Un-f***ed up

I am back from the Fiber Event in nearby Greencastle, which I went to with Huan-Hua, Leigh, Nicole, and Blogless Norma (who has been called “blogless Norma” enough times that I think it’s gotten capitalized). If you get an invite from one of them to go to a fiber festival, GO! More on that, hopefully with pictures taken by other people because I forgot my camera, later this week.

For now, though, it’s time to enlist an unwitting guest blogger. Meet my sister. She is one of the few people I know whose verbal skills allow her to stay lucid and eloquent despite–or perhaps in this case because of–an excess of beer and swearing.

It’s been a long week. <Some Regulatory Agency> showed up on our doorstep (long overdue, but of course bad timing). We hosted <Some Really Great Software Company’s> regional users group; good because I didn’t get told I couldn’t attend due to the possibility they’d need me for survey, bad because it was yet another thing to coordinate. And user group always starts the second day at 8:00, which meant I had to get up at 5:30(ish).

So I’m tired. And I’m drinking, ’cause f***in’ hell, we just passed survey! And I’ve lost the ability to concentrate on my book (finished Lamb and moved on to another Christopher Moore), and my laptop battery is low, so I pulled out the knitting. The knitting in question is the perpetually f***ed-up Shetland Tea Shawl from Gathering of Lace. It has now become traditional for me to pull out, scowl at the f***ed-uptedness-of for a few hours, and then put it away in favour of something less f***ed up.

I unf***ed-up it in about a half hour. Now I’m afraid to start knitting in my slighly inebriated state lest I ref***-up it. (Re-f*** it up? Not sure of the appropriate hyphenate there.)

I told this story to the Fiber Event crew (see above), because I was astonished and in awe of that level of drunk knitting. Did I mention that the shawl is in threadweight silk? They asked an important question which had completely eluded me. Was the shawl actually unf***ed up, or was it simply beer goggles? I asked, she answered.

The shawl is still somewhat f***ed up, but much less so than it used to be. It’s one of those things where, if you look closely, you can see the f***up, but it used to be that you’d glance at it and say, “Holy shit, what happened?” So I’m going with “moderately f***ed up but grateful that it’s even remotely unf***ed up,” and blithely knitting ahead.

Knitters everywhere, rejoice! (and apologize to my sister for my bogarting of her content when I didn’t have enough time to write my own.)

April 12, 2008 | 3 Comments »

Tagged! (or “a first time for everything”)

A meme! I’ve been tagged for a yarnmeme by orata at Feather and Fan. This is a first, and thankfully, I had time to respond today rather than putting it off forever. Or until tomorrow….

With no further ado: the Top 50 Ravelry Stashed yarns that I’ve used and would use again, that I’ve used and would not use again, and that I haven’t used and would like to try.

