Sew what’s new?

I finally got around to shortening the curtain in DH’s office room. It looks so much better now. I was extremely pleased with my sewing machine yesterday. I didn’t have to tweek it, change the tension, re-thread it, or rip out anything. It worked like clockwork. Since I haven’t been doing as much sewing these days, I think I’ll hold off on buying a new machine. I just can’t justify getting a brand new machine if this one works fine (usually) for the little bits of sewing I do. What I’d really like to spend a huge chunk of change on is the Knit Picks Options Interchangeable Nickel Plated Circular Knitting Needle Set. Maybe I’ll ask for it for Xmas!

What a boring post this is today with no pictures. Sorry. I really have nothing exciting to share (unlike all my other super exciting posts). I’ve started the 2nd Jaywalker sock, even though I haven’t finished the first one yet. I knit the first sock from the cuff to the heel, put the sts on a holder and decided to cast on for the 2nd sock. I’ll knit the 2nd sock to the heel and then try to do them both on one long circular needle. I’ve never done 2 at once, so this should be interesting…

Oh, and strange thing about the Knit Picks Felici self-striping yarn. I started the first sock pulling the yarn from the center, and cast on with the yellow bit. Then when it came time to start the 2nd sock, I pulled from the center as before and was about to cast on with the yellow when I noticed that the color following the yellow was dark blue, not light blue. So upon careful examination, I’ve determined that both skeins were balled backwards from each other! I now have to pull the yarn from the outside on the 2nd sock or else the stripes in my socks won’t match. Weird. Wasn’t there an essay in one of the Yarn Harlot’s books about this? I think she ended up knitting, frogging, re-winding and re-knitting the 2nd sock multiple times because she should have been working from the other end.

Hope everyone’s having a lovely July so far. Wow, it’s already July. What happened to June?!

I still haven’t heard anything about my submissions to Knitty or JCA yarns. That’s fine. I’ll wait.

Mmmm, tofu yarn…

Yesterday I went to Knit One to get the Frog Tree Pima Cotton advertised on their website so I could finally start knitting up the prototype for the Om eye pillow. Sadly, they informed me that they haven’t carried it in their store for quite some time (I probably bought the last of their stock over a year and a half ago). I ended up changing my mind about the yarn anyway, mostly because I havn’t seen any silk/cotton blends that I liked. I decided to go with something different all together: Sublime Soya Cotton.

It has a very similar feel to silk with a lovely drape, but it actually contains soy. It’s made from by-products from the tofu manufacturing process. I like tofu! It’s classified as an eco-friendly yarn and I think that will appeal to a lot of people.

That, my friends, was the very last trip to Knit One I will ever make. My opinion is that each time I go there I’m not satisfied with their selection or their customer service (although customers Flo and Vivienne are always so knowledgeable and really nice to chat with). There are many other very nice LYS in the area that I would much rather give my paycheck to!

That’s my 2 cents.

Pumuckl killed my computer…

Yup, it died yesterday. I was happily knitting away, watching an episode of Pumuckl on YouTube when all of the sudden the screen went blue, then gibberish appeared on the screen, then nothing. I tried everything to get it to work again, but all it does is beep at me when I try to turn it on. So there you have it. My 4 month old laptop is dead. *sniff* Shame on you Pumuckl! I knew you were “der frechste Kobold der Welt”, but I had no idea you’d stoop this low…

So on to something not as sad. I’ve been on a hunt for the perfect yarn to knit up the Om eye pillow prototype, but haven’t had much luck. I’m looking for a cotton/silk blend, particularly a sport weight. Silk is supposed to be cooling, so a wool/silk blend is out of the question.

The original I made for myself used Frog Tree Pima Cotton, which incidentally is the same stuff I used for the Flapper Purse. However, I’m not loving the way the plies split while knitting, especially while working intricate cables. But I guess that’s how most cotton/silk blends are, so I may have to just live with it. Anyway, the LYS around here don’t seem to carry much in the way of cotton/silk blends. I’ve been to Natural Stitches and Yarns by Design and even though those are fine knitting shops, they didn’t have what I wanted. This afternoon I may just break down and go back to Knit One *shudder* and get some Frog Tree in a different color. Tonight is Stitch ‘N Bitch and I wanted to have some yarn to stitch while bitching (about how Pumuckl killed my computer)!

Birthday socks

DH was so sweet and ordered me some Knit Picks Felici yarn and needles for my birthday so I could make these:

The infamous Jaywalker socks. My socks are project #4399 in Ravelry. I cast on last night while we were watching the women’s gymnastics finals. After reading the pattern wrong multiple times (perhaps I had too much wine) I finally was off and knitting. The pattern is really very easy to remember, and the effect of the increases and decreases is stunning. I’m not loving the colorway Schooner all that much, but do really like the yarn. I fell head over heels for the colorway Arugula, but it was a limited edition color that sold out way before I could get my 2 skeins.

