Secret Pals 4 Questions

1.Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer high-end/natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you?

I am a hand spinner, so, yes, I’m a yarn snob. Only natural fibers for me – acrylic makes me cringe. So does any type of novelty yarn (although I will admit to having some very expensive black novelty laying around to make a collar for an as yet un-knit shell.)

2. Do you spin? Crochet?

Yup, I spin, but I can’t crochet – it’s too painful. Sigh. I really admire lace doilies and especially fillet crochet, but the tiny hooks aggravate my wrist, arm and shoulder, so I can’t do them myself.

3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.)

No allergies.

4. How long have you been knitting?

Since 1996 when I received a spinning wheel for Christmas.

5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?

Not at the moment, but I’m considering it.

6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)

Lavender!

7. Do you have a sweet tooth?

Oh, yes. Dark chocolate is my fave. If it has caramel in it, so much the better.

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?

Most all of them – quilting and sewing, cross stitch and embroidery, knitting, and assorted paper and bead-related things, but none of them as seriously as knitting. I love to make all kinds of things, and I prefer to own things that were actually crafted by human hands. Someday I hope to get a lathe and make all of my own spinning tools.

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)

It really depends on my mood. I listen mostly to Top 40 and Adult Alternative, but I’ve been known to play old country or heavy metal when I’m cleaning house. I can’t be pigeon-holed into one genre ;-)

10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer?

Orange! Anything on the warmer side of the color palette.

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?

One man, one boy, 3 cats and a dog. A horse this Spring, maybe. Sheep sometime in the future.

12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know)

To own my own fiber shop. That’s way out there, but I would like to eventually get off the corporate roller coaster and define my own destiny. I would like to have some sheep (now that I have the land) and raise my own fiber to spin and sell. This small town won't support that sort of industry at this point, though, so I teach at the local Community College - just trying to spread the addiction...er...love of the fiber arts, around.

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?

Basic wools – Patons, Nature Spun, Dale, Manos, Peruvian Highland Wool, Cascade 220 – nothing frou frou, just your basic wool, and I love a bargain - I'm always looking in the thrift shops for cheap yarn. Not that I really need more yarn, I just have this little stash problem...

14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?

Novelty.

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?

As always, socks. I like cables and lace – texture over color.

16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?

Socks. I have 5 pairs on the needles at the moment.

17. What are you knitting right now?

Socks, Sophie bags, a handspun shawl, and various class samples. Do you see a theme here? ;-)

18. What do you think about ponchos?

Love them. I work in a very cold office, so I wear a poncho that I made about 5 years ago all the time. I prefer smaller, fitted designs, not the huge muu muu designs.

19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?

DPNs for socks, circs for most everything else.

20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?

Bamboo!

21. Are you a sock knitter?

Of course.

22. How did you learn to knit?

Taught myself from a book.

23. How old is your oldest UFO?

Knitting? Only a couple of years, but I have sewing projects that are much older and many, many HALFPINTS, and lots of wool to spin.

24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?

I love cats and horses, but not the animated kind. I guess Pikachu, if I had to choose.

25. What is your favorite holiday?

None of them, really. The commercialization of the major holidays is a real turn off for me.

26. Is there anything that you collect?

Not really, although I would like to get some more decks of tarot cards – it’s my latest thing. I like roosters, but don’t really collect them. I’m trying to minimize the clutter in my life, so collections kinda go against that…

It’s moving day

Rearranging day, to be more precise.



This is what my office looks like today. The Boss has hired an EIT who will start next week. This means that we need to shuffle things so that he’ll have his own desk, etc. Yesterday was spent moving furniture around. Half of each of the two new desks has arrived, but we have no tools at the office to break down this desk or to put together the new ones. Guess what I’ll be doing the rest of the day? You got it – knitting a sock! I don’t do heavy moving, at home or at work, so R. has to do the heavy stuff, and I will knit and watch. I have no idea when his computer will arrive.

I cast on my first project of 2005 last night at knitting class – a blue sock.



Not very exciting, but I need a mindless project right now. Class went very well; T bought some great yarn (3 different kinds of wool and two sets of needles, so she could work on both socks at the same time. Yeah, she’s hooked!) and cast on her first sock, P. knit the heel flap, turned the heel and picked up the gusset stitches for her first sock, and J. worked on her slipper. Not bad for a bunch of newbies – no fun fur scarves for this bunch! Nuh-uh! Not allowed in my class.

