birthday cake

Thanks for all the nice birthday wishes! I did actually get some cake, however it was not an easy task. Markus and I ended up walking to 5 coffee shops before we found one that sold cake (Starbucks coffee cake doesn’t count, that’s something I would normally eat on a non-birthday). We had cake at the Coffee Tree on Walnut St. It was a chocolate sour cream cake with pieces of chocolate stuck to the sides. The cake was so beautiful, I wish I had brought my camera with me so I could have taken a picture.

I got some lovely birthday gifts as well. Beth and Lisa were so sweet to think of me while on their vacation in San Francisco. They bought me 2 hanks of Lorna’s Laces sock yarn in the color “Parry Hotter”. The colorway was inspired by the house colors of Gryffindor and dyed especially for the store Noe Knit. I’ll have to keep an eye out for a Harry Potter sock pattern…

Markus bought me an iPod Nano! So what am I currently listening to?

Samy Deluxe
ASD (Samy Deluxe and Afrob)
Def Leppard
Cafe Accordion Orchestra
Stash and Burn podcast

Because I’m just so au courant when it comes to music.

And finally some REALLY exciting news. One of my designs was accepted to Interweave Knits! Now to get busy knitting!

I participated in a research study and all I got was this lousy bottle of water

Yesterday while I was walking to Starbucks I was asked if I wanted to participate in a short, risk-free survey by one of the local universities. I said sure, why not. The survey went something like this (and I paraphrase):

You will be given a cup with a die in it. If you roll an even number, you’ll win $100. On a scale of 1-7, how happy would you be if you rolled an even number? (7 being extremely happy).

Next question: Ok, we lied. If you roll an even number you’ll win a bottle of water. Now how happy would you be? (1-7 again).

After reading the first question, I was pretty sure that there was no chance they’d really be giving out $100, so getting a free bottle of water sounded okay. I mean, surely not as good as $100, but hey, I was thirsty. So I rolled the die, it came up 6 and I got my free water. End of story? Not quite. After I left I remembered, the day before while I was running to my Zumba class I overheard the same students asking people if they would like to take this survey and they would get $3 for participating, not a bottle of water. Hmmm, so where’s my $3! You know, $3 can buy two short coffees at Starbucks…

In knitting news, let’s see… As you know, I received a bag of yarn from JCA/Reynolds and I’ve been swatching like crazy. I have a few good (and bad and ugly) design ideas in my head. My husband, who calls himself a “theoretical knitter”, suggested some of the strange ones. He always has some wacky and downright hilarious ideas when it comes to knitting. Like the “triple pointed needle” (as opposed to the double pointed needle). Hmmm… His latest idea is the “Sconcho”, which is a cross between a scarf and a poncho. I think that idea is so bad it’s good. FYI, I’m not now, nor am I ever planning to knit a sconcho. Please feel free to knit one yourself, though. The swatch pictured above is the wrong side of a lace swatch in progress, not a sconcho.

And tomorrow is my birthday! I plan on knitting and eating a piece of cake. Last year I didn’t get any cake.

WWKIP 2009

Today I met up with a group of knitters and crocheters for the World Wide Knit in Public Day. It’s held on the 2nd Saturday of June each year. The gals from the Three Rivers Crochet group did a wonderful job hosting the event! There were even door prizes (in a tent with no doors)…

I’m glad I took so many pictures because, in typical Susan fashion, only a handful actually turned out ok. *sigh*

We had at least 25+ people show up to knit and crochet this year.

Our lovely hosts Diane and Rebecca from the Saturday crochet group.

Becky, her daughter, and her mom, Lyn from the Saturday crochet group.

And how sweet is this, today is Beth’s one year knitting anniversary (with us)! We met her at last year’s wwkip and she’s been part of the Wednesday knitting group ever since.

Carrie and Minh, working on a hat and scarf respectively. The yarn Minh is using for her scarf is sparkly and really gorgeous.

All in all a really nice day! I even got a chance to get to the yarn store and buy some yarn. Like I need more (see below).

JCA/Reynolds sent me another bag full of sample yarn. One of the perks of being a designer, I guess. Now to get swatching!

Ouch!

Never a dull moment on the bus. The lady sitting in front of me started asking random people around her if they wanted some of her Cheetos, and then seemed kind of surprised when they said no. I love my commute.

