Fiber Fool

Though there are over 400 participants in the Summer 2006 Amazing Lace we are doing our best to profile each team’s members. Today, we have Arty McLace reporting from Colorado where he is interviewing team Fiber Fool. Arty…

Arty: Thank you. I am here in a piece of suburbia nestled against the northern Colorado foothills of the Rocky Mountains. In a well lit corner of a somewhat sparse yet cozy living room we have the captain of team Fiber Fool, Kristi Schueler, seated comfortably in a leather chair with ottoman warming up for some lace work with a bit of larger gauge knitting. She has within arms reach a beverage, a lap top with wireless networking and access to the Internet, a crochet hook, a small container filled with copious amounts of small baby rubber bands, a magazine, a stack of sticky notes, and a large green bag I can only guess houses her other two teammates.

Kristi, can you tell me a bit about your background and why you decided to sign-up your team for The Amazing Lace this year?

Kristi: Thank you Arty. Well, I have always enjoyed the beautiful shawls I’ve seen knit around blogland and always coveted one for myself. After a successful completion of the Seraphim Shawl, albeit in a heavier weight yarn, I felt I could successfully complete the challenges of The Amazing Lace.

Arty: What level of lace experience to you bring to team Fiber Fool?

Kristi: Well, I first knit lace in early 2005, completing a pair Spearfish socks that have a lace cuff and lace panel down the sides in March. I followed that closely by another pair of socks, this time even lacier as well as a tank top with some lace accents that has yet to be completed. I then took a break from lace, casting-on for a Leaf Lace shawl in early fall of 2005 but Leaf Lace and I decided on a trial separation after my whirlwind trip to Iowa in September without her and without detailed enough notes to team up again with ease. This prompted yet another break from lace until late March of 2006 when I began Seraphim. This was an easy lace shawl with a large section of stockinette stitch at the top and a relatively easy section of lace at the edges. It was also knit from a heavier gauge yarn. But it was a success. My first lace shawl success. I guess I was on a bit of a completion high when I signed up for the Amazing Lace, but I do not regret the decision. I’m excited to be a part of a such a large event in blogland.

Arty: It seems you do not bring a lot of experience to the team. What prompted you to enter the Amazing Lace?

Kristi: Well, you are correct that I do not bring an extensive amount of lace-specific experience to team Fiber Fool. I’m like a runner in her first marathon. Our team’s goal is to complete the Amazing Lace, not necessarily to win it. I feel I bring just enough experience to the team to make that possible. While my experience with lace may not be extensive and our history quite short, I feel I am an experienced enough knitter who has experienced and expert (if not a little crazy) lace knitters nearby who can provide accurate coaching and cheering when needed.

Arty: Can you introduce us to your other teammates, Kristi?

Kristi: After my successful partnership with Seraphim I decided to team up with another Miriam Felton pattern, Icarus from the Summer 2006 Interweave Knits (IK) magazine. It shares similar yet different elements with Seraphim, including a simplistic yet elegant top of stockinette stitch striped with yo, k1, yo groupings making its way towards another feather inspired lace motif at the bottom. I think it will be just the right challenge level for the transition to lace weight yarn. Also, there is an Icarus Knit-a-Long so that I can get some coaching and cheering from others who are also knitting the same pattern.

Arty: Which lace weight yarn did you choose to bring onto your team, Kristi?

Kristi: As luck would have it, Arty, I had added a skein of Fino by Alpaca with a Twist in the color Twilight to my stash over my birthday. It was a birthday gift from my mother. Though she couldn’t see, she helped me choose the color, a dusty blue color with just a touch green for some richness. While Icarus calls for the suri alpaca yarn from the same company, I think Fino will make a great substitute. Fino is an alpaca and silk yarn blended at 70% alpaca and 30% silk. I think this will likely lend my Icaraus similar properties of softness, shine, and drape as the suri alpaca in the original shawl. I have only just begun working with my team, but so far we all seem to be a good match for each other. There was a bit of a bump in the road when I couldn’t acquire the proper sized needles to join the team, but we brought on US4 Addi Turbos and the coaching staff are more than happy with the resulting fabric. I can be a slightly tight knitter, plus I am a larger woman so if I get a slightly larger shawl at the end it will be all right.

