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 http://www.cybermenology.com/index.php?subid=0000000796 I'm trying to make my packing list for our trip to New York this weekend, and for various reasons it seems like all of my knitting WIPs and all of my spinning projects won't work. Metal needles, not mindless enough, too big to fit in the suitcase*, spindle is too pointy; you name it, the TSA would object to it. I'm looking over my stash page on Ravelry (which, if you haven't personally witnessed it, is fairly ridiculous) and all I can think is "I can't believe I have nothing to knit! Great. My stash has become my clothes closet. * I have not yet achieved the level of obsession which leads me to pack less clothes in favor of using the space for knitting.** ** But I've thought about it. I'm not dead yet http://www.cybermenology.com/index.php?subid=0000000795 I'm not dead, I promise. I may have dropped off of Facebook and my AIM presence is sporadic, but I'm still here - knitting, spinning and occasionally getting out of the house. More of the latter than the former, it seems. We sweated last weekend while watching the Cards soundly beat the Cubs, and yesterday I went along with D while his bike group went on a half-day ride around St Louis and some of the state parks to the south. (Note to weather: stop being hot. Please?) Next weekend we'll be in Iowa, and the weekend after that in New York. I think it slows down after that.. but don't quote me. Despite my newly-renewed resolution to experience more than what I can see from my computer chair, I've actually gotten quite a bit done. It didn't feel like much at the time, but when gathered up like this I look rather productive: <cm-cut> <center><img src="images/projects/harvey_kimono/converted_img_2163.jpg" width="500" border="1"></center> Pattern: Harvey Kimono by Louisa Harding Yarn: Berroco Comfort DK. The yarn's splitty but soft as butter and machine-washable washable; I've used it before and I'll use it again. Needles: US 5 for the garter st, US 6 for the stockinette. <center><img... FO: Handspun suri alpaca/merino http://www.cybermenology.com/index.php?subid=0000000794 I haz a proud. <center> <img src="images/yarn/handspun/tourdefleece2010_500x375.jpg"> </center> 70% Suri Alpaca/30% Merino from Surina, purchased at MDSW 4oz Spindle-spun and chain plied 222 yards, about 14 wpi after washing and thwacking. Tour de Fleece 2010: Victory. The funny thing http://www.cybermenology.com/index.php?subid=0000000793 The funny thing about spinning is that it seems to make me a better knitter (or crocheter, as the case may be, but it often isn't). To wit: When I first re-started knitting, I scorned the idea of swatching. "Hah!" I said. "Swatching takes too much time. It can't turn out too badly!" Then, I learned about garment fitting, gauge, math and How To Make Your Knitting Exactly What You Want. See also: baggy socks. And then I was almost afraid to not swatch ...but I still didn't wash the swatch. And then I started spinning. With that came (rudimentary) knowledge of singles twist, plying twist, active twist, relaxed twist, what happens when you weight your yarn after washing versus not weighing it, and all the odd things that can happen to a perfectly nice-looking skein of yarn once it hits good old H20. Armed with better information than multiple forum posts of the "because I said so" type, I'm now afraid to not wash the swatch! And you know, it's interesting to pick up knowledge this way: in stripes, or layers. Drawing purely from my own... Tour de Fleece, day 11, and FO: The Math Hat http://www.cybermenology.com/index.php?subid=0000000792 Bob Sheppard, the only Voice of Yankees baseball I can remember, passed away on July 11th. George Steinbrenner passed away today of a heart attack. Needless to say, this is not a good week for Yankees baseball. They both contributed so much to the team and to the sport, and will sorely be missed. RIP, boys. In happier news, I've hit the halfway mark on my Tour de Fleece spinning. I may have said earlier that it was 2oz of alpaca/merino; wrong. It's 4oz in total. The 2oz I've spun are already more than I've done in a month before (wheel spinners out there, stop laughing; I like my spindles!) and I'm happy with the singles thus far. They'll be chain plied (another new skill) as I couldn't be arsed to divide the pencil roving into 3 even piles beforehand. Lest my stash get too small (I thought I said stop laughing!) I used a Groupie credit at <a HREF="http://www.theloopyewe.com">The Loopy Ewe</a> to buy a lovely 4.9 oz braid of Polwarth roving in <a HREF="http://www.theloopyewe.com/browse/roving/perchance-to-knitspin/polwarth-subdued-rainbow/">Subdued