The sock conundrum

So I’m having some issues involving the “pico” socks (Morrocan Lace Socks).

1) I now have a knitting related injury from said socks, which was bound to happen because…

2) I’m knitting said socks really really tightly on size 0 bamboo dpns.

I love love love the Hazel Knits sock yarn, it’s gorgeous. I love love love the pattern, it’s cute as heck. However, in order to get the gauge listed on the pattern and on the ball band, I had to go down two whole needle sizes, hence the size 0 needles. And the socks still seem to be wider than expected, even with me knitting as tightly as I possibly can. This has really wreaked havoc on my left arm. So I’m now out of commission for a few days, I guess. What am I going to do at my knitting group tomorrow?

82472 Tank Top

Last summer I did a design for a yarn company’s spring 2009 pattern booklet. Since it’s almost summer, I thought I’d finally show off the design. I really like this top! Here I am modeling it before we had to part ways. *sniff*

The call for submissions asked for designs that were “70’s updated, 40’s reinvented, or tribal understated”. I went to the library for some books that explained 1940s fashion and came up with the basic shape for this top. Then to make it interesting for the knitter and the wearer, I added an I-cord, some lace, and a few decorative buttons along the right side, which I think turned it into a cross between 1940s and tribal (whatever “tribal” actually is). They accepted my design with only slight modifications, namely, make the armholes less deep.

FYI, proposal sketches you send to magazines and yarn companies need not be glorious works of art. Nor do they need heads. See above.

The yarn they supplied me with is called Rise & Shine by Reynolds. It’s a sport weight cotton yarn that is supposed to knit up at 6.25 st per inch if you follow what’s written on the ball band. If you want bullet proof fabric, that is. I managed to eek out 5.75 st per inch, which resulted in a much drapier fabric. Amazing what half of a stitch less per inch can do!

Unfortunately, I have no idea where you can purchase this booklet. My LYS doesn’t carry any JCA/Reynolds yarns or patterns, and they don’t even know of any place around this area that does. If you’re really clamoring to knit this tank top, I advise you to ask at your LYS and maybe they can order a booklet for you. It’s the Reynolds Spring 2009 booklet.

The “Pico” Sock

I had a conversation with Markus yesterday morning that went something like this:

Me: *sigh* I’m not happy with the picot edging I started on the lacey socks. I think I may just rip it out and try something else.

Markus: Why not try the nano cast on?

Me: What’s that?

Markus: Well, pico is 10^-12, and nano is 10^-9.

Me: *blank stare* No, I mean picot spelled with a “T”.

Markus: Oh.

So Markus proceeds to look up the definition of “picot” in the Scrabble dictionary we have sitting on the table.

Markus: “Picot \ v -ED, -ING, -S: to edge with ornamental loops”

Me: But these aren’t supposed to be loops.

Markus: Well, there’s your problem right there.

Me: ?

This is what we discuss at breakfast. Riveting stuff, huh?

In his defense, he makes quite an effort to “talk knitting” with me, being a non-knitter and all. He calls himself a theoretical knitter…

So I ended up ripping out the picot (spelled with a “T”) cast on. I tried to do a modified picot cast on which looked pretty nondescript, so I ripped that out, too. Then I tried the Channel Island cast on which would have looked better had I been more uniform with my tension. Ripped that one, too. I thought about doing a provisional cast on and picking up the stitches around the edge after the sock is done to work a decorative bind off or something, but that would mean extra ends to darn in. Nope. In the end I settled on a plain, boring, easy longtail cast on.

Here is the sock in progress at the First Fridays at Frick concert, a la Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.

I’m afraid the sock may be turning out too wide. These socks are a gift for someone and I’m not sure what her leg/foot size is exactly. I want to keep it a surprise so I’m not asking her for her measurements. My gauge is off by 1/2 a stitch (should be 8 st = 1″, but I’m getting 7.5 sts = 1″), and this is already using one needle size smaller than what the pattern calls for. I’m resisting starting a second sock on size 0 needles because… seriously, size 0. No, not happening. Plus the only size 0 needles I have are double points, and I’m a magic loop convert.

I’ll keep you posted.

The 2 “M”s enjoying the concert.