Author: Nikol

Hooray! My book arrived, and it’s a real, live book!

I’m supposed to be getting the first real, live copy of my book, and I’m chomping at the freaking bit.

WHERE IS IT?

Okay, back to work.

But first, my big project list between now & the end of the year, not necessarily in order:

1. Send off pattern stuff with wheel packages and consolation/cancellation gift

2. Finish Shojo Beat column and figure out a way to photograph it with my broken camera and Ron’s less-than-ideal camera

3. DH Calendar

4. Organize wool

5. Naughty Needles Pinup Calendar

6. Proposal with Adrian

7. Clean up dye room & gym

8. Build out Naughty Needles site

9. Really organize craft room

10. Prepare garment for Knitty Gritty (maybe)

11. Alpaca design for Alpacas in Wildcat Hollow

Okay, I must stop now. I’m going to get upset. La la la la la.

Yarn School was so much fun! Everyone was so friendly & easy-going. I was nervous about that, because this isn’t exactly a luxury resort & you never know if you’ll get a princess. I wish we could do one every month. I’d like to do a Dye School in the spring and another Yarn School next year. And maybe an informal Yarn School retreat (no classes, just freestyle) in the winter, though it would need to be group rooms, as we’ll be winterizing the grade school pretty soon. But it could be cheaper, too, which I’m sure would be happy-making.

As soon as I do a little TCB, I’m going to reward myself with playing in the dye room (aka Home Ec). Yes, I said dye room. Officially, it’s an all-purpose Craft Room that will eventually be convertable to a class kitchen. But right now, it’s Dye Central, with a zillion colors of acid dye, 8 crock pots, 3 microwaves, and 2 roasters! I was going to order myself some Knit Picks undyed as a little reward, but I think I might instead overdye some yarn I already have and buy myself some clogs. Although…. I wouldn’t mind overdyeing some of that Parade striping sock yarn that’s on clearance. I’m not overwhelmed by the colorway that’s left, but it might be dreamy overdyed, especially if I could skein it to repeat…

In other news, it looks like I might be on Knitty Gritty, but apparently they don’t cover travel and neither does my publisher because the show (and events, and seemingly everything else I have any interest in doing) “doesn’t sell books.” I don’t know what does sell books, but I’ve heard a lot of what doesn’t. Sigh. So I guess I’ll have to bankroll that myself. Rats. I had all these delusions of glamour, but I guess none of that happens until the book’s a huge, roaring success.

I’m hungry.

Let’s hear it for small town living! Our fabulous postmaster Chris tracked down my missing sock for me. Can you believe it? It fell out of the package and got stranded at the sorting center, and they sent it on to me today. Hooray! I’m well pleased it with–the stripes are slightly different, which is very cute.

In other news, Kelly Sue and I have signed up for some knitting classes together, which means we have girl time on the books. We’re both so busy, we never end up hanging out, even though we’re geographically close. We’re taking the continental knitting/Norwegian purl class at The Studio AND going to their Winter Knitting Retreat, which is at The Elms in Excelsior Springs. I’m well pleased because A) it’s nearby; B) it’s affordable; and C) knitting retreat! yay! I’m thinking about getting a spa package at the Hall of Waters, an old WPA facility.

Hooray!

My assassin just offered to knit me another sock to replace the errant one! What a pro! She could have left me bleeding in the alley, but she came back and finished the job. Hooray! Thing are looking up…

I was killed this afternoon by a single sock:

It was sent in one of those resealable envelopes and had opened in transit, and arrived alone. In the throes of PMS, I waited for Ron to leave the room and burst into tears & have been crying on and off about it like a fucking baby ever since. I’m very ashamed of myself, but that doesn’t stop me (TV commercials and pretty much every news story will make me cry for the next day or two).

I had a momentary spark of hope, thinking it was the same yarn from my critter’s scarf (I have about 45g left & the sock only weighed 33), but that one’s fingering weight & only has 3 colors of stripes. I emailed my assassin to find out if she had any leftover yarn so I could make it a mate.

Sadly, a sock, even a nice handknit sock, is nothing without its mate. So right now, it’s just another unfinished project. Yay.

I can’t believe I actually finished my socks before getting hit! I’d’ve been screwed, because the dossiers didn’t go out due to a hurricane-induced tech glitch, so I completely forgot. But my assassin emailed to ask for my mailing address, and I got started lickety-split with some Knit Picks Merino Style I had leftover from my Shojo Beat project. At first I was worried about the yellow, but then I thought yellow sox would be cheery, especially in the grim winter, right?

They took twice the yarn called for (all I can figure is that DK in Ireland is thinner/has more yardage than US DK, because I also had to go down 2 needle sizes to get the gauge), but it was totally a stashbuster (which reminds me: I’ve had some great stashbuster updates, thanks to Renegade Craft fair). The pattern was very fast and is extra cushy for winter nights, and also unisex, so I’ll probably be making many gifts worth.

I modified this dress to make a cute sundress. I’m running out of cute cotton sundresses, and the heat doesn’t want to let up yet.

The original dress was nice and breezy and the right size and length, but I hated the tight armholes and the high, plain neckline. It made me feel like a frumpy hausfrau. Also, having that lightweight material in the front with such a boxy cut was very unflattering to my breasts. And since I rarely wear a bra, the boxy shape and thin cotton made my tits look blah. (They don’t look all va-va-voom now, but they’re pretty neutral; before I was a little self-conscious.)

I chopped of the chokey neckline midway across the armhole, made as straight neckline (about 3″ lower in the front than in the back) and finished the neckline and added a strap with a continuous line of double-fold bias tape.

The fit was off, so I added some little pinch pleats (like on draperies) near the straps in front and back (more in the back; the natural fall of the straps on the shoulders meant the sides of the back were pulled in a couple of inches on either side.

Then I finished it off by trimming the hemline with the rest of the bias tape, which has the added bonus of weighting it down a smidge. This is convenient because the featherweight cotton meant my dress was always blowing up in the constant Kansas wind–and no one wants an eyeful of that.

Before (standing in the gym stairwell).

After (in the science room):