In other knitting news, the om chart is basically done, aside from a few tweeks here and there. I’m currently working on the legend for all those crazy symbols. And as it turns out, I don’t even need to save the cable chart as a pdf in Excel. I can just import the selected cells directly from Excel to Publisher. That will save me a lot of time. So thanks again, Marnie for introducing me to Excel for charting cables!

This is Space Command to Zoom…

Space command to Zoom
All systems are go for your message to Susan!

Hey, Susan!
It’s your birthday!
I’m in charge of the stars
And I’m here to say,
’cause Susan,
You’re the BIG STAR today!

My name is Zoom
And I live on the moon
But I came down to earth
Just to sing you this tune
Hey, Susan,
It’s your birthday today!

A present for you
I wanted to find
An outerspace creature
A one of a kind!
A wild whop or a kukelchoo,
An apple drop or a buzzardstew
Or maybe a 3-eyed tickleshay
For your birthday!

Did you ask:
“uh, what’s a kukelchoo?”
Well, up on the moon it’s nothing new
But that won’t do for you,
On your birthday!

I searched behind the clouds and stars
I even zoomed my bike to Mars
And met my friend the saucer man
And he said:
“Hey Zoom I got the bestest plan!
What your friend needs is something new,
So how about a song, just from YOU?”

And so tonight when you’re in bed
I’ll be singing to you as I zoom overhead
Singing, Susan! Happy Birthday
Singing, Susan! Happy Birthday
Singing, Susan! Happy Birthday
To you!

Happy Birthday, Susan!
See you next year!

I just couldn’t resist sharing the Captain Zoom birthday song. My parents gave me that song on 45 record for my birthday one year (yes, a 45 record, I am really THAT old…). It’s a personalized birthday song by Captain Zoom. Dave got one too, with his name instead of Susan. I thought it was the coolest thing ever, and wondered, how did they get MY name onto that record?? Aaahh, memories…

Here’s what I got from my lovely family this year.

-a laptop bag from my mom and dad
-the book Friday Night Knitting Club from my mom
-Knit Picks circular needles (size 6 [16"] and size 1 [32"]) from Markus
-Knit Picks Felici yarn in colorway Schooner (for the Jaywalker socks!) from Markus
-Starbucks gift card from Markus

What a sweet family I have! And check out this card from my brother. Sorry for the poor picture quality. I took the picture 3 times, and this is the best I could get. It says “for your birthday i ate everything in your fridge”.

I swear, Dave is the master at finding hilarious birthday cards!

You say it’s your birthday…

It’s my birthday too, yeah. And look at what arrived at my apartment!

I must confess that I do know what is in the large package from my parents. But I’ll be ever so patient and WAIT until my actual birthday tomorrow to open it. I hate waiting… (she says in a spanish accent). Quiz: what movie is that line from?

In other non-birthday related news, although this is just as good as getting a great big birthday present, I FIGURED OUT HOW TO CHART THE OM CABLE! Woo hoo! I spent a few hours at Starbucks yesterday afternoon feverishly charting and erasing and recharting, and just 5 minutes before I had to leave for yoga class, I cracked it. Talk about a close call. If I hadn’t finished, it would have been a miserable yoga class… I have a hard enough time turning off my brain during yoga on a normal, non-cable-figuring-out day, so that would have been torture. Anyway, the problem I was having was related to the placement of the “no stitches”. Once I finagled them around on the chart, I was able to fit my cable ever so neatly into a 25×31 grid. And hark, the chart still looks like an om symbol!

I found a great set of tutorials on Marnie’s blog explaining how to use Excel to chart knitting patterns. Since I’m pretty proficient in Excel, her tutorial helped me get started, and I took off from there. I charted half the cable last night in Excel, and wow, it looks really great so far. My only concern now is how to save it in a format I can easily use. I think the only option I have is to save it as a PDF. We’ll see if that easily imports into Publisher once the time comes to write up the pattern for the eye pillow.

Revisiting the “Om” eye pillow

I have a great talent for putting off projects. With each passing day, I dread working on them more and more until the thought of working on them makes me cringe. Then after about a year I decide it’s time to get my act in gear and pull out some of these projects that people have actually asked about.

PHOTO DELETED Sorry. I have some plans for this pattern…

One of these things is the “Om” eye pillow, which turned out so cute. I originally submitted the eye pillow design to Vogue On the Go: cables series, and the idea was rejected. Thus, my eye pillow and all it’s piles of notes sat all sad and crumpled in a zip lock bag in the corner of my knitting room. Then, after a year, I thought maybe I should put up the FO on my Ravelry page. I got so many hearts next to it that I finally decided to get over this procrastination thing and write up the pattern.

So here’s where I need some advice. My original notes are written out as: p2, k3, p2, etc, in addition to a very rudimentary cable sketched out on graph paper. I’m able to follow the written out instructions fine, and the chart does help a little. The problem I’m having is that there are multiple places where this crazy designer (me) tells you to increase, which adds a “no stitch” into the chart. Those things confuse the heck out of me. I understand the basic concept, it’s the actual application in this cable that doesn’t seem to add up. Some rows in the chart match up great, while others have “no stitches” inserted at semi-random spots, and some are completely missing “no stitch” symbols all together. This is because adding one in where it is appropriate jogs the cable crossing over one stitch, resulting in a wonky looking chart.

