Brooklyn Handspun

Blogging?

2009-07-08T04:47:00.000-05:00

Anyone still there?

I have to admit I've mostly forgotten about this poor blog. With twitter, flickr, and real life gatherings, my poor blag has been really neglected. I know a few bloggers who recently shut down their blogs because they no longer had anything to say or they created the blog in hopes of meeting new people and now they are so busy with friends and life they no longer need the blog.

I'm on the fence. I have been so busy lately with work (both the day job and dyeing) and life (anyone ever plan a wedding? OMG it's time consuming!) that I rarely ever think about posting - this is quite obvious considering the last post was in September of 2008! But I am not ready to just dismantle and walk away.

I think I'll just start off small - here are some pics of recent FO's

Knitting: I made this pattern us as I went along it's basically 5 cables staggered and I'm thinking about writing up a pattern for it - what do you think is it worthy of a pattern? Any suggested names? I've got another design in the works as well - maybe I'll give this designing thing a shot!

Jewelry Making: Many moons ago I made jewelry, a lot of it, and did a decent job making a little cash from selling it. I really enjoyed it but then knitting, spinning, yarn and fiber came into my life and Brooklyn Handspun was created so I had very little time to fabricate jewelry. This past weekend I was cleaning out some supplies and came across some stones which NEEDED to become pendants, and once the torch and other supplies came out I have been a jewelry making fool. The pendants then needed hand linked and beaded necklaces to dangle from...here are the first two:

Carnelian and Silver

Geode Slice, Moonstone, and Smokey Quartz

Oh and I've been dyeing fiber - I'm still not sure if I'm going to keep it all for myself or put it up in the store - we'll see.

Alright - maybe with some positive reinforcement I'll keep this blogging up! wink wink

Ahoy Mateys

2008-09-19T10:19:00.006-05:00

There ain't be no better time to come back to this here blog than on talk(Blog) like a pirate day! I've been sailing some rough seas over the past few months, but I am finally sailing smooth with many a treasure found and islands visited.

Me first treasure be the furry little land lubber Benny - he was a wee little thing when we broke him out of the brig. He be turnin' into a real fine lad - although his mateys (Gina, Divino and Gary) sometimes thinks he be a scurvy dog!

He is a mite bigger now but ye can see the mischief in his eyes.

As fer the island adventure, me wench Courtney and I found our way to the pirate haven of Aruba. It be hot and breezy at that port, but we had ourselves a grand time with other Buccaneers while we swam in the lazy river and ate good grub!

Here be some pictures of that fine time.

That be all fer now me hearties - I'll be weighing the anchor but will be back soon!

Long live the pirates - ARRRRRRRRRR! Where's my rum????

Doug will be missed...

2008-07-22T16:24:00.001-05:00

I just want to say thank you to everyone for sending well wishes to Doug and keeping all of us in your thoughts. On July 9th we made the tough decision to put Doug to sleep. We both took the day off and spent all day with him giving him as much love as we could, wondering if we were making the right choice. Right as we were putting him into his carrier to go to the Vet - after being home all day - he had a seizure and died quickly in our arms. Even with his last act he was a good cat who knew how to take care of us, and now we don't have to wonder if it was the right choice.

Thank you all for being there for us.

Marie, Court, and Doug

Kitty in Crisis

2008-06-26T10:32:00.004-05:00

It's been so long since I blogged I almost forgot how!

So, life has been busy and rather insane - hopefully I can go over all that has occurred in May and June but right now my only concern is over Doug.

This is Doug - he came into my life when Court did (along with the lovable Devino)- and I am so glad to have them. A few weeks ago we noticed that the svelt Doug was getting skinnier so we brought him to the Vet, as any concerned kitty parents would do, and found out that his kidneys were failing - despite only being 5 years old.

For the past two weeks he's been shuffled from home to his Vet and also to the Animal Medical Center in Manhattan. He's been poked and prodded, had to stay in the hospital for 6 days getting fluids, and now he most likely will have to have surgery since they finally figured out a stone is obstructing his ureter. We'll find out today if that surgery will be here or if we'll have to go to the Veterinary hospital at the University of PA where they do a special sort of surgery.

He is such a trooper, you know, with all of the above and getting subcutaneous fluids at home, he hasn't scratched or bit anyone?!?!?! He was always a mellow loving cat but I probably would have taken a chunk out of someone if I had to go through all of that.

I love it if you can send good wishes and get well vibes to little Doug to help us get through this tough time. and hopefully he'll be getting into trouble and weaseling his way into the craft room (where is is certainly not allowed) to hide among the undyed yarn !

Ever heard of Geocaching?

2008-04-16T11:32:00.003-05:00

Neither did I, but it's worth learning about. Basically, there is a large group of people who hide things on trails and in state parks - maybe even in a park near you (they are in Brooklyn too!) - and then other people go out and find them. It's like a scavenger hunt, you get GPS coordinates of the cache which takes you 10-20 feet from it. You'll also most likely get a cryptic clue which will get you even closer - but you are still going to have to do a little searching. Most caches are boxes (usually Ammo cans):

Inside the box there is generally a logbook, a pencil, and various trinkets. If you take a trinket, you should add one of your own to keep the box supplied with goodies. There are also things called Geocoins and Travel Bugs. They are items you leave in the cache with instructions like - please take me to Disney World. People will take them if they can help them get to the destination stated - and place them in different caches along the way. Check out our handmade Travel Bug - Court whipped this little dragonfly up:

So far we've only found a few caches but they have taken us to some lovely views:

High above LaGrangeville, NY

The Hudson River near Sleepy Hollow, NY

It's a great way to get some nature pics!

I happen to love this sign we saw on the way up a grueling hike which took us up 500 ft in elevation in 3/4 of a mile -

So anyone else out there Geocachers?

Oh there has been some knitting - I finished these a while ago - a pair of simple ribbed socks for Court.

Pattern: my own
Yarn: My Soft Spun Plus in Lush Lake
Needles: Magic Loop Addi #3
I forget how long they took but I do know they went fast.

Store Update

2008-03-20T15:08:00.001-05:00

BIG store update tons of new colorways in all base yarns!

Have something to knit for spring break!

Babies, cats and dye oh my

2008-03-13T11:36:00.004-05:00

This must be the year of babies. Apparently all my friends have "gotten busy" and are now expecting or have just popped! 2 friends have just had little bundles of joy, and 5 more are pregnant - one of them is my sister! I have a LOT of baby knitting to do.

A couple of Saturdays ago I realized that on Sunday I had a baby shower to go to and I had not finished the baby blanket I was working on. Let me give you a timeline of what happened short after this realization:

9:01 - frantically looking for the mitered squares

9:10 - found them only to realize I still had 3.5 more squares to knit
10:00 - 1.5 squares knit
10:01 - searching through piles of stash yarn for the right color to complete the next 2 squares
10:27 - Found it!
10:30 - take a break - cause in the middle of a yarn emergency taking a break seemed like the only thing to do
11:15 - back to work
12:15 - Finished squares

12:15-2:45 am - a ton of friggin seaming
3:00 am - sleep - sweet. sweet sleep

10:00 - I'm awake - No, last nights knitting was not some sick and twisted dream telling me I need to work on my procrastination
10:05 - Pick up a ton of stitches and knit a border (after brushing my teeth)
10:06-1:30 pm - finish the border

1:31-2:30 - grab some lunch, jump into the shower, get dressed etc...
2:30-3:30 - I want to cry but I'm weaving in a bazillion ends

3:35 - get on the bus into Manhattan for the 4:30 baby shower - the ends are still not 100% but I've brought along a needle, scissors, and wrapping paper
4:15 - almost there and I just finished weaving and trimming the last of the ends
4:20 - Wrap the gift on the bus
4:25 - Get off the bus and walk over to the baby shower!

