Author: Nikol

Yay! I’m totally excited about this crochet book.

I really liked working on my limbo-ed crochet stuff for Vickie Howell’s crochet book, but afterwards, I went straight back to knitting almost everything. Lately I’ve been looking at a lot of new crochet. It might just be a new form of procrastination, but I’m kind of dying to crochet all of the sudden.

I love lists, so I had to steal this from knitting under the influence. It’s a master knitting checklist.

Afghan/Blanket
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting (modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental Knitting
Designing knitted garments…im doing it now! or trying anyways
Cable stitch patterns
Lace patterns…hmm i think so!
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
American/English knitting
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dying with plant colors
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cozies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with DPNs
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living (sort of…)
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting (who knows what this means?)
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Baby items
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm warmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets (never finished)
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

And some other stuff I want to do (includes spinning):

I-cord glove fingers a la Meg Swanson (read about them & tried the technique on plain I-cord–it works!)
Navajo ply (tried, sucked, gave up–but I’m still a novice, so maybe someday)
knitted boots
write another book!
host a knitting slumber party this winter in the gym
knitting a whole sweater from my own handspun
knit a hodgepodge blanket a la Alterknits on the Bond
get some patterns published on favorite knitting sites
teach a community knitting class
coordinate a knitted/fiber-based art show at The Harveyville Project
make scarves for my Visible models
knit curtains
knit a really huge rug
knit a slipcover
knit a coat
spin with beads

This weekend, we hosted an open house, a sculpture/photography installation, and a picnic! As if by magic, the week of rain graciously ceased, and the clouds parted for a weekend of sunshine before the rain rolled back in today.

As the Saturday & Sunday afternoon events wound down, I had some time to spin outside in the sunshine and wind. I got a sunburn, but I finished up the second braid of Hello Yarn fiber. They’re brighter than this, but it’s rainy and everything looks gloomy:

And later last night, I started plying it. I’m hoping for soft stripes in the finished knitting. They’ll go into a small raglan cardigan, I think. Unless something better strikes my fancy first.

Last week, in a rationalized preparation for our open house, I did a sin.

I bought a fuckload of yarn to dye and sell, and even paid for expedited shipping. But time got away from me and dyeing quickly dropped to the bottom of the to-do list. So the yarn is still sitting, untouched, in the Home Ec Room. I also bought a bunch of fiber for batts, though I have an embarrassment of riches in the fiber department already, and a set of Knit Picks interchangeable needles, which totally rock. Their only shortcoming is length (ha ha). I like shorter needles for things like sleeves, since I’m not made for magic loop, but the shortest length they do is 24″. And the sliders on the case pockets are a little sketchy. Oh, and also my case is defective and the rings won’t close all the way, which reminds me that I need to email them about that right this moment. So I can’t rave about the case. But the needles! Holy shit, they’re sweet.

Here’s how the Hello Yarn Big Top superwash merino that I drafted whole turned out:

My original plan with the whole-strand drafting was to maximize the length of each color span, making stripy yarn. I was going to leave it a single to prevent any muddying of the colors, but on second thought, I think the color might be a bit too bold to suit me as-is, and plying it will be just the ticket. Happily, I have another braid of the same top, so when I ply the two, I bet I get enough yarn to knit a nice little cardigan. I’m guessing the end product will be about a heavy worsted, because this mother took forever to spin. With my speed that translates to finer yarn. I even had to switch gears, as you can see. I usually spin on the slow gear, but it would like to have killed me, so I sucked it up and went faster, even though that meant I had to pay a little more attention and watch a little less tee vee.

More fibery fun lately, namely Mystery Batts:

These get whipped into a knot, with a goodie tucked inside:

And I dyed some alpaca/wool roving (it’s still wet here), maybe for batts, maybe just to spin:

Tonight I hope to dye some more fiber and some yarn to sell. We’re having an Open House and hosting a very cool art installation during Symphony in the Flint Hills. The way it’s going lately, I really hope it doesn’t get rained out. Yikes. That would be such a grave disappointment for the county, especially Eskridge, the town closest to the pasture where they’re playing. I’ll cross my fingers for sunshine.

