Classic Jolt-Fueled Midnight Hacker

Classic Jolt-Fueled Midnight Hacker http://www.cybermenology.com The collected rants, recipes, reviews and rambling of a 20-something geek. en-us Copyright 2007, Laura Thurber laura@cybermenology.com laura@cybermenology.com Personal Blog Just a taste... http://www.cybermenology.com/index.php?subid=0000000817 It's been a quiet, rainy day, perfect for encouraging creativity. While the baby back ribs are slowly roasting in the oven - they've been there for 5 hours so far, and the house smells unbelievable - I thought that maybe you would like to see a little bit of the new shawlette pattern that's been in the works here at Casa Cybermenology. It's a new opportunity to work with one of my favorite laceweight yarns, Baruffa Cashwool. This yarn comes in a multitude of colors, extremely generous yardage and the superfine merino is so soft to the touch. And as if that wasn't enough, this shawlette will be beaded! <center><img src="images/2012-04-22/starlight_teaser.jpg" width="500" border="1"> just a little touch of sparkle...</center> That's all for now, I have to go put the final baste on the ribs! Trillium and Arabella tatting patterns now available! http://www.cybermenology.com/index.php?subid=0000000816 I'm excited to announce that two new tatting patterns are available! <center>Trillium Bracelet <img src="images/2012-03-25/IMG_4293_sm.jpg" width="500" border="1"> </center> A bracelet which starts with a series of split rings, branching off on either side into a clover formation which reminded me of the Trillium flower. This bracelet looks stunning when beaded. The pattern is available by clicking <a href="./patterns/Trillium.pdf">here</a>. <center>Arabella Choker <img src="images/2012-03-25/Arabella_sm.png" width="500" border="1"> </center> A tatted choker is given additional stability and style when paired with a ribbon. This also can be adapted for beads. The pattern is available by clicking <a href="./patterns/Arabella.pdf">here</a>. In addition, I have been partnering with <a href="http://www.murphysdesigns.com">Murphy's Designs</a> to bring you Machine Embroidery versions of my tatting! These use machine embroidery techniques to create tatting-like effects. If you would like to view these embroidery patterns, Trillium can be found <a href="http://www.murphysdesigns.com/tatting_95.htm">here</a> and Arabella is coming soon! She turned me into a newt! http://www.cybermenology.com/index.php?subid=0000000815 I think I'll blame newts for my absence. Or gnomes. <a href="http://www.gnomespunyarn.com">Gnomes are good.</a> Really, it's a combination of work and inability to even look at the computer when I get home for anything more than half an hour or so of catching up on blogs. I always swore that I would never get tired of being on the computer - that working was just the warmup: the real fun started afterwards, and 4-6 hours of computer games was a perfectly normal day. Let's just say, we've scaled back a bit. In the last few months, I've finished two cardigans, a lace shawl, a handful of random amigurimi most of which were Christmas presents, and currently have a shawl, a pullover and a neverending pair of mittens on the needles. Tonight, I finished skeining up a very longrunning project: 4.6oz of rainbow-dyed Polwarth from Perchance to Spin, and ~6oz of black Polwarth from The Painted Tiger. Brooke at the Painted Tiger was particularly nice to me, since it's apparently really, really hard to dye fiber solid black. I think that it came out rather well, actually. <center><img src="images/2012-02-08/IMG_4055_sm.jpg" width="400" border="1"></center> <center><img src="images/2012-02-08/IMG_4056_sm.jpg" width="400" border="1"></center> The grand total is in the neighborhood of 1494... Unexpected Knitting http://www.cybermenology.com/index.php?subid=0000000814 It occurs to me that lately, my Ravelry feed is a more useful barometer of my continued productive existence than my own website. Maybe one of these days I'll try to code a WordPress-esque system for uploading photos and creating a WYSIWYG editor for myself; that might ease the process some. So, have I been designing anything lately? No, not so much. My job started out stressful and has become more so over the months and years, which sadly leaves me with little appetite for more work in Excel when I get home. I have sketches, but nothing to show you, dear readers. An argument for design could be made for the rather large purple shawl which is now (finally) finished, but which I will claim no designer credit for as it was made up entirely of bits and pieces from Heirloom Knitting and an edging from Victorian Lace Today glued together by math. <center><img src="images/2011-11-12/IMG_3911_medium2.JPG" width="500" border="1"></center> Nevertheless, I'm happier with it now than I was when I finished it. It's big - easily 70" across - but wears rather well, I think. The yarn is a milk protein/silk blend, and I think... Tour de Fleece 2011 Wrapup http://www.cybermenology.com/index.php?subid=0000000813 While my original game plan was to spin a two-ply laceweight from half a merino/??? fleece which I have in the closet, I soon realized that just sorting the fleece and dividing it in half would take the best part of a month's free time. So, midway through, I switched plans. I've had this muga silk sitting on my desk downstairs on a little tiny Golding for probably a year now. It's been worked on bit by bit, but I wasn't making any real headway and was getting decidedly tired of having it stare at me. (Fiber guilt trips are the worst!) <center><img src="images/2011-07-24/converted_img_2481_medium.jpg" border="1"></center> So, with about two weeks to