At this point you'd think YAY she did it - all over and done with, mama will love the blankie and the shower will be a pink and blue blast. Well - I get to the apartment where the shower is being held and guess what? No one home! I called and called, I rang the bell, I even was let in to knock on the door - still no answer.

I head home with the blanket still in my possession. Turns out, the baby was very eager, kicked a hole through the amniotic sac and my friend had to go in for an emergency c-section on Thursday before the shower - guess who didn't get the email notice?

But now I know better and will start and finish my baby gifts early - umm ok maybe not. At least I did get a good blog post out of it!

Cats and dye -

If you want to know the story behind this picture - check out Court's new blog - she's got the full run down it's totally worth reading!

Brooklyn Bonanza

2008-02-21T10:48:00.003-05:00

First off - thank you to all of you who wished me birthday wishes and congratulations on the engagement - I've said it before and I'll say it again - all of you guys rock!

This past weekend I had my yearly spider gathering - this was the 3rd year. It was a blast! I wish I had taken more pictures but I was having way too much fun to do that.

The 1st year is was dyeing, the 2nd spinning and this year it was all about the secret single sock swap. We used Elfster to match up the spiders and then we knit one sock for our swap pal. It was the best swap ever - beautiful socks - inspiring actually!

I got a sock, and some other goodies from the fabulous Virginia who actually wrote her own pattern for the sock - and that pattern is going to be adapted for my Instant Gratification sock yarn. So not only did I get a great sock (which I'll be casting on for the mate soon) I get a pattern to give out to my customers!

check out that cable action - now I HAVE to start knitting cables...I know I know it's easy - I don't know why I've put it off for so long - they are so friggin pretty.

I forgot to take a picture of the sock I knit for Cathy but if you look above 3rd from the left I knit a Poseidon sock with my soft spun plus colorway red brick. I really enjoyed the pattern it was fun to knit and I was able to memorize the pattern pretty quickly.

We all know that knitting is integral to our survival as a species ( at least I think so!) but how will the rest of the world come to find out about it? IKEA - yup you know your craft has reached new heights when IKEA has a yarn store in their showroom!

Now if only I can get my craft room so organized!

Very Memorable Birthday...

2008-01-29T12:12:00.000-05:00

Last Friday I met a bunch of family and friends in a cozy little bar downtown to celebrate my 30th birthday. We had a blast chatting and drinking while the jukebox played - then - I got a giant birthday surprise! Courtney gets everyone's attention, at least 20 people or so, and takes out a sheet of paper then starts to tell everyone that before we met (about a year ago) she made a list of everything she wanted in a partner. This list included some very specific items like: she likes to dye stuff, is between 27 and 30, has gaps in her teeth, cooks well so she doesn't have to, has light eyes and brown hair, loves cats....etc. She says that I fit everyone of the items on that list (it was spooky actually) and most of all she wanted someone who when she got down on one knee and proposed she would say yes - and then she asked me to marry her!

I must admit I was floored, totally shocked, had NO idea this was coming! It took me a few moments to let everything sink in but as soon as I got my wits about me I accepted. We both agreed that there won't be a wedding for at least another year (gotta see who wins the presidential election - might have some impact on marriage rights).

Here is a picture of the sheep (that she needle felted herself) which she presented me the ring with:

The ring has an Amethyst stone since purple is my favorite color, and look it has swirls on it - can you believe that?!?! (if you've been reading my blog for long enough you'll realize I have a thing for swirls). I couldn't have even designed myself a better ring.
It's absolutely perfect!

30 years ago...

2008-01-25T15:35:00.001-05:00

My mom was struggling over piles of snow on her way to the hospital...

We all know what happened next - yup she had a bouncing baby girl - ME. My parents only had boy names picked out so after a little arguing as to whether or not to name me Penelope, they decided on Marie Aline (I just don't think I look like a Penelope - no offense to all of you Penelope's out there).

Now that I'm 30 I feel like I am officially a grown up - although I'm still playing with bits of string and colorful fiber. I'm looking forward to my thirties I think good times are ahead - I'm sure I can deal with the creaking bones lol.

Lest you think this blog is all about Birthdays and Shop announcements - I do have some FO's - knitting has been happening over here.

First off the long awaited Cable Twist socks knit with 4 balls of Zara - nice and squishy.

Here is where I modified the pattern and added increases on both sides of the sock.

I started these in Late March and didn't finish till December of course I knit up 1.5 and then got sick and tired of them and had them sitting in the WIP pile for months. But I really like the way they came out.

Here is another FO - fingerless gloves with a thumb hole. I'm still not sure if I want to add the cap or not. BTW- no kitties were strangled in the course of shooting these pictures :)

Here is the very convenient thumb hole - perfect for trying to grab your metrocard from a very full pocket.

The yarn is my Instant Gratification in Mermaid. I was glad when this didn't sell cause well I had my eye on it from the beginning! The pattern is made up on the fly just some ribbing a thumb gusset and some more ribbing. Originally knit for Court but - um - I kinda stole them back....hey she already has toasty gloves and my hands were freezing!

Thank you Court for being the ever patient FO model!

Finally we have my most current WIP the super secret sock - I won't give any details but here is a pic -

More pictures to come soon - I've still got a lot to show ya!

Store Update

2008-01-18T15:50:00.000-05:00

The STORE has been updated with LOTS of new colorways and the brand new 3ply Soft Spun Plus is making it's debut appearance. Also there are still spots left in the Holiday Sock Club - Round II

Here is a little pic the current colorways:

Happy New Year

2008-01-10T13:48:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year! - I hope you and all your loved ones had a wonderful
holiday season. Exciting times here at Brooklyn Handspun! I've got a
couple of new things going on that I'd love to share with you.

1) The 2008 Holiday Sock Club is now open! I've got great colors brewing....go over and check it out.

2) Keep an eye out late next week for a GIANT update!

3) I'm am now taking wholesale orders from brick and mortar stores
- so if you would like to see Brooklyn Handspun in your LYS let them know to send an inquiry to wholesale@brooklynhandspun.com - you'll be seeing my 3 ply yarn at The Point very soon.

4) I have started taking private spinning students on a drop spindle or wheel. If you are in the NYC area and would like to take spinning lessons just email me and I'll give you all the information.

5) If classes are more your thing - I will be teaching a spinning class at Brooklyn General beginning February 2, 2008. Introduction to Spinning $125 (great price for 6 hours of lessons!)

Four 1 ½ hour classes Learn how to spin and design your own yarn on a drop spindle. Class includes an overview of animal and plant fibers, how to card and blend different fiber types and colors, plying instruction, and an introduction to the spinning wheel. Check here for more info or you can call 718.237.7753

Materials available at first class
Session A: Mon 6:30 to 8:00 pm, 2/4, 11, 25. 3/3

Brooklyn General is also hosting the fabulous Pluckyfluff she will be offering a 2 day spinning camp - you'll learn lots of carding and novelty techniques for the art yarn lover in you. Tell them Brooklyn Handspun referred you! You can find all the info on the Brooklyn General Blog

I have a bunch of FO's and pictures to share with you - unfortunately I left my camera at home but I'll get them up in a few days!

SALE SALE SALE

2007-12-20T12:50:00.000-05:00

I'm having an end of year sale at the STORE I'm offfering 20% off all yarn - I need to clear out for more yarn coming in January.

If you order by the 21st I'll be mailing them out right away - after that they will be mailed out on the 27th.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!