Rainbow</a>. I'm hoping to spin it up in laceweight looooooong color repeats, either divided for 2ply or chain plied. I also picked up... So I built myself a lightbox. http://www.cybermenology.com/index.php?subid=0000000791 So I built myself a lightbox. <img src="images/yarn/converted_img_2294.jpg" width="450" border="0"> I have to crop things a bit oddly still, since what I'm using as a posterboard backdrop is about an inch and a half less wide than the box is- so if I'm not careful you can see cardboard in the background. That can be rectified the next time I go to Hobby Lobby or Michael's, though. I think I like it! <img src="images/yarn/converted_img_2295.jpg" width="450" border="0"> I put in some work on the sleeve of my Twist Cardigan, too. (You thought I'd forgotten about it, didn't you? Nice try!) There's a mistake in there. I know where it is. No need to tell me. <img src="images/projects/twistcardigan/converted_img_2301.jpg" width="450" border="0"> In other news, the Tour de Fleece starts on Saturday. We won't be here, as there's a family reunion that day, but I'm not too worried. My goal is to suck less at the suri alpaca mentioned a few posts down, and since I want a worsted or aran 3-ply I think I'll be able to spin it up in a month. I did some training with a 2-ply mini skein just to see how it would behave after washing and thwacking; it fluffs... You know... http://www.cybermenology.com/index.php?subid=0000000790 You know... <img src="images/yarn/handspun/2010-07-01%2011.35.45.jpg" width="450"> There may be better ways to relax and improve on a crappy day... <img src="images/yarn/handspun/2010-07-01%2011.35.58.jpg" width="450"> But I really can't think of a one. <img src="images/yarn/handspun/2010-07-01%2011.40.17.jpg" width="450"> Comments are fixed http://www.cybermenology.com/index.php?subid=0000000789 I am reasonably sure that comments are working properly now. As to why the site doesn't display properly formatted in Safari on the iPad (and presumably iPhone), I don't know, but it's not serious enough for me to want to find out why Safari doesn't like <center> tags. My spindling fingers are tired http://www.cybermenology.com/index.php?subid=0000000788 <img src="images/mollie/converted_img_2227.jpg" width="450"> It's alright Mollie, I wasn't using that anyway. Today was a great day in fiber-acquisition land! And some of it I didn't even have to pay for (swaps are the greatest thing since sliced bread, I swear. New toys, and it's all "free")! First was this amazing 3oz batt of merino and bamboo from <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5207884">Butterfly Girl Designs</a>. I've been coveting this for awhile, and a swap with a lovely Ravelry user got it for me! <img src="images/yarn/handspun/converted_img_2237b.jpg" width="450"> And then we have 4oz of not quite as high-grade but still merino from <a href="http://www.etsy.com/people/malinablue">Malinablue</a>, which is all sorts of amazing colors: <img src="images/yarn/handspun/converted_img_2234.jpg" width="450"> Then Dan and I went wandering in Old Town St Charles this afternoon because one of the spice shops up there, <a href="http://www.historicstcharles.com/Attractions/Item.aspx?ID=496">Figuero's</a>, is apparently a local source for <a href="http://www.stickypigbbq.com/">Sticky Pig BBQ Sauce</a>! (A bonus in itself.) Two blocks down from that shop is <a href="http://knitandcaboodle.com/">Knit and Caboodle</a>, a lovely LYS which used to have some very pretty natural-colored Suri Alpaca :) <img src="images/yarn/handspun/converted_img_2239.jpg" width="450"> In conclusion... I will be ever so slightly busy if I want to have a prayer of getting through all of this ;) Surprise! http://www.cybermenology.com/index.php?subid=0000000787 Yestereday I started work on a secret project. It's rather unlikely that the recipient will ever read this, so I'm not worried about sharing it with those of you who do. I need a very specific amount of very nice yarn. It's given me an excuse to break into the alpaca/silk from Gale's Art that I bought at MDSW, too. A few mis-spins have gotten me a bit farther into it than I'd planned, actually ;). Note to self: you have no idea how to judge yardage. None. On the plus side, after I 2-plyed what I spun last night, the resulting yarn was perfectly balanced. No kinks, nothing. Go me! Since I felt bad about throwing out 3 yards of perfectly good yarn, this morning I braided it. No idea what I'll do with it... Maybe put jewelry clasps on the ends and call it a bracelet. <center><img src="images/yarn/handspun/2010-06-23%2020.28.13.jpg" width="450"></center>