You see the book under the sock? It’s one of those Reader’s Digest condensed versions of four popular novels. What is the point of that? I mean, those paperbacks are not exactly deep, so why abridge them? I’ve never understood the whole concept of abridging them – it’s only a few hundred pages (with wide margins and large text) in the original form, but some editor cuts out another 30% or so? Maybe I read faster then some, but I want the whole thing, not the chopped version. It’s like watching a great movie that you saw in the theater on network TV – it’s just not the same with all of the good parts taken out. Whatever floats your boat, but I’ll take my movies and books uncut, thankyouverymuch.

Back to the grind. Yawn. I can knit a sock in 5 hours. Think I can finish this one while supervising today? I’m gonna give it my best shot.

The drama for the week is over. I hope.

There has been entirely too much drama here at Casa Cat in the last few weeks, but I think things are settling down, at last. I hope.

The weekend was very productive! Lookee here -



I shouldn’t be posting this pic here, as I won’t send these off until later today, but I am so proud and happy about these mittens that I can’t resist. The man color is a Shetland/Mohair blend that I spun into a 3-ply yarn, and the thrums were hand dyed by Sandy Sitzman My first thrummed mittens! We won’t quibble about the missed deadline. I’ve resolved not to beat myself up about this shit, but to be more diligent about keeping ahead of deadlines, self-imposed or not.

Moving right along, I haven’t started my Sockapalooza socks yet, but I have chosen my yarn. I’ll try to post a pic tomorrow.

Secret Pals 4 should be starting up soon, but I haven’t gotten the name of my Pal yet.

I did not manage to cast on for the EzasPi shawl yet, but I will this weekend. It’s a fairly fast knit, and there is no deadline, so no worries.

I spent the weekend outside cutting down Scotch Broom and picking up the yard. It was wonderfully warm! I was outside in a T-shirt, and that never happens in January in Oregon! The forecast for this weekend doesn’t look so promising, but the weather people in this area have been so far off the mark that I put no stock in what they say. No snow here, and no chance of it, either, and I am so glad. I really should live in the desert somewhere – I hate the cold and the rain.

I’ve been spinning up some Merino in deep shades of forest colors; greens, brown, a little red and gold. I love this fiber, and may have enough for a small shawl. I’m trying for about fingering weight, so we’ll see. It’s my evening meditation if I don’t have much else going on.

The Fuzzy Feet are done (this is an amazingly fast knit) and felted, and I hate them. Once again, they are way too large at the ankle. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong with this pattern. I’ve knit 100 pairs of socks, so I know it’s not the shaping, but they continue to come out in the wrong proportions. I told myself that I’d try it twice before throwing out the pattern, so this is it. I’m going to rescue this pair by doing some creative serging, and then I’m going to use my brain to knit a pair that will fit me. I really like the idea of felted slippers, and I will be victorious! I'll post the pattern for those of us with long, skinny feet when I have it finished.

I’ve signed up to teach some classes at the yarn shop in Corvallis, and they will start the second week in February, so I have class materials to get ready, and charts to work up for my sample knitters, and for myself, and the Wool Room is a mess and I need to take inventory, and the list goes on and on. Luckily, work is slow today, so I better get started.

I'm as blue as can be

I’m depressed, and I try not to watch the evening news. It’s a shame. I didn’t vote for him.

Go here for an eloquent explanation.

No one would ever accuse me of being politically knowledgeable, so I generally keep my mouth shut. That may change in the near future. For today, I will work and knit and not buy a thing. I feel it’s all I can do.

On lists and things...

I’ve come up with a little weekly schedule to help me finish my UFOs –

Saturday (because the week really starts with Saturday) – Purple cabled socks and new designs.

Sunday – Ribby.

Monday – Surprise Socks.

Tuesday – Spinning (since so many other fiberholics out there spin on Tuesday)

Wednesday – Declutter, with the Wool Room top on the list.

Thursday – Iron/repair/finish/laundry.

Friday – Sewing.

Lunchtime – Exchange projects.

I set up this schedule 3 weeks ago, and have yet to follow it for even one day. I’ve been doing other things at lunch and at night I’m too tired (or too involved in some other thing) to consider knitting on anything that requires the least bit of thought. Why do I have to go to work in the Winter? It’s the perfect time to stay home and knit in front of the wood stove all day. Oh, yeah, I’m not independently wealthy! Damn! Add yard chores and weekly knitting/spinning classes, and it throws everything off. Sigh.

I posted a WIP list the other week, and only one thing has been crossed off, but I’ve added three others. What was I thinking? I need to get back on track. I need focus. I need to be independently wealthy.