Marie

Socks on Blocks

2007-12-12T17:33:00.000-05:00

My socks are done! I finished them on Sunday and I think I worked on each sock maybe 4 days of subway knitting each. They flew off the needles.

Here they are on my new fabulous sock blockers given to me by Veronique at the Spider Christmas party this weekend - I'm in love with them and the cute little fat cat carved out of them.

Here is a shot of the naked sock blockers:

I"ll have the pattern up as soon as it's tested - it's for my soon to be released 3 ply sock yarn - Soft Spun Plus.

I have started knitting on a long time WIP which hopefully will be a FO tonight - Pics to come soon of super cool knee highs.

Here are a few bits of eye candy - I woke up really early a few days last week and I caught the sunrise -I love the sunrise it's so peaceful, I had to take pics.

While I was taking pics of the sunrise this is what Gary was doing:

Excuse me ....I felted

2007-11-29T11:22:00.000-05:00

Well I tried to anyway - about a month ago I bought some felting supplies at Brooklyn General
to try my hand at felting (yeah like I NEED a new hobby) Well this was my sad little attempt:

some funky swirls and dots - after a little while I realized this hobby isn't for me, but Court picked up the needle and some funky wool I had laying around and look at this:

Front:

Back:

She's a friggin natural! She didn't even look online for tutorials or anything - just went right at it - I'm impressed. The baby dragon isn't finished yet - I can't wait to see it all done.

Speaking of finished - woo hoo the Twisted Tweed socks are done. Well they've been done for a while now hence the fuzzies on the sock from wearing them all over the house.

Project Stats:

Pattern: Twisted Tweed - I did them toe up and only knit the pattern on the leg.

Yarn: Trekking XXL

Started: September 25, 2007

Finished: November 16, 2007

Here we go - my list of WIP's

1. Log Cabin baby blanket - as with all log cabins it just keeps going and going. I love it though and it is the best TV knitting...knit, knit, knit

2. Mitered square baby blanket - a long time ago I bought up a ton of GGH aspen at 2 bucks a ball - I decided it would make the most squishy fun baby blanket. so here I am cranking out squares - again good tv knitting.

3. New sock - My own pattern and my new 3 ply sock yarn. Umm I don't want to toot my own horn but umm...I really love this yarn. I'm knitting this sock up on 3.25 mm needles - I started on Tuesday morning and I'll be done tonight with the first sock. I'll be writing the pattern up while I knit the second sock. Hopefully making the PDF will go as fast - although unlikely!

3. Spinning - yup it's been a LONG while since I've posted any spinning around here. I'm spinning up some BFL/Merino which will stripe pink and rainbow. I'm not sure if I want to keep this as singles or ply it with a little BLING - i miss the bling - it's been a while!

Ok, these silk paintings were not done by me - but the person who did do them doesn't think they are any good - can you please let her know she is crazy! I think they are lovely and she should continue to play with the medium and create, cause not only are they already beautiful but I can see how much more potential she has. The first two were inspired by cave paintings, and the last one by a picture of an art quilt.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

2007-11-21T15:33:00.000-05:00

Well I have a lot to show you but...it'll have to wait till Monday I'm just too busy with all the cooking and baking to show you the FO's, WIP's and new crafts...

In the meantime, I am having a Thanksgiving sale at the STORE - all yarn is 10% off - I need to make room for new stuff. I've got a brand new 3 ply squishy sock yarn that I'm just dye-ing to show you!

Have a wonderful holiday!

Breaking News...

2007-11-05T15:03:00.000-05:00

In an amazing act of solidarity, all 4 cats conspired to take over the entire bed. They demanded tuna in abundance and many kilos of cat nip before they would return the bed to their human caretakers. Fortunately strife within their ranks, in the form of Gina trying to eat Doug's tail, forced them to back down and they settled for control over the other 95% of the apartment.

Now back to your regularly scheduled program - Attack of The 50 ft Ball of Yarn....ahhhhhhhh

Store Update

2007-11-03T21:34:00.001-05:00

Just a quick post to let you know that the STORE has been updated - go take a looksie and see if anything strikes your fancy.

Being productive

2007-10-25T12:50:00.000-05:00

I've been on a knitting roll. I finished one of the Twisted Tweed Socks and am working away on the 2nd one. The only thing that is slowing my progress is I finally got the log cabin itch. I found out a friend of mine was pregnant and is having a boy so I figured it was the perfect time to knit my first baby blanket.

I started late Monday night and here is the progress so far:

and an artsy side shot:

I'm really enjoying the flow of this blanket. It's not quite a log cabin - maybe I should call it log cabin inspired. I didn't plan out the color repeats or how many rows of each to do, I am just grabbing yarn and knitting till it feels right. So far so good I think.

I've also finished a pair of arm warmers for Court - here she is when I rudely, I mean lovingly, woke her up and said I wanted a shot of the arm warmers. I put them on her, let her hide, and snapped this shot - I LOVE this shot hehee.

These were knit out of baby alpaca I spun up ages ago. No pattern, just a tube with a hole on the side for the thumb and some k2p2 rib on the top and bottom. If you look close you'll see I embroidered (not very neatly) an L for left and an R for right. Although they are knit so as to be interchangeable, were knit with the same yarn, the same amount of stitches and within about an hour of each other, the fit is different for each arm so Court asked that a designation be made for ease of use. I gladly obliged.

I did go to Rhinebeck but amazingly I didn't buy any fiber or yarn - can you believe that? I figure I recently got in an order of 450 lbs of yarn and I should probably lay off the fiber and yarn ordering for a bit :). I did score some Phenomenal Fudge this stuff is heavenly, some chocolate covered pretzels, honey sticks, a candy and caramel apple, and a large bag of kettle corn. By the way - not all of this was for me - just so you know hehee. I met up with some of the Spiders and we had a greasy, but yummy, lunch - I really wanted the artichokes but alas, the line was too long and I was too hungry. Cathy brought with her one of her cube bags that I ADORE. She emailed me and said she knew I would love this fabric and she was oh so right. It's perfect - if you have been reading this here blog for a bit you'll know why...

SWIRLS GALORE!!! I love it - thank you Cathy.

I also ran into Michelle, owner of The Sweet Sheep who came all the way down from Canada wearing her lovely Mr. Green Jeans Sweater. And of course, I couldn't leave without Chilling with Mama-E for a bit. It was a warm day but she was rocking her Fugl sweater - let me tell you it is so pretty. She also brought me a gift - check out this lovely BFL roving -

I can't wait to spin it up. I think Mama-E is going to have a package delivered to her soon :)

I'll leave you with a picture of Gary - my "special" boy. He was percolating before birth WAY too long. As a result he tends to run into walls, isn't the most coordinated, and I think might possible have narcolepsy (he'll walk around, stop and just plop down and sleep anywhere). Oh but I love him and his giant ears.

Rhinebeck Here I come

2007-10-19T17:01:00.001-05:00

Well I'm off to Rhinebeck - I'm making a weekend of it Sheep and Wool on Saturday and hiking on Sunday.

I'd love to meet some fellow bloggers up there - old and new friends, lurkers, customers, etc...

Here is a picture of me wearing the same scarf I'll be wearing tomorrow.

Please say hello if you see me! I'm also a square in Blogger Bingo for Saturday only. I hope you meet lots of people....see you there!

Bring on Socktoberfest

2007-10-08T22:47:00.000-05:00

I'm ready for you Socktober! I've already got one pair of socks done and another on the way. Court's ribbed socks are finished and I love the way they came out.