Arty: Thank you Kristi, Icarus, and Fino for allowing me to profile you for The Amazing Lace. I look forward to coming back to view your progress over the summer and I wish you the best of luck!

First up, Scout put out another call for knitting spots. Well, I moved mine yesterday… Not permanently mind you, but I spun up 2 ounces of my Northern Lights BFL roving yesterday while sitting under our plum trees in the back. It was nice and breezy and mostly shaded (though my chest which is now a tomato doesn’t quite agree with that). I’m a bit ashamed to show you what I could see from my set-up, but our yard is a work in progress. We got a terrible yard when we bought it. We signed our contract four months before we closed and in that time the people we bought it from stopped watering, mowing, cleaning the house, etc. And, they amused their children while packing by giving them crayons and pencils to color on the walls (all of them) and then strategically placed boxes over them for our final walk through…. Oooo, I got off on a tangent there didn’t I? Ah, my spinning and knitting space from yesterday…

Well, there has been no significant weight loss in the past two weeks and I’m afraid my walking of Emma has dwindled as it has gotten warmer and the pollen counts have been rising. But I’ve maintained which is okay.

I have noticed more toning though. This past weekend I realized that I once again have biceps. I don’t know that I can express how happy this makes me. I grew up on a farm. It was good to be strong and not have any troubles moving around 40-lb feed bags and 70-lb bales of hay. Not that I did it very often, but it was good to be independent when it came to heavy things. I wouldn’t be stupid and go out and lift heavy things for no reason now, as I still have some back/neck issues. But, it has been at least a few months since I had a real bad bout of muscle spasms. And, ultimately that is my real goal and any benefit of weight loss is a plus.

My eating hasn’t been as good as it could have been, but it hasn’t been terrible. My biggest struggle is lunches. It’s so much easier to go through a drive through after water aerobics. I can do pretty good if I got to Wendy’s. If I get their grilled chicken sandwhich with a fruitcup, water, and a junior frosty it is only 11 gm of fat, leaving me 29 gm of fat to spare for the rest of the day. I do like my miso soup and edamame and that is very healthy, but I do need to mix it up or I’ll get sick of it fast. What are you favorite healthier lunches that are quick and easy for one??

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There hasn’t been any progress on Icarus since 5/16 or so. I was too busy trying to get those citrus hats completed for the baby shower this week as the shower was only announced about ten days before it happened. I also got sucked into the lure of my recieved dye-o-rama yarn and have cast on a sock - not the brightest idea considering the Trek-a-Long begins soon, but oh well, you go where your muse takes you, right? I’m dedicated to Icarus and she’ll be completed by summer’s end I’m sure.
Well, that is about all that is worthy of update.

I’ll have the Amazing Lace intro and an update on my Dye-o-Rama dyeing early next week. I’ll also have another Spectrum Sunday. Though I may opt to take Monday off. We’ll have to see. I find it hard to get things done when DH is around and under foot…

I hope those of you in the US enjoy the long weekend and the marker of the summer vacation season. Be safe!

This week I have jumped on several bandwagons…

I signed up for the Amazing Lace. My teammate will be Icarus knit out of Fino from Alacas with a Twist in Twilight. I had every intention of starting it this week, but the high winds of the last few days combined with through the roof cottonwood pollen counts has me dragging and my head foggy so I haven’t yet started it. But, also speaking of Icarus, I’ve joined the Icarus KAL. There aren’t any buttons there yet so it hasn’t been listed over in my sidebar.

Yes, I did succumb and pick up this book despite my worries about the large number of projects calling for inelastic yarns. I found a couple copies at B&N with 50% off stickers on them. I have no idea why. Occassionally I’ll find a couple copies of a book marked down because of an imperfection such as a warped cover or a dinged spine, but as far as I could tell it was in great condition so I couldn’t pass it up. So, I’ve joined the MDKAL. I’ll update you more on my progress with that one tomorrow for FO Friday…

In Dye-O-Rama news, I have the dyes I think I’ll use though I probably should have picked up a few more so I could tweak colors a bit, but my budget didn’t really allow for that. I have filled out the meme that was posted. For those interested (quite likely just my buddy) you can find it here.

I’m gonna sign off for now and take a hot bath in hopes of unclogging my brain some. Perhaps I’ll unclog it enough to get Icarus started… This afternoon Emma and I get to go to the vet… Fun for both of us! Not!