So what do I do here? Do I just go for the aesthetic of the chart? Do I just align the cable bits up, or should it be a completely accurate chart, stitch for stitch (or “no stitch” for “no stitch”)? In general, the thing I love about cable charts is that the chart shows what the finished cable will look like. If I add in the rest of the “no stitch” symbols, my chart starts to look a bit off. Uggh.

If anyone is reading this, could you please give me your 2 cents? I think I may have to ask someone to tech edit the chart once I’ve got it finalized…

WWKiP at Schenley Plaza

Today, June 14th, was the world wide knit in public day. bee-witch organized a great event this year!

Just after we arrived at Schenley Plaza, the security guard tried to kick us out because we didn’t have a permit to use the plaza. The “public” plaza. Huh? So bee-witch calmly explained that we weren’t selling anything, just knitting. And we told him we’d teach him to knit if he wanted to learn. Sure enough, on his coffee break, the security guard came strolling over for a lesson! Here’s simplesoul teaching the nice security guard to knit.

Schenley Plaza is a really nice place to hang out. The massive tent is up all summer long, and during lunch hour there’s usually a musician playing. Today it was the talented Brad Yoder. He serenaded us with his guitar, and even sang a song just for us knitters! And he commented that knitting is nice because “it doesn’t hurt people and it doesn’t pollute the environment”. Well put. Thanks, Brad!

Here’s DoulaKnits working on her Ruana shawl.

Knitsburgh, CrochetKnitRip and DoulaKnits.

And VeeKayEff working on a cardigan.

I met some really nice people who I hope will come to the weekly knitting groups!

Shadyside Stitch ‘N Bitch
Wednesdays from 6:30-8:30 PM
Coffee Tree Roasters on Walnut St. in Shadyside

iKnit
Sundays from 4-6 PM
Tango Cafe on Forward Ave (corner of Forward and Murray) in Squirrel Hill
FYI, we may not be meeting tomorrow because we all got together today. But feel free to visit Tango anyway for some yummy treats and coffee!

Walk signal socks

Genevieve from Wed night knitting made the Jaywalker socks, and they’re beautiful. Minh decided to make them, too, and her sock in progress (only one so far) is turning out really really cute. I, too, must make them. I feel the call of the Jaywalker. Except I have a problem with the name. Let me explain…

I do not Jaywalk. I always cross at croswalks when the light is green and I have the walk signal. ALWAYS. I am a law abiding pedestrian. And I STILL get honked at, verbally abused, and in one very odd case, chased after on foot by the guy driving the car who honked and verbally abused me. I am a pedestrian who ALWAYS follows the rules of the road, and yet I am still somehow in the wrong. WHY??? What do people have against me, the lowly pedestrian? What have I done to you? You’ll inevitably get to where you’re going in your car way before I get to my destination, so can you just wait 5 freakin’ seconds for me to walk across the damn street? And by the way, *ahem* how much did you pay for gas this week? Guess how much yarn I can buy with that? Case closed. (And I do apologize to pedestrian friendly drivers reading this. I know there are a few out there and I thank you from the bottom of my well trodden shoes!)

SO, after that tirade, let me explain to you how cool Ravelry is, if you aren’t already convinced. I look up the Jaywalker socks and find as of this instant 4337 projects. Then I browse the finished objects and find lots of people have used Knit Picks Felici yarn. Interesting. And the colorway 24110 Arugula catches my attention. Never in a million years would I have picked this color for these socks by looking at the Knit Picks catalog, but now having seen a handful of Jaywalker socks knit with this yarn, I am sold.

6-15-08: Arugula was a limited edition color. They don’t sell it anymore. I’d love to buy 2 skeins from someone if you have any in your stash you aren’t using…

My pattern was accepted!

Yippie, the pattern I submitted to Knitcircus was accepted! I don’t know if I’m allowed to say what the pattern is, but if you’ve been keeping up with my blog, you may get an idea. Anyway, Jaala just wrote to say it will be in either the Summer or Fall issue. She hasn’t decided which. But how exciting is this??

By day I work for a very prominent psychology research journal, so I deal with manuscript submissions on a daily basis. When I wrote up this pattern, I think I may have overdone it just a tad… At work I often receive, ummmmm, how shall I put this, interesting submissions with very unorthadox formatting, typos, etc… So I tried my best to be consistent with this pattern, and even include labels for figures. Probably WAY too much detail but I guess my hard work paid off!

So what else is new? Next weekend June 14th is World Wide Knit in Public day. There are 2 events going on in my area. Last year I hosted an event, but since Ravelry was relatively unknown then, there wasn’t as much advertisement, so we had a total of 4 people show up. Not all at the same time either, so it was pretty low key. This year should be a bigger event. I still have the sign I made last year that I can bring along.

Plug for Louet Gem Sport. This stuff is lovely. I highly recommend using it. A little goes a long way.