Project Stats:
Pattern: my own - just a toe up sock with a short row heel and a nice and tall 2x2 ribbed leg. Knit on size 3US 56 st.
Yarn: Magic Garden Buttons yarn - 83% NZ wool, 17% polyester. 134 yards/50g ball. Machine washable. I used 2 full balls of blue and one of yellow.
Started: September 21, 2007
Finished: October 4, 2007

My next pair of socks are already underway - Twisted Tweed Socks.

I really like this stitch pattern it looks more complicated than it is and I think it will actually stay up on my leg. I'm already planning on knitting another pair of these and this time I might even knit the stitch pattern down the sock.

A while back, my mom asked - no wait - demanded a pair of socks. After holding her off for a while I finally finished her socks and gave them to her a few months ago. These are baby cashmerino so they are super soft but not the most durable of socks.

She told me she was going to use them as house socks so I figured a cashmere blend yarn wouldn't be too bad on pergo floors. Apparently I was wrong - take a look at moms new...umm mittens?

If you look closely you'll see she wore 3 holes in her house socks. each one had a hole in the heel and one where the ball of the foot is. Apparently she didn't just wear them in the house but she told me she "might" have walked outside on the concrete and stone pavers. Not to mention I have a feeling she threw these in the washing machine quite frequently. Not to worry mom - I've already got another pair in mind for you - and this time I'm adding either a slipped stitch heel and toe or maybe even making the whole bottom of the foot in Eye of Partridge. Eventually I'm sure they too will wear out but hopefully it will take longer than a few months!

Hey here are some kitty pics - these are the two new guys - Divino and Douglass. They are so friggin sweet and amazingly all 4 cats get along rather well. I'm waiting for the day they all are sleeping close enough to get a group picture...how sweet will that be?!

New and Improved

2007-09-26T15:50:00.001-05:00

Forget about same ol' same ol', I've got some new stuff going on!

Check out the new layout of the blog - much better right? Easier to read and much more personalized. Finally after 2 years of blogging - yes I just had a blogiversary thank you, I have made some much needed changes. I'm really diggin it.

I've got some new WIP's - two pairs of socks one for me and one for Court. I'm sure many of you can pick out which one is for me right away - especially with my penchant for purple or anything berry colored.

Courts yellow and turquoise pair is my own ribbed pattern, just a basic sock, warm and comfy for the upcoming winter. If I am brave I'll write a pattern but I'm scared of pattern writing - I'm sure I'll make about 50 mistakes and then have to revise it every 2 days.

My pair will eventually be the Twisted Tweed Socks (although in true lazy knitter style - I'll be doing the fancy stitch pattern on the leg only) by the talented Schrodinger who not only knits but sews as well - she has a new etsy shop, Schrodinger Originals, selling her cube bags. Here is a pic stolen from her etsy shop - I forgot to snap a pic of mine. I love it - it's perfect for socks on the go or any little project you want to smush in your bag but don't want to ruin with the various items crammed into your purse (maybe that's just my purse - but I doubt it)

Go take a look - and buy - you'll be glad you did.

More newness - I got a new haircut! This is the shortest my hair has EVER been. I've been systematically cutting it shorter and shorter and I think this is my limit - but I think it suits me and makes my hair look way fuller.

And as you know from my last post I recently moved. Here is a picture of the living room post box removal.

There is a lot of decorating work to be done here - and decorating compromises to be discussed. We did come up with what to hang on the wall over the couch. We are going to be collaborating on a hand dyed and pieced wall hanging - stay tuned for progress reports).

Check out the creepy glowing cat eyes - now there are 4 cats to stumble over!

Hey I've also got STORE news - I've started a 3 Month Holiday Sock Club and there are a few spots left. The first shipment will be within the first 2 weeks of October.

Summer is over - Back to fibery things...yay

2007-09-12T10:00:00.000-05:00

So, I must confess, there hasn't been much knitting at all done this summer (gasp, shock, shriek) - really, with temperatures in the 90's I wasn't going to even look at wool to spin or yarn to knit. For the most part I didn't even want my clothes on, although I made sure to fight the urge to strip (which was a mighty feat of self control). But finally the humidity has dissipated and the temperature took a southern dip, and for the first time it feels just a bit like fall. So you all know what I was doing this morning on the train right? oh yes my friends knitting some socks - in a lovely berry shade of Trekking XXL - alas no pictures yet.

Speaking of pictures I will speed you through my summer ala photo journalism style -

Courtney has fun with power tools while cutting off the child safety bars in order to put in an AC - note to building owners - Do not use one-way screws when installing these things.

Spider Parties were attended - Really, who can ask for a better group of friends?

Check us out rooting through a ton of yarn! Ohh and don't I look fetching in a tiara hehee - behind me is Carrie - probably with her yarn haul.

In family news, my little sister became a court officer - I am so very proud of her - doesn't she looks adorable...I mean tough and mean - umm - yeah. I miss her at the day job so much - not to mention as my yarn dyeing assistant. Next to her is my lovely mother - who btw is also an officer!

Well I'm basically out of pictures but I do have some more news - I Moved (still in the same neighborhood in Brooklyn). The move was HELL and I would never wish that kind of stress and anxiety on anyone. But, the apartment is lovely, and Courtney and I are loving it.

Fibery news coming soon.

STORE UPDATE

2007-06-14T15:23:00.001-05:00

Hello all - Just a little note to let you know the STORE has been updated

Lots of new yarn - in all new colorways.

Also I've got hand dyed clothes for babies and adults by Digger and Dweezil - they are so adorable and one of a kind. Lots more colors and sizes on the way and if you have a request let me know and I'll get your order in!

And the winner is...

2007-05-21T15:04:00.000-05:00

Thank you everyone for such thoughtful comments! I visited a lot of new blogs and I'm in the process now of updating my reading list to include all of you (I love delurking time). I'm also compiling a great list for those of you out there who need a little inspiration or jump start in the knitting and/or blogging realm.

I got started on a lot of those suggestions already but first I'll let you know the winner -

LANI - go check out her blog she just finished the ever popular Monkey Socks.

I've got a nice little package going out to her which I totally forgot to take a picture of.

So on to the things I'm doing to keep myself motivated.

#1 - finish the endless kneehigh sock - only the first one is done and I am waiting a bit before I cast on for the second one - I don't want to be thrown into knitting exile again so soon.

I made so many modifications to this, and of course didn't write any of them down, so it's going to be interesting recreating the 2nd sock. The original pattern is the cable twist socks. I LOVE this pattern. I already knit one pair and this will be my 2nd. It's so easy but you still have to think about where you are in the pattern. I think the modifications are: toe up, plain stockinette on the foot, increases on each side of the leg as it got longer, and a very interesting rib to top it off ( interesting because it's k2, p1, k2, p2 - it fit with the pattern)

#2 - Buy some yarn! I couldn't pass up these colors, especially since they were on sale, and neither could she.

Aren't they just lovely?

#3 - Start a new and exciting project. I started knitting a silver wire bracelet. I figured that is something I've never really done. Well I did try once, but silver wire and metal needles will drive you crazy and force you to hurl stuff across the room in frustration. I've since learned that one of the items (either yarn or needles) needs to have some "give", so this time I have 28g silver wire and US1 bamboo needles - the bamboo needles are nice and flexible. It's coming along nicely.

I plan to knit until it's the size of my wrist, then I'll fold it in half, wire the long side together, and either wear it like that or maybe I'll put in some larger beads into the tube and then close up the ends and either solder on or wire on a bar and clasp. I know it might be hard to visualize but I'll have pictures soon.

#4 - get outside and do something other than knit. Court and I went to Central Park last weekend and had a blast - isn't she cute?

Uninspired = free yarn contest

2007-05-09T13:09:00.000-05:00

Update - a winner has been chosen - Next post on Wednesday evening will name the winner and the prize!