So, my sockapalooza partner is open to any kind of socks. I have some handspun Faulkland Fine that’s ready to go, if I can only settle on a pattern. An allover ribbed design would show off the yarn, but ribs bore me to tears. Cables would be nice, but would not show up well in this crazy-don’t-worry-about-colors when plying yarn. Lace would also get lost. Any ideas? The yarn is shades of blue and green with some white thrown in for interest and I plied willy-nilly so it’s nice and splotchy. It’s around DK weight, so a 60-stitch sock will work.

I sent off 3 Pi charts to people who were interested today. I was dithering around, thinking I needed to sex them up, and finally just sent them off. These are test patterns, after all, not published designs. Being a perfectionist really helps my tendency of being a procrastinator, doesn’t it? It’s a vicious cycle, I tell you! For instance, I’m still working on my NYC trip journal. At this rate, I’ll forget the good stuff before I ever get it written down. It’s on the list, really, it is!

Knitting class tonight. P. has decided that she wants to knit socks, so we’ll cast on together tonight and then I’ll have to stay ahead of her until she’s gotten the hang of it. Add another project to the list. T. is knitting a hat – easy-peasy – and J. wants to make slippers from a vintage pattern. I just love it when everyone wants to do something different! No dead muppet scarves for my students! I’ve also agreed to teach at the yarn shop in Corvallis on the weekend. If only there was real money in teaching knitting!

Time to get back to my real job.

Where does the time go?

Here we are at the beginning of another week, and I have no idea how I got here. Wasn’t I just napping a few minutes ago, snuggled up on the couch with the remote in one hand and the Siamese cat sleeping on the other, making it go numb? I really hate it when the weekend disappears in a haze of fog and rain and soft music.

The weekend was not all napping, though. I removed and replaced a zipper in M.’s leather coat. By hand. I think my right thumb may just fall off before day’s end. Why did I do it by hand? Well, it’s not an easy job and I wanted it to look perfect, if at all possible, and putting it under the presser foot of my possessed sewing machine would insure that it would look like crap. Besides, I needed an excuse to sit in front of the TV watching trashy stuff like Battlestar Galactica, and the leather is too thick for my machine.

I think my sewing machine may be dying. It’s been in to the shop, and they pronounced it healthy, but I have my doubts. If I had some extra cash laying around I would go shopping for a new one, but for now, I’ll limp along with a very unpredictable machine.

The first FO of 2005 was a rain hat. Pics another day, when I can get M. to pose for me. I made the hat, and it was good. It was also too small for M. Hmmmm….It fits me pretty well, so I made another in the next largest size. It’s not the same. Same pattern, same fabric, I was careful to cut with the grain markings, but it’s just not the same. I may do it again, just to prove that I can make this fabric behave. Of course, since his head is well protected, it did not rain at all over the weekend. Whatever.

The ST Exchange mittens are almost done. I just have thumbs to go! Hurrah! I don’t know why this project is taking so long – I just can’t seem to get in a groove with these mittens. A quick wash and block, and they will be sent off, in the hopes that I can get my groove back and knit with something approaching normal speed.

A new round of knitting classes has started, and it’s a lot of fun. All three are from Sweet Home, and all three swear that they know lots of people who want to learn to knit. It would be so nice to have a regular knitting meet-up again! That’s one of the things I miss most about Portland. That and the great grocery store variety.

Joey has made a full recovery and is even more annoying than he was before, if that’s possible. Sheesh, spend a few bucks on a cat, and he thinks he’s too good to use a communal water dish! Little shit woke me up at 3:00 AM. He was stuck in my closet. I don’t recall locking him in there, but I guess I did. He’s not all that bright, or he would have pushed a little harder on the door and let himself out.

Happy Monday!

Another day, another dolla

Joey the cat is still with the vet. The catheter was removed, but he was unable to pee, so it will be put back in this AM. TMI? Probably. Damned cat is into the grocery budget now…

I started a new project for M. last night – a rain hat. He needs a waterproof hat to wear on his boat. He has one, but it’s too heavy. He gave me a gift certificate for The Rain Shed for Christmas, and of course I had to spend it on Friday when we were sent home because the power went out. Hurrah for small power outages! The material quantities on this particular Green Pepper pattern are way off! I have enough fabric to make half a dozen of these hats! Anyway, it’s all cut out and ready to go. I do need to make a quick trip to the fabric store at lunch time to get some black thread – the stuff I have is all cheap and flimsy – and I’ll try to find some buttons for the ST mittens while I’m there. No stash enhancement will happen, I promise myself!

