6.28.2005

Silly creatures and the art of knitting

So our weekend in Richmond was awsome! We spent most of Saturday shopping and bought many, many things. I am just going to include the highlights for the sake of time and space.
knit knit 5We visited the Yarn Lounge, Richmond's newest yarn store and I stuck to my pledge not to buy yarn until September 1, though I still managed to spend $78 there. I bought knit knit 5, my favorite knitting magazine. Knit knit 5 features articles on Chie Fukao, Sheila Pepe, a knitted tie sock animals pattern, and knitted food by Claire Crespo. Also, I discoved that you can read some of the articles from issues 1 & 2 on the knit knit site.
The Yarn Lounge also had a book called Stupid Sock Creatures by John Murphy. Philip found this book and as soon as we got home we started making sock creatures, we even stopped for supplies on the way so nothing could slow us down. We ended up making 4 sock animals- from left to right: Special Eddie, Myrtle, Cucumber Clyde, and Binky. I made Myrtle and Binky and Philip made Special Eddie and Cucumber Clyde. Since Special Eddie was Philip's first sewing project ever, he is a little deformed around the leg area. By the time Philip got to Cucumber Clyde he had pretty much mastered hand sewing, now he can mend his own clothes. I have plenty more to write about, but it will have to wait until I have more time.

6.24.2005

I love to laugh, ha ha ha ha

A girl I work with is a yoga instructor and she teaches a free yoga class for anyone in the office every Monday. She always sends out a reminder about the class on Friday afternoon. Occasionally, she will add some yoga humor to her message to make it more interesting. In today's message she included a link to a laughing yoga video. Laughing yoga is big in India, but very slow to catch on in the US (the only group I know of is just outside of Boston). The January 17, 2005 issue of Time was all about the science of happiness and it included an article on Indian laughter clubs. Just looking at the pictures made me want to join, the women in the club were glowing with happiness. Regular laughter has been shown to have many health benefits. Happy people are healthy people, therefore we all need to laugh more.

6.23.2005

A girl just can't have too many bags

I woke up yesterday with a sinus headache and blurred vision so I decided to stay home and sleep it off. When I woke up in the afternoon I was feeling better so I used my few hours of quiet time to watch Hotel Rwanda and finish itsy bitsy.
itsy bitsyThe bag is finally finished and I only had to make a few alterations. Although no board will admit that there is something wrong with the pattern, the rows didn't add up correctly so I ended up adding 2 knit rows, one before the bottom and strap shaping and one after. This seemed to fix all of the RS, WS discrepancies. Another mistake I noticed that I didn't fix was the repeat under "shape sides." If it was going to be used for shaping both of the sides instead of a side and a bottom the second "repeat" should have gone across 101 stitches instead of just 50. I didn't fix this so my bag is slightly narrower on one side (we'll call that character.)

I used the cotton ribbon yarn from Mystical Creations Yarns. I had it hand-dyed in turquoise for another project, but it worked beautifully in this bag. The picture doesn't show it, but there are slight variations in the yarn that give the bag a nice texture.

In other news, the vegan knitters Web ring is finally up. If you are a vegan knitter and you would like to add your blog to the ring please go here.

6.21.2005

A knitting post...at last

I'm back on the wagon. It has been awhile since I actually posted anything about knitting since I haven't been doing a ton of knitting and most of what I have done is swatches, which aren't interesting enough to post. I am working on the itsy bitsy bag from knitty again and it should be done by the weekend. I really like the itsy bitsy bag because it uses three stitches, two of which, basketweave and herringbone, were totally new to me. The bag has a really fun texture and will be perfect for short outings. I also bought 2 new knitting books this weekend (I said yarn fast, not book fast). I bought Stitch n' bitch: A Knitter's Design Journal for me, which is the perfect size to fit in my knitting bag and I bought Knitticisms...and other Purls of Wisdom for my secret pal.

In other news, Philip and I are taking a short vacation next weekend due to some very stressful current events. I know this trip is going to put us way over budget, but I think sometimes mental health is more important than a savings plan. Originally, we were going to New York for the renegade craft fair in Brooklyn, but Philip wasn't really excited so it would have been more of a me trip. Instead, we decided to go to Richmond and stay the entire weekend. Philip loves Richmond, plus the hotels are about 1/3 the price of a NYC room which means we will have money for food and shopping.

6.15.2005

Hooray for secret pals!!

I recieved my first secret pal package on Saturday!!
sp5 Inside I found a book on knitting toys, four beautiful handmade stitch marker, a postcard indicating that my secret pal is from Long Beach, and a box of oatmeal raisin cookies that Philip and I devoured almost immediately. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I can't wait to start making little toys for Astrid to destroy, it should be great fun.

In other news, I am on a yarn fast until September 1; I cannot buy yarn or Goodwill sweaters to frog. The only LYS shopping I can do is for my secret pal (which should ease the pain). I am hoping this will reduce my current stash, which has outgrown it's container, by at least half. I am going to focus on creative ways to use what I have, especially the leftovers from finished projects. I will post as I go.