I've been feeling blah about knitting and blogging lately. I'm sure this phase will pass but I always hate it when I get into these slumps. I've been working on the same annoying knee high sock for ages, since my vacation over a month ago, and I'm still not finished with the first one - it just goes on and on and on.

In order to get back into the swing of things, I am going back to my regular reading and commenting of blogs - I'm scared to even look at bloglines. I've also decided that in order to make things more exciting around here I am going to have a CONTEST.

Ok the rules - very simple - leave me a comment on what you do to get out of your yarn and blogging slumps. I'll then pick one of you at random and send over yarny gifts. If you happen to be a spinner as well, you'll get 1/2 yarn gifts and 1/2 spinning gifts. I'm also going to compile a list of all the suggestions in hopes of helping others during these dark hours of non-knitting and blogging. I'm not sure what the prize will be yet but you can be sure it'll be good - if you've seen my apartment in person, or just pictures here online, you know I have LOTS of stuff - many of which really could use a new home.

Aren't the Atlas mountains in Morocco amazing? - hey if you would like to take a peak at my vacation photos check out the Morocco flickr Pool or my flickr page

My Vacation is over....Sigh

2007-04-11T13:26:00.000-05:00

As the title suggests, I am indeed back from vacation. Although I am happy to be back in the good ol US of A, I am missing the days off from my 9-5 (well really 10-6 but that's neither here nor there). So where did I jet off to for just about 2 weeks? AFRICA - ok Morocco to be exact, it just sounds so much more dramatic to say Africa, and it isn't untrue.

I went with Virginia, her guy A, and Joe. All I can say is - what and adventure that was! I'm not going to bore you with all the details but I will tell you there were medieval cities, 8 hour train rides, the prophet's birthday, scheming snake charmers, lots of shopping, camel riding, sleeping in a Berber tent in the Sahara under a full moon, a transit strike, shady dealings with a cab driver, becoming friends with said cab driver, castles crumbled into the sea, the BEST seafood ever - I could go on but I'll stop here and show you some "best of" pictures.

There are many more where those came from but I won't put them all into a post. Hopefully soon I'll have them up on my flickr account so you can peruse them all at your convenience.

So the vacation was great but I am glad to be back home - especially because I was missing someone special. Yup I've got a special someone and she is really amazing. So creative - umm she knows all about dyeing fabric, and even does wonderful silk paintings (how I managed that - I don't know - what are the odds?). Oh and smart (I see future novelist here) and lovely...and I better stop before I make you all puke. So maybe - just maybe this is one of the reasons I've been a little absent from this here blog...you know I love you all but sometimes you just need extra time in the beginning of a new relationship to get to a little carried away. Oh and guess what? She wants me to teach her how to knit...mmm hmmm now you really like her don't you? Good cause so do I.

Just because I've met someone and went on vacation doesn't mean I haven't been knitting. I've got two pairs of socks done and I have the fist sock of a pair of knee highs almost done. Here is the progress pic of the knee highs - oh how I love knitting on the beach.

the yarn is Zara and it's soft and cushy and it knits up so fast on us 3 needles. It's quite a bit longer now. The pattern is the cable twist socks from Hello Yarn. I did change the pattern for toe up, short row heel, and the pattern is only on the leg. I really love this pattern it's simple, easy to memorize and customize, and stays up! This is actually my 2nd pair in this pattern.

When I get the other pictures off my home computer, I'll show you my FO's. I think I've made up for lost time though. I'm off to try and catch up on some much neglected blog reading.

Store Update

2007-03-19T17:17:00.000-05:00

The STORE has been updated - a real post to come soon.

I must pack - trip coming soon...

Static...

2007-03-09T16:54:00.001-05:00

Sorry for the Lack of posts - I'll be back soon - I've got lots of stuff to show ya but very little time to post about it. All is well, just been busy busy busy. . .

Color Overload

2007-02-23T13:46:00.000-05:00

Look what I've been up to -

I'll have a nice big update next week! Thanks to Virginia and my sister Lauren who both helped me dye up this crazy bunch of yarn - over 30 lbs of it I think.

Here is Lauren after washing a LOT of yarn.

Isn't she cute?

I've also had one sock fly off the needles - my mom's baby cashmerino sock - one down and the next one to do. I started knitting this sock last friday and I finished on Saturday - I love knitting on size 3US needles it goes so fast. I didn't cast on for the 2nd sock till last night and I am almost at the heel. Hopefully by tomorrow the pair will be done and my mom can stop hounding me (you hear that mom? I know you are reading this, they are almost done - I promise).

See, here is proof of the first one done!

Oh hey - here is a painting I did like 2 weeks ago. I was cleaning before having the spiders over and in the middle of cleaning I realized I needed to fill a space on my wall and I just HAD to make a new painting. So I put all the cleaning down and broke out the acrylics, the metallic powders and canvases and proceeded to make more of a mess. But I really like the way it came out. - check it out larger you can see the sparklies in it better.

Fun with Photos

2007-02-16T11:54:00.000-05:00

So, I've had this fancy new camera since Christmas and I've been having a lot of fun learning about Aperture, Shutter Speed, ISO speed and all that interesting stuff. The only problem is the weather - yes the weather. I'd like to go outside more often to experiment, walk around and take pictures but it's way too friggin cold. Although I can't really take the pics I want, I have been keeping myself busy taking pictures inside and from my window.

First here is a picture I took with Sandra in mind. She takes the coolest sock and shoe pics, although her shoes are way fancier than mine. Here I am sporting my finished socks and my brand new danskos.

I've been hearing about how comfortable these for so long from a bunch of the Spiders and they are so right! I love them.

Here is another shot of the socks where you can see more of them - and of Gary. He says they smell good! I swear that's what he said :)

Here are the specs:

Pattern: Lace Top Toe Up Sock
Yarn: BH - Soft Spun, Cool Beans colorway
Needles: Size 1 addis - magic loop
Time to complete: less than 2 weeks! - Personal best
Modifications: I didn't really look at the pattern till I got to the leg, I did a figure 8 cast on, increased to 72 st. and then did a simple short row heel using Misocrafty's method for no holes - thank you Steph for showing me!

I've already cast on for another pair of socks - this time using baby cashmerino...mmmmmm These are for my mom.

So I got this macro filter lens for my camera and I just had to show you how cool it is. Here is a picture of a poof of fiber nice and close.

And here is the crop - check out how close the baby gets!

I promise this is the last picture - this was taken from my window the other night after the snow - I Love the color of the sky.

Spin Spider, Spin

2007-02-13T14:09:00.000-05:00

This past Sunday was the 2nd annual Bay Ridge Spider gathering....I figure I'll make this a yearly thing from now on. This year the theme was spinning. As you can see in the following picture I have more than enough supplies in my craft room for us all to spin!

Here are a few of the girls in action -

And check out Melissa on the Lendrum!

While some of the girls were spinning the rest were enjoying food, drink, and the Money Pit...what a great movie...lol.

I'm so glad everyone trekked out to Bay Ridge - Thank you! I had a great time and I love having everyone over.

I was so tired by the time everyone left - but that didn't stop me from continuing to work on my socks. I have got one down and the 2nd is almost done. I'll have these done in under two weeks - a personal record. Here is the 1st finished sock -

This is a pattern I randomly found online - the picture was so small I really couldn't tell how it was going to come out but I'm glad I decided to go for it. I'm back in the sock knitting mode - I've already got some sock yarn put aside for my next pair - I'm thinking Monkey.

Meme time!

2007-02-02T12:06:00.000-05:00

Thank you everyone for the Birthday wishes - I had a great time and all your comments really made my week!