While at The Rain Shed, I picked up a 1.5-yard remnant of a Berber polar fleece in a bright, cheery red. I have no idea what I’ll use it for, but it’s such a happy color that I couldn’t resist. Any ideas? I don’t think it’s enough for a jacket, and it might be too lofty for a vest (I don’t want to look like I weigh 300 pounds) and I don’t need any hats or things like that. Maybe I’ll just add a binding of some sort (lots of options in the stash for that!) and use it as a throw on the couch. It doesn’t have much stretch, so it shouldn’t warp out of shape.

The first mitten is not finished yet. Sigh. I feel very bad about this project taking so long. This is a common problem for me – I get involved in a project, solve the problems that it presents, and then I’m done. I have no need to actually finish the thing – the joy is in the planning and problem solving. I don’t know how many projects are in the stash right now just waiting for the last touches. I’m still hopeful that I’ll be able to make a huge dent in that number this year. Hell, it’s only the 6th – I’m still optimistic.

Here’s a list of UFOs that are readily handy and will be worked on regularly in the near future –

M.’s rain hat
Dan’s hat
ST exchange mittens
Lacey bookmark in very fine silk thread
Brisa, revised
Purple cabled socks
Surprise cabled socks (I can’t say anything more about these, but I’ll post pics when the recipient has received them)
Koigu bag made with yarn from my SP3 Secret Pal
Purple Sophie bag – this one lacks only a handle of some sort
At least 3 quilts that are cut out and ready to piece together
3 sock designs
5 shawl designs
Ribby
Some small cross-stitch herb pictures – a colorful addition to my kitchen, some day
Handspun triangular shawl in shades of gray

I think that’s it, but there are likely many more that I just can’t recall at the moment. I’d like to add a whole slew of home improvement projects to the list, but let’s not get crazy.

Update on Joey – the vet called and he’ll be able to go home tonight. Who woulda thought I’d be thrilled that my cat can pee. I must be insane.

First post of 2005. Yawn.

Finally! Here’s my latest sock design -



These are called Serpentine Socks and were knit by Kelly in VA. Aren’t they great?!? The yarn is Nature Spun worsted weight and they are warm and cozy. They’ll be available here later today, so come on by and take a look!

Many thanks to my co-worker, Ryan Jameson, for braving the cold to model these for me.

The New Year came in with a yowl here at Casa Cat.



Joey the Fat Cat developed a urinary blockage that necessitated an emergency trip to the vet late Saturday night. He appeared to be improving over the course of the day, but when the bleeding started, he had to see the doc. I called the local vet, but he only sees established patients after hours. WTF? I guess you’re out of luck if you’re new to town (not that we are, really) and have an emergency. So we traveled one town over, where the vet is very nice. She even took Joey home with her on Sunday when she wasn’t happy with how slowly he was coming awake after having a catheter inserted. He spent the rest of the day and the following night lolling around in front of her fire. He’ll likely be insufferable when I bring him home, hopefully later today. He’s now worth $500. Am I crazy? Apparently. I love that cat, but really! He better never misbehave again!

Knitting on my exchange mittens proceeds very slowly. I like the results, but I just can’t seem to make the knitting go any faster. I should finish the hand on the first one tonight and the second should go faster, now that I know (I think) what I’m doing. What can I say? I’ve never thrummed before!

Others are posting lists of what they accomplished, fiber-wise, in 2004. Damned if I can remember anything other than a little silk bag, a pair of orange socks (pics still to come) and 3 Sophie bags. I did some designing, but I didn’t do the actual knitting, so I don’t think those projects count. I sewed some cushions for M’s boat. I planned a lot of things, but they are still in the HALFPINT or UFO stage.

I’ve decided that 2005 will be the Year of the Stash for me. I plan on using up my stash of yarn, spinning fibers, fabric, beads and assorted other stuff before getting anything new. I won’t say that I can use 40% new stuff or anything like that, because I have so much stash of all kinds that substituting will be possible. I may have to buy a few notions (zippers, buttons and the like) but fabric, yarn and fiber I’ve got! Any gifts will be added (gratefully) to the stash without guilt.

I’m trading my ISM for a ‘Tangle Loom this weekend (weather permitting) and I hope to create some rugs to use up lots of yarn quickly. The floors are cold and I feel the need for some instant gratification.

I thought about posting a stash list, but changed my mind – it would be way too long. I’ve decided to start with the stash that is sitting out, readily seen and available, and work my way deeper into the Wool Room until I can see the stuff that’s stacked behind the stash piles.

I have my work cut out for me!