The feats and foibles of a fiber fanatic.
2/28/2006
I’m a crazy blogger person. Because I like to have a new category for each knitting project I work on I decided having a knitting only blog was a great thing. Then, I enjoyed it so much and liked the idea of keeping better tabs on other things like what books I’ve read and what movie or plays we have seen and such that I started my Culture Catalog blog. Then, I wanted a place to keep past student and art buyers in the loop about new offerings and had an opportunity to do so in a locale that was supposed to include many other artists who would also be regularly keeping an illustrated blog and I ended up with my Artist’s Row blog. It kind of flopped as I think only two out of ten people update regularly.
Now, I love blogging about all these different things, but the other blogs get updated rather irregularly. I’m at least one book (by over a week), a few movies, and several recent CD procurements behind at Culture Catalog. Then because I’m so busy writing blog entries in three different locations it seems I mostly just post to Artist’s Row on Thursdays for Creation Quotation Thursday. I even rarely post a Self Portrait Tuesday entry (partly because the themes have not been doing it for me lately, but partly out of laziness and lack of time).
I’m mulling over a complete web site overhaul (we are probably talking months away if not longer as it is low on the priority list) since the current design is probably about three years old now. I’d like to have more easily updated galleries and such and if at all possible create a bit of a unified look between the shopping cart, the galleries, the classrooms, the tutorials, the freebies, the blog(s) etc. Though my PHP and CSS skills leave a little to be desired so I’m not sure that is totally possible to link so many different web site tools into one look. But, as part of this contemplation I’ve been thinking about consolidating my blogs into one. They never really are completely separate. I review knitting and spinning related books at Culture Catalog (among many novels and other crafty non-fiction) and my submission to this week’s CQT will be knitting related. But if I were to consolidate there likely would not be knitting or spinning everyday on here. I’m guessing since I choose to knit more often than anything that knitting would likely remain the primary topic but I’d also be sharing hand made books and mixed media work, the occasional Self Portrait Tuesday and of course Creation Quotation Thursday would be on the consolidated blog in addition to movie, book, and CD reviews which are much less frequent.
So, what are your blog reading preferences? Do you enjoy the knitting/spinning blogs best or do you prefer blogs that contain other facets of the blogger’s interests so you have a better feel for who you are reading? Please feel free to comment with your thoughts on the topic and please take a second to vote in the poll I have in the right hand column. I value your input on the matter, so thank you!
2/27/2006
Last week I cast on for this scarf. It was kind of inspired by the Kidsilk Haze Camisole and Cowl in Weekend Knitting but I also had this same stitch pattern flagged in a stitch dictionary of mine as well.
This scarf has given me a bit of fits. I started it at our second SnB gathering on everyother Tuesday evenings. That was mistake number one. While the pattern is *really* repetitive it did take some time getting accustomed to so there was much knitting followed by often more tinking. Tinking in mohair! Let’s just say it wasn’t too pleasurable, LOL! Mistake number two was the fact that I was using the same size needles called for in Weekend Knitting - US 10.5. But, I’m not knitting with Kidsilk Haze, but rather with a gorgeous but much more substatial Collinette Mohair (in Turqoise) that the lovely and talented Ashley brought back from Denmark for my birthday last year.
So, even though I did manage to finally knit about 3 or 4 inches in the two hours of SnB on Tuesday I had to frog it all. Yes, I did say frog and I did say I was knitting with mohair. I have to say, it was totally doable. I did end up scrapping about the first yard of the ball but really only because of the multiple tinkings combined with this frogging. I decided to make a significant jump in needle size as on the US 10.5s the scarf was *very* dense and thick and wouldn’t drape (well, if you can really tell that from 3 or 4 inches of length). I wasn’t looking forward to knitting mohair on bamboo, but all my large circs are bamboo. I jumped up to the US 15s and it’s been soooo much better! The Clover bamboo needles have a much better point for the lace work than the really blunt Turbos and the mohair seems to slide along just fine.
I have still had some trouble with it though. We had a back-log of Olympics to watch this weekend since DH was no longer sick and back at work. But since it was nearing the end we were talking tense moments such as the Men’s Curling Semi-Finals and Finals. I needed to be *watching* the TV and this pattern isn’t so much a non-looking pattern with all the PSSOs that go over two sts. So, I’ve tinked back another 2-3 inches off this because I got off on the stitch count and got cocky and wasn’t counting after each pattern row. It evidently took me a while to realize I was off :-/ But, it’ll be good SnB knitting as I can certainly talk and listen while knitting it, jut not watch things, LOL!
Now, some may be wondering where I came up with the name Flower of Life. Well, The Flower of Life is an ancient symbol found in Egypt and many other places that consists of interlocking circles that make a flower-like pattern (many other patterns can be found in it, so many so that there is a board game based on it). While I was knitting this scarf I kept thinking that the formation of stitches made me thinking of some sort of geometric pattern that was common. Well, DH and I finally cracked open the DaVinci’s Challenge that I got for Christams from SIL3 and played that this weekend (it’s a great two person game BTW) and I suddenly knew what the knitting reminded me of. It is hard to see since it is mohair and it isn’t a perfect match by any means, but I’ve only rough-blocked the scarf and suspect the similarity to be even stronger once the scarf is completed and properly blocked. So, that is why I’m calling it the Flower of Life Scarf.
