out when I can schedule double digging new garden beds into all the dye time I need to do in the next few weeks. I don't want to wait too late to get the garden going. Gas prices here are anywhere from $3.32 - $3.69 for regular! $5 for a head of California grown organic lettuce can't be too far behind. It's a much better plan to grow my own lettuce, right?

I think I've hit the highlights. If you're a knitter who is reading this, think about joining the Atlanta Knitting Guild. When I originally joined the guild, I did so in order to increase my knowledge of knitting. Now that I'm in charge of the programs, I certainly see the challenge of booking interesting people, but I also see an opportunity to bring my desire for more knitting knowledge into a reality. I think the past couple of years have had more of the programming that I enjoy, and I'm hoping that I can continue to keep the programs entertaining as well as educational. Anyway, what I wanted to say is that while the Internet and YouTube can provide all sorts of supplementary knitting help, there is nothing like taking a class in real life. The little tidbits of information that you pick up from the accumulated knowledge of the teacher and the other students will give you aha moments that you can't get from watch videos. I'm excited about some of the program ideas that have come my way, as well as some great workshop suggestions too.

We'll have Karin Skacel joining us in June, and we've got an exciting teacher planned for this fall. (No spoilers, but I will mention that she has a pattern in the winter issue of Knitters Magazine, which unfortunately is not on their website yet.)

Hopefully I'll be able to update again soon!

Shopping for a cause

A new thrift store has opened in Avondale Estates! If you're local, and you've been to Avondale Estates, you know it has several thrift and consignment stores already. As I love shopping at thrift stores, I was quite happy to have a new one open there, especially since it has a totally awesome goal.

Second Life benefits animals shelters. Local animal shelters, including my absolute favorite, Lifeline Animal Project. I've sung the praises of Lifeline more than one time here on my blog, so I won't bore you with that again. What I will say is that if you need some gently worn brand name clothing, you may want to check out Second Life. If you have some items to donate, they are a not-for-profit, so you can get a receipt for tax deductions.

Stepping off soapbox now.

Yesterday was the first day I'd left the house since last Sunday. I'm not sure, only because who really pays attention, but I may not have left the house since the Friday before that Sunday. I got prepared for being snowed in, truly thinking that we'd be able to get out sometime on Wednesday. Ha! I was very foolish. The snow persisted as did the cold temperatures, and while the DOT cleared the highways (finally), many of the surface streets in our area got some sanding or nothing at all. The major one got sanded (some), while those on residential streets that lead nowhere were SOL.

It really got me to thinking about how dependent on government people are to take care of them. I got outside and cleared the road in front of my house. One of my neighbors came outside and helped. Honestly, I didn't want people sliding in the ice and into our mailbox or cars. I even cleared out part of an area for a neighbor to park. It wasn't that heinous a job, and I got to thinking that if everyone went outside and did a little bit how quickly things could have returned to normal. Apparently, with the exception of the one neighbor, I'm the only one who thinks like that.

Anyway, I got out and ran a couple of errands yesterday. None of them involved going to a grocery store until last night's beer run, but I did drive by a few. Earlier in the day you couldn't pay me enough to join in that madness! The Farmer's Market had a line of cars waiting to get into the parking lot. I think I can wait another day or two to restock!

The one thing I can't wait to get is a new dryer. Ours died several weeks ago, and last Sunday I spent some quality time sitting at a laundromat drying wet clothes. Tomorrow we'll go buy one, and then I'll spend way too much time getting the laundry caught back up. Something about saying all that makes me feel like a 1950's housewife! Heck, it's been way too cold to even think about a clothesline! The clothes would freeze out there.

Snowpocalypse 2011

Yes, that's what our clever newspeople have dubbed this snow and ice event. (Too bad sarcasm doesn't translate well to the written word.)

So, for your amusement at our discomfort, here are some pictures.

The street is on the morning of Day 4 of being iced in.








A close-up of the ice on my butterfly bush.


















The doghouses showing how deep the snow is. Sassy was and has been inside the house with us the whole time. The snow and ice has freaked her out. I had to shovel a path to a mulched area so she could do her business.







The ruler shows the snow depth to be almost 5".












This is a picture from Sunday night when it all started.



We haven't had mail delivery or trash pick up all week. I hear the grocery stores are running low on supplies. This has been a good trial run in preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse!

eta: I keep editting this dang post, and blogger keeps moving my stuff around so the captions don't match the pictures. After 4 attempts to line them up, I'm quitting!

Hello 2011!

This past month zipped by so quickly. Part of that was because I got my annual cold/flu thing and spent part of the month napping, coughing or thinking about napping while the virus worked its magic. As for the other part, I quite honestly don't know where it went. We don't do much for the holidays, so that's not what ate up the time.

Anyway, 2010 was a year full of firsts for me. I started Fiber Charmer. I became a board member of the Atlanta Knitting Guild. I volunteered for both SAFF and SEFAA and had a good time volunteering. I learned how to can and canned a lot of relish from the cucumbers that we great. I learned that I had too many cucumber and tomato plants.