Holy cow! I just heard a nursery jingle and thought I’d lost my mind. I’ve never seen an ice cream truck in Harveyville! I wonder if the kids around here even know what that music means? Of course I ran out to meet him! He didn’t have any of my old favorites (Bomb Pop, Blue Ghost, or Froze Toes), but I picked out some that looked good: Giant Ice Cream Sandwich! Snoopy! Spider-man!

So, I’m working on this new pattern with some self-striping handspun I made. It was supposed to be one thing.

But I’m knitting it in the round on a needle that is really too short to hold it, so I don’t notice until 3 inches in that I’ve twisted the stitches. So instead of ripping it back, I decided to make lemonade. I’m going to turn it into something entirely different. I’ll keep working it twisted as if it were normal, then steek it to finish. We’ll see how it goes.

I’ve been spinning a fair amount over the last couple of days. Ideally, I’ll come up with some yarn I can sell at our open house next weekend. There’s a big event in the county called Symphony in the Flint Hills (KC symphony sets up & plays in a pasture), and thousands of people will be driving through the county. I’m hoping at least a couple dozen will make it to the Harveyville Project. Last time we had an open house, people wanted to shop, so we’ll probably set up a little table of Harveyville and Art Club stuff.

The hairy stuff is from Spinderella’s thrums, which are very fun to spin. They’re very airy and practically draft themselves. The orange stuff is from my Art Club superwash merino cuckoobatts (other colors here and here). I only had a little of the orange fiber, not enough to sell batts, but I wanted to see how it spun up. I’m well pleased–it’s easy to spin and makes very, very soft, lofty bouncy yarn, even when it’s pretty fine (this 2ply’s about sock weight), and even with a dumbass like me spinning it. And I like a few irregular globs, so the neps didn’t turn me off. I was worried because last year, I had some rambouillet made into roving and it was positively lousy with neps, and they made spinning it kind of depressing–I ended up sending it off to Zeilingers to have it combed (which reminds me: where’s my top?), even though that made it cost a fortune. But these little neps were small and soft enough that they didn’t bug me, so that was a relief.

If I’m a productive worker bee and finish my Top 5 List today (1. Plant herbs. 2. Rinse pots to return 3. Strip HS beds and cover with drop cloths 4. Make skirt 5. Update Naughty Needles Burlesque list and I need to add 6. Make up room for overnight guy–so if I finish my Top 6 list…), then I get to spin this up tonight.

It’s Big Top superwash merino from Hello Yarn. (Here’s the undrafted fiber.) I’m digging the self-striping, so instead of tearing it into strips, I just drafted the whole thing to make myself a nice big ball of thin, lofty top. I think when I draft it out, the color chunks will be long enough to stripe pretty well. We’ll, I guess I’d better get my hindquarters in gear if I wanna spin this up tonight.

Today was a multipurpose photo shoot with some of the Eyeful Tower girls, and I got to see my new burlesque costumes in ACTION! I’m still in KC, and my photos aren’t exactly professional, but I’ll post the results the second I get home, because they’re crazy cute on real live girls.

Since I was shooting for a mix of posterity and reference, most of my shots have the added fun of including the photographers. It was crazy to watch everyone snapping each girl all at once, kinda made you think of one of those Bettie Page “photographers’ club” shoots. Of course, I was particularly delighted when they were wearing my designs, almost like I was the sexy girl getting all the attention. I think my favorites were the Big Bad Wolf and the devil girl, but they were all so freaking cute, so don’t make me pick! I know I sound like I’m gushing about how clever I am–and I am doing that, too–but mainly it’s the ladies that really make them so darling. For instance, me in the same outfits: not cute at all, and maybe even a little pitiful.