6.10.2005

Raise the barn yourself

I was having a pretty crappy day at work today when I recieved a call fron Philip telling me that Rusted Root was going to play at Harborfest tonight. Somehow I missed them when I scanned over the band listings. As the day got progressively worse, I kept thinking that in a few hours I would be outside dancing to Rusted Root who I haven't seen in over 4 years.

Anyway, I made it through the day and I did see Rusted Root. I was in the very front of the crowd dancing my ass off. With the exception of some pretty bad sound problems in the beginning (I guess this should be expected at a free show) the show was fabulous and by the end everyone was dancing. Now I am ready to quit my job and go on tour- Sarah, you in?

6.05.2005

Arrrrg matey!

me and blackbeard Yeserday we travel to the exotic land of Hampton, Va. to attend the Blackbeard festival. All week Philip was talking about the pirate festival so he was definately the most excited to attend. As we drove into town we were immediately greated by a large pirate ship with a handpainted pirate flag. We went grabbed some ethiopian food at Bahir Dar before walking around the festival so we would have lots of energy. While we were sitting in the restaurant we watched tons of people in pirate costumes walk by which further built out excitement. After a huge meal of veggie messob we were ready to hit the streets.

It was obvious from the begining that this was no Strawberry festival. For one thing, the pirate festival was much smaller than the overcrowded Strawberry festival which made it easy to move around without touching people and really get to see everything. Another thing, the Blackbeard festival was actually about pirates and settlers and for the most part the vendors stayed in them. Even the boats parked in the marine decorated for the festival.

boat

There was a dunking booth were you could "drench a wench" who was actually a girl in an American flag bikini (they did stray from the theme a bit).
drench a wench

Next week is harborfest in Norfolk, there will be pirates!

6.01.2005

Sweet sweet strawberries

This weekend Philip's parents came to visit and we had several adventures. First, we went to the strawberry festival in the Pungo ("a cross between putt-putt and bingo" -Philip) section of Virginia Beach. Pungo is really weird, most of Virginia Beach is strip malls and chain stores, but go out to Pungo and all of a sudden you are in the country. All of the roads into the strawberry fest were one lane each way so we ended up sitting in traffic for over an hour. The weirdest part was the swampland that surrounded us. One minute we were surrounded by strip malls, the next minute we were in the country and the next we were in a bog.

bog 2

For the most part the Strawberry festival sucked, it was more like a state fair than a festival and most of the vendors seemed to be those people who travel around the country selling various things that you don't need. Considering it was a strawberry festival, there were very few strawberries. We didn't stay long, but we left with a ton of strawberries that became strawberry shortcake and strawberry daquaries.

On Sunday we ventured to Hampton for some Ethiopian food at Bahir Dar. It was incredible; Philip and I have already planned multiple trips there in the next few months including one next weekend for the Blackbeard festival.

I don't have any knitting news and the only gardening news I have is that one of my stevia plants is dying. More good stuff to come.

For my secret pal

Here are my answers to the secret pal 5 survey.

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you? I am a vegan so I only buy plant based and synthetic yarns, the exception to this rule is recycled yarns in which case I'll use anything. I really love trying new fibers such as ingeo, banana silk and soy silk.

2. Do you spin? Crochet? Both, but I have only been spinning a few months.

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

4. How long have you been knitting? Off and on for 6 years, but really intensively for the last 1.5 years

5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? I have an amazon list, I will update it in the next week.

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

7. Do you have a sweet tooth? Definately, but I don't like chocolate.

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? I love to sew, rescue and revamp trash, and cook.

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) I love indie pop that is a little electronic as well as all things Japanese.

10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand? I hate the color salmon, but other than that I like everything.

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? I live with my husband and our dog Astrid in an apartment.

12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know) I want to own a store and live in an apartment above it with a rooftop garden. In real life I would settle for just the store.

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? I had some fabulous hemp/cotton that a friend of mine bought a few years ago, but I haven't found it since. I really like cottons, especially hand-dyed ones.

14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? I hate the cruelty associated with the Australian wool industry.

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s? I love knitting little things that have no practical use.

16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? I really like the womb from knitty, I am on my fourth.

17. What are you knitting right now? Lots of swatches, womb, itsy bitsy, and headphone cozies.

18. What do you think about ponchos? I like some.

19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Circulars although I am warming up to dpn's.

20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? Bamboo or other wood.

21. Are you a sock knitter? No, but I have 3 pairs planned for the summer.

22. How did you learn to knit? Self-taught

23. How old is your oldest UFO? I am too embarassed to say

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

25. What is your favorite holiday? Halloween

26. Is there anything that you collect? All things tiki- mugs, coconut monkeys, vintage Hawaiian cards and posters.

27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? Cast-on through my TKGA membership, but other than that I just pick them up when they interest me.

28. Any books out there you are dying to get your hands on? I check most knitting books out of the library, but I would really like knitting without tears since they don't have that.