I *love* this stitch pattern and suspect I’ll be using it in other things over time as well.
2/24/2006
While I did not participate in the knitting olympics, I did participate in another olympic event. And, it wasn’t the couch potato olympic watching event (though there was a heck of a lot of that going on around here last week). I was part of the Fort Collins Senior Center Aqua Olympics. Well, it wasn’t official or that, but our instructor Susan (whom I call Aqua Susan since there are too many Susans in this town who have or are teachers of some sort to me) is *very* creative and had developed many ways in which we could be part of the winter olympics. Most of the time we do cross country ski laps as warm ups and speed skater as we start cool downs, but she figured out ways for us to figure skate, bob sled, biathalon (involving the usual cross country ski with some hand eye coordination shooting bands into a box) etc. When on Wednesday she mentioned that today would be closing ceremonies I thought it would be fun to make medals for our class.
Since we keep thinking the Torino medals look like CDs on a ribbon I had an epiphany. A couple years ago my mom had bought this HUGE spindle of 200 CDs for $20 from Office Max. Well, it ended up to not be such a bargain as many of them wouldn’t burn. I wrote the company and they tried to tell me it was my CD burner, but it didn’t work in any of the burners we had here at the house or in a few of them as DH’s work. Well, I gave them new life and they have become the official 9:30 am Classic Water Aerobics Aqua Olympic Medals….
On that note, this Olympic comittee member must be off to deliver the medals to the official and be sure to not be late for the closing ceremonies…
P.S. I was part of team Sweden if anyone had any doubts :-)
EDIT: I totally deserved my medal too! In these two weeks I’ve said goodbye to another 3 lbs! I’m quite stunned seeing as there is likely some water retention happening with the aid of hormones and increased caffiene ingestion due to the arrival of my very first coffee maker (the post-Valentine’s Day gift from DH).
2/23/2006
After my post about the gorgeous silk hankies from Chasing Rainbow Dyeworks on Tuesday I got some questions about how one spins silk hankies…
Since I suspect I won’t be spinning up the hankies very soon and thus cannot put together my own how-to, I sought out information from the wonerful web. There were a few resources out there. There is a great article on Knitty.com from Amy Singer. She is speaking of spinning the hankies on a drop spindle, but the fiber prep is the same whether you use a spindle or a wheel. She has lots of photos and good descriptions.
Treenway Silks also has a page about spinning from bells and hankies with good information, though it doesn’t contain many photos. Also HJS Studio has a great description with some photos on spinning from caps (the same as bells and the technique is the same whether it is a hankie or a bell). If you are wondering how silk hankies are made I suggest checking out the demonstration on wormspit.com.
Enjoy learning about silk hankies/caps/bells/mawatas!
2/22/2006
When you do what I do for a living (well, not even half of a living, but it gives me art and fiber supply money) it seems it is often feast or famine. I’ve been seeking a part time job away from the house as I’m finding after some three years of working from home that I really am a bit more of a social person than I originally thought but nothing has come to fruition. This fall I had decided to stop offering my popular on-line creative personal development courses for a variety of reasons. When I first stopped teaching it was the beginning of the holiday season so I didn’t notice the extra time on my hands. And, I know, everyone out there who works outside of the house dreams of what they would do if they didn’t have to. But, without some time constraints and a schedule it can get really easy to procrastinate to the point of not accomplishing anything.
Well, I’m still on the job hunt, but it isn’t looking good to find non-retail part-time employment around here. Since the first of the year I have literally spent more time replying to e-mails asking when my classes would be offered again than it takes me to actually run a class. So, I’ve opened back up the on-line classes, but I’m not going it at it as fast and furious as before in case I do find a part-time job. I have two classes that will be starting next week (Bodacious Backgrounds and Printmaking, in case any of you might be interested in paper arts as well). I made a bit of a rushed decision to upgrade the software I use to run these classes on Monday since I was several revs behind. Well, because the software is still in its infancy it means there have been many, many changes and the curve seems a bit steep. This has me a bit frantic and overwhelemed as I like to open the classrooms up a few days ahead of the start date so everyone can get settled into the virtual classroom.
I’m glad to be offering the classes again. Everytime I got an e-mail from someone asking me when I would be offering the classes again I’d get a pang in my stomach for not offering them. It is something I do well. I have always had a talent for breaking complex things down into easier to understand smaller parts and I’m a good cheerleader for creative pursuits. However, wouldn’t you know that as soon as I made the commitment to teach the classes again that about twelve (okay not that many, but enough things to keep me plenty busy without teaching those classes) other opportunities for design work (in both fiber arts and paper arts) have fallen into my lap? The time frame on those projects? Pretty much *everything* needs wrapped next week… Wouldn’t you know it?!?!?
I suspect posts around here over the next week or so to be a bit thin on the actual knitting progress and photos. I’m sorry, but I have to get my yarn/fiber money wherever and whenever I can get it!