1, Cascade 220 Wool, 11967 projects — The “w” word that everyone uses to describe Cascade. Workhorse. Good for anything.
2, Patons Classic Wool Merino, 10445 projects — If and when I felt, I’d felt with this. I like that there are some non-objectionable multis, and I generally like the base yarn.
3, Malabrigo Yarn Merino Worsted, 8421 projects — Soft hand, fantastic colors, and I like the look of kettle-dyed yarns enough to invest in a sweater’s worth of this stuff. A bit pilly, but I expect that out of soft yarns.
4, Noro Kureyon, 7947 projects — Shocking, I know. I’d rather use Silk Garden for wearables, and I don’t felt often enough to use this for felting.
5, Caron Simply Soft, 7914 projects — *squeak squeak squeak* I am very sensitive to the squeaky acrylic in both this and Red Heart.
6, Lily Sugar’n Cream Solid, 6864 projects — Too harsh on the hands, and cotton isn’t much to my liking to begin with.
7, Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted, 6619 projects — The mohair makes the color really pop, and there’s not enough halo to ruin a cable, although it’s a bit scratchy sometimes.
8, Red Heart Ltd. Super Saver Solids, 6176 projects
9, Lion Brand Wool-Ease Solid, 5554 projects — My yarn of choice for projects that will get abused and/or thrown away quickly. Wool-Ease doesn’t raise my anti-acrylic hackles because it doesn’t squeak (at least for me), and I’ve used several weights of it for various reasons.
10, Noro Silk Garden, 5410 projects — Perhaps one of my favorites. I know people complain that if there’s silk and mohair in it, they should show, but I love the crunchy hand and sheen that result from the blend.
11, Koigu Painter’s Palette Premium Merino (KPPPM), 5094 projects — I hate that the colorways don’t always make sense from dyelot to dyelot (some of the dyelots are just plain different colorways, dammit), but there’s no denying the sheer brilliance of some of the colorways.
12, Knit Picks Wool of the Andes, 5071 projects — Yeah, yeah, I need to try this. It just hasn’t happened yet because I had access to Cascade 220 and I think of the two as more or less interchangeable.
13, Lion Brand Homespun, 4296 projects
14, Lion Brand Cotton-Ease, 4157 projects — My favorite of the drugstore yarns because it’s got enough natural fiber to give it a good hand and enough acrylic to keep it stretchy and un-cottony. I really like the multi-ply construction (to which I attribute my love of Karabella 8 as well)
15, Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock Multi, 4086 projects
16, Manos del Uruguay 100% Wool, 3989 projects
17, Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Bulky , 3927 projects
18, Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, 3751 projects
19, Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock – Lightweight, 3723 projects — The color repeats drive me nuts. I always get stripes. I also find that the dyes fade fast in the wash. Not my favorite sock yarn (which I think makes me a Sock Yarn Iconoclast).
20, Plymouth Encore Worsted, 3573 projects
21, Cascade 220 Heathers, 3422 projects
22, Lily Sugar’n Cream Ombres & Prints, 3384 projects
23, Zitron Trekking (XXL), 3348 projects
24, Patons SWS (Soy Wool Stripes), 3243 projects
25, Rowan Kidsilk Haze, 3203 projects — Luuuuuurve. I’m a sucker for laceweight silk-mohair blends.
26, Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, 2917 projects
27, Pisgah Yarn & Dyeing Co., Inc Peaches & Creme Ombres, 2658 projects
28, Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece, 2512 projects
29, Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock – Mediumweight, 2503 projects
30, Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick, 2489 projects
31, Pisgah Yarn & Dyeing Co., Inc Peaches & Creme Solids, 2476 projects
32, Cascade 220 Superwash, 2323 projects
33, Berroco Ultra Alpaca, 2286 projects — I’ve always wanted to try this, but hadn’t seen it anywhere until I went to In a Yarn Basket with orata and elliphantom.
34, Knit Picks Swish Superwash, 2226 projects
35, Knit Picks Essential, 2149 projects
36, Lion Brand Vanna’s Choice Solid, 2142 projects
37, Colinette Jitterbug, 2090 projects
38, Lion Brand Lion Wool Solid, 2030 projects
39, Knit Picks Shine Sport, 1976 projects
40, Dale of Norway/Dalegarn Baby Ull, 1885 projects
41, Lion Brand Microspun, 1871 projects
42, Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Merino, 1863 projects
43, Knit Picks Palette, 1765 projects
44, South West Trading Company TOFUtsies, 1762 projects
45, Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool, 1756 projects
46, Mission Falls 1824 Wool, 1725 projects — I’m glad they’re back in business!
47, Rowan RYC Cashsoft DK, 1718 projects
48, Red Heart Ltd. Super Saver Multis/Ombres, 1664 projects
49, Rowan Felted Tweed, 1646 projects
50, Rowan Calmer, 1571 projects

Having done this, I realize that the yarns on my drool list are either hand-dyed yarns from small companies or yarns that I know and love and will work with over and over (KP Andean Silk, for instance). I guess that means I’m either looking for the knitting equivalent of cliff diving or comfort food, and not much in between. Hmmmm.

Sadly or thankfully (I’m not sure which), the list of blogs at which I read and comment, and can therefore meme-tag, is fairly short, so elliphantom must carry the torch for me.

April 9, 2008 | 1 Comment »

P.D.D.

Project Deficit Disorder.

They don’t even fit in the same picture all at the same time. I suppose an all-encompassing photo would be easier if I weren’t counting the research projects in addition to the knitting projects (books take up a lot of room!), but it’s still a depressing total. I can’t bring myself to finish what’s there, but I don’t want to start anything new either. Meh.

To wit: 4 large sweater-type projects (Kusha Kusha, Mermaid, a sweater that I miscalculated yardage on, and a sweater of my own design that I’ve knit once which is merely a sleeve from completion), 1 pair of socks (not my own, which is part of the problem), a shawl (Icarus, which isn’t complicated enough to be motivating), and 3 lines of research (one of which is the root of the ennui currently afflicting my knitting).

If only research had something akin to frogging…. It might be painful, but at least frogging frees up yarn for another project, and it does so in a utter, irrefutable, complete sense. It’s really hard to scrub research from your brain in quite the same way. Unfortunately, I have the feeling that I’m thisclose to an answer on my research, but until the solution presents itself, my knitting will suffer. Meh, again.

April 6, 2008 | 2 Comments »