Laurenn McCubbin and Ben Radatz are both making show posters, plus I’m either going to use a couple of my better shots or those from one of the real photographers to make some pinup photo calendars as well. I’m quite pleased the show got postponed, because now we have time to do a bunch of fancy publicity stuff. Plus I get to rethink a few of the costumes. I want to go a little more old school with a few of them, add more layers, etc.

Yay!

Yippee!

In other news, I’ll be having a pattern in the July or August Magknits. It’s hellacute and not something you’d probably expect from me. I’m also hoping they’ll want to sneak in one more summer design if they like it, because I’m working on this awfully cute little number with the leftovers from the first thing. It’s an experiment in how much garment I can squeeze out of how little yarn. I have a feeling I’ll have to fork out for another ball, which isn’t so bad, because it’s cheap yarn.

In fact, I think I may work on that tonight instead of the other WIPs I brought along. I’ll probably knit for an hour or so and then hit the hay by 2 so I can get up for Costco in the morning. All that crap at Costco isn’t going to buy itself.

With Prom ’07 behind me and the Naughty Needles Burlesque far enough off to give me the luxury of thoughtful knitting and reknitting my less pleasing items, I think I’m going to take a little break and make something for MEMEME! But what?

I got these scrumpies last month from Spincycle Yarns, and they’re just dreamy. I have a little crush on the Spincycle girls, who, besides making dreamboat yarns, use local fibers and commute on their bikes and a biodiesel-powered station wagon.

“Soft Spot”–this seems like a logical scribble lace skinny scarf (self-scribbling!).

“Mermaid Hair”–way bluer than my picture shows. This will probably become a yoke and possibly cuffs in another Spin to Knit-inspired cardigan like the stoneleafmoon Viper Girl yarn version:

I think I want it just as loosey-goosey, but with a curved hemline. My first thought was to pair it with some ming blue Berkshire from my stash, but I’m thinking something not quite so retina-burningly bright might be better to let the Mermaid Hair pop. I’ll have to poke around.

“Ruination”–bfl, I think there’s enough for some little fingerless mitts. I’m expecting a Dickensian chic vibe.

I’m also working on a big cushy wrap out of a ton of Karabella Brushed Alpaca that didn’t make it into Naughty Needles. It’s for the burlesque show, initially, but it’s really for me. I’m making it with fat 6×2 ribs to look like pieced fur in a fur stole, and I’ll catbrush to obscure the stitches a little more and line it in satin when it’s done. Hoping for a very glamourous (and very cozy) affair. I’ll get all tarted up and snap a few shots when it’s longer.

And while I’m being all indulgent, maybe I’ll catalog my stash for ravelry! Maybe that should be my reward for washing all the Prom sheets and organizing my hellamessy linen closet. Speaking of which, I’d better go put in another load of dishes.

I’m really happy with the jacket and a little sad that it will probably be too warm to wear it once the show’s over. It has a nice, roomy neckline that’s kind of sexy but still demure.
Here’s the whole thing:

Next one I make, I think I’ll use smooth yarn for the body, add some waist shaping (or maybe start ribbing right under the bust?), cuffs to match the collar.

Here’s the rest of the costume, some furry lace-up hotpants with a wolf tail, a skirt that fastens above the tail in the back, fur-trimmed bikini top, matching pasties, wolf ears, and a jaunty little scarf. I’ll try to get pictures of it on the dancer at the rehearsal.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!

That is all. Back to knitting. If I can finish 3 WIP today, I get to blog about. How desperate am I for fun when I get rewarded with blogging?

Here’s my newest Cuckoobatt on etsy. It’s called Mystery Wrapped in a Riddle because I’m a big dork and each one is a nutty random grab batt knotted around a surprise. Very fun and relaxing to make. I just start cranking the carder and toss in whatever I grab. Whee!

Whoops. One picture does not count as blogging. Back to knitting, for reals this time.