I have knitting but - it's mainly secret knitting so I can't show ya. I'm also knitting a pair of socks but I forgot to take my cf card so I could upload it. I'm using Cool Beans. While I was reskeining I had a bit of a tangle issue and eventually got impatient and had to cut a big chunk of the yarn out so it was too short to sell, I figured I'd keep it - there is still plenty for a pair of socks.

Since I have no pretty pictures for you to look at - other than maybe a random sky picture

I'm going to get to the two memes that I think I might have been tagged for!

The first one is 6 weird things about me -

1: I adore cheese - all kinds of cheese, I must - at all times - have at least 5 different kinds of cheese in my refrigerator!

2: I love to cook but only for 2 or more people, I have no problem cooking for 20 (ask the Spiders!) but when I come home from work I really don't want to cook just for me, so I put together strange combinations of what I have around the kitchen. A little seasoned plain yogurt (makes a great dip), some pita bread, a bit of cheese, an avocado...this list constantly changes and can at times get very strange.

3: I have a strange obsession with Swirls - if you've been reading this blog for a bit you'll have noticed that I enjoy swirls in my jewelry, paintings, and sewing projects When I see swirly fabric I'm compelled to buy it, I'll take pictures of swirls and I've even designed a tattoo of a swirl tree for myself!

4: I research - a LOT. When I become interested in a particular topic I research the hell out of it and learn pretty much all I can (I think this is why I have lots of crazy facts rolling around in my head) and the topics are varied from all sorts of crafts to holocaust studies - and many topics in between.

5: I enjoy inventing contraptions out of stuff around the house like the home made icord maker and yarn skeiner. Even if eventually I'll get the commercial one I still enjoy trying to do my own take on it. This is helpful when you get ideas very late at night and must improvise.

6: I don't drive - you heard me I don't have a license, I had a learners permit but that expired ages ago. You see, I'm a New Yorker - born and raised. My family didn't have a car while I was younger so I never had anything to learn on and well, you really don't need a car in NYC. I know the subway system very well and, to me at least, the map is quite easy to understand - even the bus maps. One day I'll get my license...one day...

The second Meme -

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
5. Don't you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.

Right next to me I have my latest read - The Good Fairies of New York - Martin Millar

Mairi had the second sight. "Not much farther. I can sense a very strange land only a little way away."

very strange land indeed this blog land of ours!

Have a great weekend!

Happy Birthday to me!

2007-01-25T12:09:00.000-05:00

Yup - another year, another birthday. I enjoy my birthday and the numbers going up have not started to phase me yet (let's see how I feel in another 10 years!) today I am 29. This past year I've had my ups (new website and buisness) and downs (ending of a relationship) but no matter what happened I am always looking forward to what comes next. I'm sending out a big thank you to all my friends and family who have helped me out, supported and encouraged me to always move forward, learn from my mistakes and those of others, and just be happy, hopeful me!

Here is an interesting fact: my little sister, who works with me and who you've probably seen a few times on this here blog, it is her birthday too! When I was 7 I ran into school yelling - guess what I got for my birthday? a BABY sister! And my other sister was born on my half birthday July 25th...pretty cool huh?

I don't have any new knitting pictures but I do have a birthday request - I have started a customer gallery and REALLY want to get lots of pictures up there to share with everyone. So if you have knit something or spun something with anything from Brooklyn Handspun I would LOVE to get a picture, a little description and what info you'd like me to add like name / blog/ etc...

If you send them over to me I'll send you a 10% off coupon for the store How does that sound?

Here are a few pictures I've gotten already from the lovely Regina - The Frist one is using 1 skein of soft spun in Breeze (she had 5 yards left over! - she likes to live on the edge!).

This one is Signature in Smarties colorway-

Aren't they great?! I love seeing how creative you guys are it really inspires me!

I'll leave you with a picture I took with my Fab new camera of the Verrazano Bridge - this is only a few blocks from my house.

Store Update

2007-01-17T13:54:00.000-05:00

Just letting you all know the STORE has been updated with lots of yarn!

Here is a preview:

Happy New Year - umm a little late

2007-01-11T12:30:00.000-05:00

Well the new year is here and the SICKNESS has lifted from my home - I was grounded for close to a week with a terrible cold. I guess I took my holiday partying a little too seriously.

I had a wonderful Holiday season and I hope you all did as well. I got a cool new toy for Christmas - a new camera - a sweet Canon Digital Rebel XT, so hopefully you'll see some nicer pics around here - but I make no promises. Now we'll see if the crappy pictures were because of the equipment or the photographer!

So I finished my Glittens a LONG time ago but here is a pic.

I made a number of mistakes but I still love them and am now knitting another pair in black for myself - the green ones were gifted already.

Since I don't have much more knitting news, I'll show you another little project I have been working on. This is a fabric wall hanging that I pieced together this past weekend.

It's not done yet - I have to add lots of decorative stitching to keep all the fabric in place and to create more depth in the piece. I'll add some metallic thread and maybe even some yarn to embellish. I think the embellishment process will take a lot longer than the piecing - we'll see. I call this cheat quilting since no sewing was done. It's basically applique but using double sided fusible interfacing - Fabric Collage! Once the stitching is down I think it'll be a little more acceptable as a applique art quilt.

In other news - I am FINALLY updating the store! I was going to put it up this weekend but I think Tuesday is going to be the update day. It'll give me enough time to gather everything and take nice pics. I feel like I am finally back in the swing of things after being on and off for the past few months. This is a BIG update with a ton of yarn and fiber. Remember, mailing list friends get first dibs. Here is a sneak peak.

FO's

2006-12-15T14:56:00.000-05:00

I actually have knitting to show you - are you amazed? Yup I pulled it out of the poor UFO pile and finished it up. Without further ado here is SIZZLE!

Pattern: Sizzle
Designer: Wendy Bernard
Yarn: Cathay
Modifications: knit in the round and close up the side slits (I hate side slits on sweaters...they look weird on me)
Needles: US 7 Addi Turbos
Date Started: umm a long time ago sometime in the summer
Date Completed: December 13, 2006

I had most of this done for so long but I just had no motivation to finish the border on the arms...well it's done now and I think it's way cute. I'm not sure I can get away with wearing it as a tank top without something under it....super sexy v-neck...but I love it. It is a little big because I started knitting it before I lost 30 lbs!

I've actually got another project underway already - Glittens. This pattern is too cute. I knit this in 1 evening (and a little clandestine knitting at my desk on a slow day)

I'll start on the mitten part tonight. I've made quite a few mistakes and I'm thinking I'll end up knitting 3 of these - this one is a learning tool...or at least that's what I'll tell myself...lol.

The Weekender bag is all done - I didn't take pics because it really doesn't look any different just the inside is lined in plain black cotton. I've got two scarves on the needles and a few more to cast on for...I'll make it for Christmas - maybe.

Weekender Bag Obsession

2006-12-08T11:07:00.000-05:00

I am *almost* finished with my Amy Butler Weekender Bag (I have to finish the lining and sew it in) . 2 1/2 evenings of insane cutting, sewing, cursing, and ironing and I came up with this -

Here is another view -

And the side view -

I picked this pattern up Saturday at Brooklyn General after knitting with mah girls. I had just gone on a fabric buying binge and needed to soak up that fabric somehow, so I thought I'd give the most challenging pattern a try...what was I thinking!

The pattern itself isn't complicated but the pinning, maneuvering and sewing of all those thick layers is. I did take some shortcuts though -

- I used Fast2Fuse instead of the timtex - it's basically the same thickness but the advantage is you can fuse it to your fabric instead of having to sew it in. (for those of you in NYC I picked this up at City Quilter)

- I also used fusible interfacing instead of sew in - the less sewing I have to do the better (eventually it was going to be sewn anyway when attaching the sides.