go, two long weekend overnights to work and two weekdays off to compensate, I pulled out all the stops! Not counting the initial spindleful, the first 2oz was spun last week. The second I wasn't sure I could manage between going out on Thursday night and my wrists already not being in the best shape, but between staying home on Friday and working Saturday night, I was done by just about midnight. Plying started around 3:30am and was finished by... Tour de Fleece 2011 http://www.cybermenology.com/index.php?subid=0000000812 Now that it's, er, almost done, I've finally gotten some photos together of the very limited progress that I've managed to make during this year's tour! In the very first days I plied up 380 yards of Mountain Colors BFL. This was officially my fastest fiber-to-yarn achievement. I started on a Wednesday night and finished plying on Sunday. Yay! (Granted, some of the ridiculous rate was because I had to work that Wednesday night so there was some extra "awake" time...) There are looooooong color repeats; I did my level best to keep the colors in sync, but had to do some monkeying about in places while plying. I think that I'll use the final product in a Stripe Study shawl along with some grey handspun alpaca. <center><img src="images/2011-07-17/016_medium2.JPG" width="500" border="1"></center> My original goal was to spin up the half fleece which my friend Scylla from Knit Night gave me. It's a merino/something cross (parentage is a wee bit unknown) but it's very fine and spins easily from the lock. Luckily for me the fleece was washed already, because if there's anything that I don't have time for these days, it's scouring fleece. It migrates from a very... Wings Shawl pattern released http://www.cybermenology.com/index.php?subid=0000000811 I don't have much time left before I have to leave for the Knitters' Guild meeting, but as I have accomplished something this morning I would like to tell you about it. <center><img src="images/2011-06-11/Wings 011_sm.png" border="1"></center> The pattern for my Wings Shawl has been released. I'm quite proud of this one - it was a lot of work. Many thanks to all of my test knitters poppyred, WOWWOOL, makneta, lindse, Sajina, Valentina777, EveKnitter, and aliiceinahearse! The Wings Shawl pattern is written for two yarn weights and four sizes: Shawlette, Small, Medium, and <strike>Are You Sure?</strike> Large. Yardage requirements are between 450m and 1000m; the smallest size will fit into a single skein of Dream in Color Starry. Blocked size will vary between 60" x 30" to 90" x 40". <center><img src="images/2011-06-11/003.JPG" width="500" border="1"> The pattern is available via Ravelry for USD $3.99. <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/purchase/laura-helton-designs/68084"><img src="http://www.ravelry.com/images/shopping/buy-now.gif" border="0"/></a> <img src="images/2011-06-11/Wings 036.JPG" border="1" height="500"></center> Stringtopia Wrap-Up http://www.cybermenology.com/index.php?subid=0000000810 Right off the bat, I should tell you that <a href="http://sewsweetstitches.blogspot.com/">Melissa</a> is doing a much better job than I will. She had her camera out all weekend - me, not so much! When Dan and I walked into the Golden Lamb, we were greeted by the sight of at least a dozen people sitting in the lobby, all spinning away on drop spindles. My first thought was "We're in the right place!" Shelly ran right up and found out who I was and gave me my goodie bag, which was chock full of amazing things from <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/UglyShmugly">Ugly Schmugly</a>, Working Girl Handmade (can't find a link) and <a href="http://www.goodiesunlimited.com/">Goodies Unlimited</a>. Despite that, I still felt kind of out of place, so I sort of stood in a corner and pulled out the first spindle and fiber that came to my hand- a Trindle with some of the 'petrified' locks that Scylla gave me the other weekend when we were excavating her fiber stash. <a href="http://inaknitshell.blogspot.com/">LianaLi</a> solved my problem by immediately coming over and asking excitedly about the Trindle and making me feel right at home! <center><img src="images/2011-05-07/041_sm.jpg" border="1"></center> This was actually from our last day, when <a href="http://www.insubordiknit.com/">Jacey Boggs</a>... Stringtopia! http://www.cybermenology.com/index.php?subid=0000000809 Stringtopia. In a word: epic. More later, once the cramp in my treadling leg has settled down, I've sorted and photographed the bag(s) of stash acquisitions, and attempted to organize the knowledge gained into some sort of logical order. We got back home at around midnight last night, and it's sort of weird to be back in a world where not everyone (and I do mean everyone) pulls a spindle and fiber out of their bag whenever a few moments of down time present themselves. It was truly an immersive experience, and one which I can't wait to repeat next year. (Stringtopia 2012, go!) My camera sat in its bag almost all weekend but it's a good bet that the fair <a href="http://sandiwiseheart.wordpress.com/">Sandi Wiseheart</a> will have some up soon! Something else... http://www.cybermenology.com/index.php?subid=0000000808 Yesterday I transferred the muga silk that I've been working on from a Trindle to my itty bitty Golding. The Trindle, sorry to say, came out second best in an encounter with D's bowling bag. <img src="images/2011-03-20/001_sm.jpg" border="0"> I think I'm getting better at silk. More consistent, certainly, and between the last time I picked this up (months ago) to this weekend I've noticed a definite improvement in my control. It feels good to be moving in the right direction!