I'm not one for making New Year's Resolutions. It's so easy to think of all those things I want to change and then not do a one of them. I had a bit of madness, perhaps it was last year, and posted some resolutions.

So, these aren't really resolutions. They're tweaks to plans I already have.

I'm going to be a better vegetable gardener. With gas prices predicted to rise to $4 a gallon this year, grocery costs will be rising too. I've been making an effort to buy more locally grown produce, and in conjunction with this effort, I'm planning to be more effective with the foodstuffs that I grow here. Last year our beans died on the vine. The bean plants both mildewed and dried to a crisp with the extreme heat and humidity we had. While I still have some of that packet of seeds, I'll plant them earlier this year and see if I can beat some of those problems. The carrots never did much of anything, nor did the radishes. The cucumbers and tomatoes went totally crazy, growing over anything in their way and producing massive amounts of veggies.

Very soon, after the freak snows and the remaining remnants of the cold go away, I'll double dig another garden bed and get started earlier this year. I've been thinking about what I buy, and if I only grow lettuce, tomatoes, and some squashes, I'll be able to take a decent slice out of our grocery bill. Heck, if the county would let me have 3 chickens I wouldn't have to buy organic eggs anymore either. However, I know that's not going to happen.

Also in 2011 I'm going to learn how to pill a cat by myself. Right now it takes two of us to pill a cat, and I've been thinking that I should be able to handle 10-15 pounds of biting, hissing, angry kitty myself. I guess my plan of attack here is to learn how to quickly roll kitty burritos using groggy snoozy cats, a large towels and massive amounts of cat treats until they decide it's not so bad, at which point I can substitute whatever Rx they need for the treats. I figure I'm already scarred enough that what's one or two more scars, and as long as I don't need stitches, I'll be ok.

I'm sure there are others I need to be thinking about. The usual lose weight, exercise more one. The not letting my roots get so bad that I look like a redheaded skunk with the grey streak. That's one of the many things I'd love to get stem cells for. I want the hair I had as a child back. Thick, wavy and red instead of not as thick and mouse brown/grey with memories of red. OK, yes, I want stem cells to rejuvenate my skin, burn fat, and give me more energy that I could possibly need, but I guess my chances of that happening are about as good as winning one of the $300M+ lotteries!

I see I digress. The first seed catalogs have arrived in today's mail, so I'll be dreaming of fresh baby lettuce while watching the snow this weekend.

Belated Happy New Years!

Let's try this again

The pictures. Will blogger cooperate and let me prove that I'd been knitting my tuchus off?

Why yes, it did. Right now on the screen where I'm typing this post, it looks like I'll be able to comment beside each picture. We all know that once it gets published, who knows how it will turn out.

The blue dress and wrap are what I made for the Atlanta Knitting
Guild's annual bear presentation to the Georgia Center for Child Advocacy. The dress is made from Caron's Simply Soft with some Fun Fur added in to the hemline. The wrap is Fun Fur. I had them both in my stash, and it gave me a way to use them.

Next, we have some items I made for a swap amongst knitters who knit items for cats in shelters. I'll confess that I haven't knitted any cat blankets for donation yet. As I've mentioned
before, there are so many worthy charities out there, and I just
don't have time to knit for every single one of them. I do make an effort to knit for the local ones.

That said, the swap was to include a handknitted gift for the knitter and her cats. As you can see, the ones I knitted did pass Grey's seal of approval. Once again I was able to use stash yarn. The gal for whom I was knitting mentioned that purple was one of her favorite colors, and I had several skeins, whole and partial, of Plymouth Galway in my stash.

Thank you, Ravelry. I perused my target's favorites and found a hat that I would enjoy knitting. It is the Lotus hat, and the details can be found on my Ravelry projects page.

The mouse pattern was a free one that I found. I bought a mega sized container of fresh catnip to stuff the mousie after I felted it.

I had to take several pictures of the mouse since I thought it was

so cute. The one for my swap partner does have eyes that I embroidered.

Next you'll see a hat I knitted from more of the Simply Soft that was in my stash. This was for admission to a knit party I was attending. All the hats were donated to local charities, either Chemoflage or to the Atlanta Knitting Guild for distribution.

The Atlanta Knitting Guild also supports the Atlanta Women's Day

Shelter, so any hats that may not be soft enough for chemo patients will find good use.




Next, you will see 5 blind mice. My sister in law has started fostering kittens. I'm afraid that I encouraged her onto the slippery slope of cat rescue, and now they have 3 cats and

currently 2 fosters. I thought the least I could do was take her some cat toys. (Honestly, if she were more of a drinker, I'd take her bottle of her favorite beverage, because rescuing animals can be as challenging as it can be rewarding.)

Here is a hat that I have since finished. I can't remember if I've taken pictures yet as the battery died on the camera, and I need to recharge it. More stash yarn.

This final picture is a sock sample I knitted from my very own Chris Sock Yarn in the colorway Butterfly Bush. This is one of the yarns painted to pool if knitted in the proper way.

Have a great Sunday! We're having our high temperature right now. High winds and falling temperatures are on our agenda today. Possibly some snow flurries too. Thank goodness we have food, so let's just hope the power doesn't go out.