- instead of going out and buying proper cording I had some lacing which I covered to make the piping - I think even a thick yarn would have worked...I didn't want my piping to be too thick anyway.

- I don't think I'm going to need the false bottom - it's already very sturdy.

- I'll be adding a zippered pocket to the inside. (38th Street between 7th and 8th in Manhattan is the best place to get zippers by the way)

I really liked the way it came out and I think I would make another one but next time I might use maybe two layers of heavy fusible interfacing instead of the fast2fuse (timtex). I enjoy the way it's very sturdy and stands up on it's own, but I think it would be just as strong without it and a lot easier to sew. Although if I did that, I would definitely do the false bottom (whenever I type false bottom I think about those pants with a fake butt sewn into them...like I need that! LOL)

Hopefully the bag will be totally completed by Saturday...I'll keep you updated

I might not be knitting but...

2006-11-29T16:10:00.000-05:00

I certainly am crafting...take a looksee

Painting -

Jewelry Making -

Sewing -

Quilting/Applique stuff -

And SHOPPING (way too much) check out the fabric stash enhancement. All thick cotton 45" 3 bucks a yard...there are certain reasons to venture out into Bay Ridge - $3 cotton and $10 embroidered silk! (I didn't pick up any this time around)

This one is my favorite -

Next time I'll have some real content...

The Craft Addict

2006-11-03T15:00:00.000-05:00

This is a cry for help, are there any 12 step programs for craft addictions?

Seriously, my home already is filled to the brim with craft paraphernalia, it might even be dubbed a "Craft Den" or "Craft House". I've experimented with all varieties of craft such as Polymer clay, seed beading, Jewelry design including semi-precious stone stringing,wire wrap and sterling silver soldering, sewing, corsetry, quilt making, oil/acrylic/watercolor painting, box decorating, knitting, spinning, pottery, embroidery, needlepoint, cross stitch, wood burning.....

So I have a long history of crafting and I thought I was done - I really did...I thought I had kicked the habit of starting yet another craft. But then, I went to a friends house and made these -

Aren't they pretty? I LOVE candles! I might have dabbled in candle making when I was a child but it was only with tapers which took FOREVER since you had to repeatedly dip them. These were so easy and the varieties that you can make are endless. So many colors and fragrances, shapes and techniques...it was a whole new world.

The day after I made the candles I found myself on a candle making site with a shopping cart filled with supplies. I had the wax, wicks, jars of fragrances, colors, a melting pot, and candle forms all just waiting for me to buy them. I even printed out instructions on how to turn an electric presto pot into a giant wax melting pot just in case I wanted to make a WHOLE BUNCH. When I get into the craft I REALLY go right in and buy any and all supplies needed - I don't like starting and then realizing I have to wait a week for something else.

Then while I was searching through my purse for my credit card I stopped. I returned back to my computer and shut it off. I backed away and figured this has got to be the first step in getting this craft addiction under control. Did I do the right thing? Is it so bad to have plenty of hobbies to keep my busy and satiate my creative spirit?

I don't know. What do you think?

No Longer a Rhinebeck Virgin

2006-10-25T11:12:00.000-05:00

Boy am I scared to see what kind of hits I get with that post title!

Yup this was my first year of fiber festivals - first MD and now Rhinebeck...and now I'm hooked and am looking forward to next year already. Of course, the main reason it was so much fun was the company I went up with. The lovely Carrie graciously drove me, Jess and Virginia, along the way we met up with the other convoy of Spiders Steph, Jess, Abbie, Veronique, and Lisa. When we got there we ran into some of the other spiders - Nancy (blogless), Amanda, Katie, Iraida, Julsey...ALMOST everyone - our little group is not so little...lol.

Along the way we ran into so many people I am not going to attempt to remember so don't take offense - but I was in fiber euphoria and I mostly remember sheep. It was great meeting everyone although I didn't get to meet a number of bloggers I really wanted to - next year I am going to be more organized and make plans beforehand.

Now you've probably seen pics of the fairgrounds on all the other blogs - so I'll move on to the haul. Amazingly most of the day my money was in my pocket and my bags were empty...but...then I came to the Little Barn tent. Nancy and I broke away from the spiders for a bit and made our way into the tent and I could feel the money melting in my pocket and my bags grow heavy even before I picked up my first item. Needless to say I bought a LOT of fiber.

It's not the best pic so I'll give you a run down of what is there:

- 2 lbs of Commercial Grade Cashmere - super soft, It says it's 60% cashmere, I have no idea what the other 40% is but I really don't care (one lb is for my friend Steph in AZ)
- 1 lb of commercial grade Angora - 80% angora
- 1/2 lb silk/merino
- 1/2 lb angora/merino
- 1 lb of black premium alpaca
- 1/2 lb of purple alpaca to be carded with purple wool for mittens I think
- 1 lb of Mulberry silk

Can we say luxury! You'll also notice a couple of skeins of yarn in the pic here is a close up:

2 skeins of Handmaiden Sea Silk...it is amazing. Michelle brought them for me all the way from Canada! Mama-e and I got 2 hanks each - I wasn't expecting it to be so soft and delish. Now I have to figure out what to do with them.

From 8:30 in the morning on Sat. to 1 am when I got home it was a non-stop blast! I was so tired when I got on the train for my last leg home but not sleepy enough to stop me from using my brand new Golding spindle with some cashmere!

Here's the group pic...some were missing but you get the idea.

Blogger woes, knitting triumphs and a whole lotta yarn

2006-10-20T12:39:00.000-05:00

First off let me say I TRIED to post a couple of times before this one in the past few weeks but blogger hates me. I even had a post all done and then when I went to update I lost it all - I couldn't bear redoing that long ass post so I threw my hands up and turned my computer off. It's taken me a little while to try my luck again...hopefully when I submit this time I'll have a real post!

I know what you are all going to say...it's time to move the blog to a better program like typepad or something. I promise it's going to happen, but probably not till next year - we'll see. Oh but guess what? I totally missed my Blogiversary! It was on September 21st, I can't believe I've been doing this for over a year now. I want to say thank you to all of you wonderful bloggers and blogless people who I've come to know and love! (and who put up with my sporadic posting) . A special thanks to my Spiders - without you, this blog would most likely have come and gone by now and I would still be knitting scarves!

On to the knitting triumphs - Sizzle progress...

Being that this is my first real garment I'm pretty proud with how it's looking so far. I knit the body in the round until I had to split for the armholes and the body went along just fine, it wasn't until I had to pick up the stitches for the neckline that I hit a wall. I never had to pick up stitches from a decrease edge before and well, on my first try I did it all wrong. I had little holes everywhere, so I ripped it all out and tried again. The second time was better (I had a reference book with me) but I got halfway through and realized I hadn't picked up enough stitches. Third time (a few nights later) was a charm - YAY. Now you know the extent of my knitting prowess - or lack thereof!

I've also been spinning - A LOT. I had a big custom order a few weeks back spinning 12 skeins of super chunky yarn. MY customer is going to be knitting up a beadspread! I really hope I get some pictures.

Here are some singles all ready for plying with sparkle...

I'm on a burgundy binge!

I've also spun up and plied some luscious creamy alpaca with multicolored sparkle (Sandra - if you are reading this - this is yours!) It's about 250 yards of loveliness - 6.5 oz.

I love spinning alpaca - it's easy to spin with a long draw method instead of the inchworm. It goes faster that way and the singles tend to be a lot more even.

So you wanna see a TON of yarn? This is what I have hiding under my desk at work.

Here you have 112 lbs of yarn! I have a spinning mill in canada who spins to my specifications and this is my latest order...it's going to take a while to ferry this all home on the subway.

Well tomorrow I am off to Rhinebeck and the NY Sheep and Wool Festival - if you see me please stop me and say hello!

Sock Club

2006-09-26T14:48:00.000-05:00

Well I've decided to Collaborate with another Hand dyer to bring forth a great Winter Sock club.
Me and Erin have paired up and will be offering club participants 6 colorways over the course of 3 months. In December, January, and February you will receive a 4 oz hank of seasonally themed yarn from both Brooklyn Handspun and C*EYE*BER Fibers. All superwash. All sock weights ( fingering to sport). The cost is 150.00 with shipping in the US. (Email for rates outside of the US). Please email me if you'd like to join the club or have any questions about it.

Thank you everyone for a successful update - I've had a few people be a little upset that they didn't get to the store on time to grab some popular colorways - remember those on my mailing list have at least an hour headstart before I post the update on my blog so make sure to sign up by either emailing me or using the form on the right side ---->

Fall is here

2006-09-20T11:32:00.000-05:00

And I think I'm beginning to wind down from a hectic summer and get back into the groove of things. I'm feeling the cool weather urge to knit, spin and create.

Here is some knitting -

Progress on Sizzle - I really like it so far - I hope it fits since I've lost weight from the time I started it! You can't see the back in the pic but it's halfway done since I did the bottom half in the round. Hopefully in another week - with some knitting time i'll be able to finish this.

Here is some spinning -

This Mmmmm silk

Plus This Equals

This about 220 yards of pure silk...ahhh I just love the feel of silk, now what to do with it?

And on the Creative front I have been painting -

This is just a larger version of one of my doodles
I'm not sure if I'm done yet - but then again sometimes I can go a little overboard, so I'm going to look at it a few more days to see if it yells "I'm finished". I have a feeling I'm going to be making more of these.

And last but not least I've gone color crazy with yarn dyeing -

The STORE has been updated with over 50 skeins of yarn - lots of new colorways.

Urban Exploration

2006-08-23T15:00:00.000-05:00

So I know this is amazing - two posts in a row but don't get too excited yet - there is relatively no knitting content ahead. But...there are some interesting pictures.

Yesterday after work I decided to take one of my treks from 32nd and Madison to over the Brooklyn Bridge. I decided to take pictures of interesting sites on my route. So here we have a little photo journal of my trip. If you are familiar with Brooklyn you'll realize this trek was a lot longer than just over the bridge - I basically walked to Park Slope - I'm guessing 8-9 miles.

This was on one of the court buildings on Centre Street - if you can't read it it says - "Equal and Exact Justice to All Men Whatever State or Persuasion" - if only this were true!

Halfway over the Brooklyn Bridge - it's not as late as it looks.

Hmmmm...what to say...Just say NO!

Good thing Knit-away was closed or I would have indulged too much as usual.

Did you know Ex Lax was in Brooklyn? Ok it's no longer Ex Lax Inc. it's been converted into apartments but I loved that they kept the sign and soothing blue and green colors...LOL.

Hang a right on 4th and Atlantic...

I love old ads on the sides of brick buildings

Stuff nightmares are made of...scary!

Why is is so much fun to take pictures of the sunset? Maybe it's the romantic in me!

End of the line...well I think I could have kept walking but it was getting dark so I decided to take the rest of the way home by train. All in all it took me about 2 hours from start to finish - not too bad I think.

Warning knitting content ahead

2006-08-22T15:32:00.000-05:00

Ah ha! I think I finally remembered this is a knitting/spinning blog so here we go...

I finished my Clapotis in May but since I decided to do one which stripes I had a bazillion ends to weave in. So it languished in the WIP pile until I got sick of looking at it all crumpled up in the corner. Here it is on the bed blocking

I tried to take some timer shots with it after is was blocked, but they all came out crappy...when it gets cooler I'll bring it to the point so one of my fellow Spiders can take a shot of me wearing it.

I also went ahead and started Sizzle This pic was taken friday last week so I have a bit more done on it now - although I must admit not all that much.

Isn't the color great? I can't wait to see how this is going to look on me...I'm pretty excited - my first real garment!

Here are a few pictures that I didn't get to post from my trip upstate - the first one is my favorite. This is the largest prozac pill I've ever seen! - see the car off to the right for a size comparion.

I could make a lot of money selling off chunks of that...LOL - just kidding...

Ahh I love the mountains!

This is what happens to me after 4pm at work...

Breather from the City

2006-08-07T13:08:00.000-05:00

I realize that I am a NYC girl born and raised and I don't think I want to live anywhere else other than NYC...but...from time I NEED a break from it all. A break from the subway, the noise, the oppressive city humidity and heat which radiates up from the cement and into the soles of your feet. There is nothing like a country breather in the middle of summer.

This weekend I went upstate to the Catskills to visit my dad. My two sisters, niece and I drove up the 2.5 hours very early Sat. morning...and I am so glad I went. It's been a difficult couple of months, and I didn't realize how much a little getaway could help release tension and just make me feel good.

Here are a few pics from Sunday - we went to a lovely creek with a waterfall and went swimming.

Isn't it just georgeous! The water was so clear and cool, I didn't want to leave.

Me and my sisters.

Me and my niece...look at that tan - I'm like a ghost compared to her. I guess it helps that her dad is Columbian, and she is out in the sun and the pool all day. Ahh to be a kid again.

So - if you are tense or need a break - take a little overnight trip it'll do a world of good!

Although I have no knitting content I did buy yarn for Sizzle on friday. Debbie Bliss Cathay in a great magenta color. I'll be swatching tonight, and most likely doing a little math.

So while I was up at my fathers place I had this idea of maybe doing knitting/spinning retreats. My father's property has about 7 cabins on it, one of which he lives in. They aren't ready to be rented out yet, but we are working on fixing them up. The property is a nice size with a swimming pool (being fixed as well), 1/2 a basketball court, and plenty of grass to roll around in (for kids). I thought that it might be cool to offer a few different workshops over the course of the weekend, and also have a little shop for Indy vendors. Would anyone be interested in something like that?

Just because there is static...

2006-08-04T12:26:00.000-05:00

doesn't mean I am not working - look I promise I've been doing stuff...

Freshly dyed yarn which went up in the New store yesterday...my wonderful mailing list customers are getting first crack at them because without all of you I wouldn't be able to do this. Also I've got a bunch of sparkly batts up -

Now that I've proved I've actually done something in my blog absence I will admit to one thing - I have hardly knit a stitch! I find it really hard to knit at all in this heat and I can't figure out what to knit. I'm thinking it's really about time I made a real garment. What do you guys think of Sizzle ? Do you think it'll work for me? Jessica made it and it really looks amazing on her. Another thing going for this is that since she made it already and I get to see her every friday she can help me out when the pathetic knitter in me is hopelessly lost! Not to mention The Point is having an amazing 40% off sale so I might be able to find the perfect yarn for it at a good price. Ok I think I'm sold.

In the midst of all the deying and carding and change in my life, I've decided I needed some change in the craft room. Do you remember when it looked like this? (scroll a little you'll see it)
well it wasn't working for me, so in the spirit of all the changes going on I made some more. Here it is now -

There you go, yes I know I have a lot more organizing to do. Next I'll tackle making it look neat!

UPDATE : I've heard from a few of my mailing list customers that some of the updates didn't go through so I'm letting the cat out of the bag and here is the URL for the store - www.brooklynhandspun.com/Store

Thank you Thank you

2006-07-11T12:12:00.000-05:00

Thank you to everyone who commented, emailed and called....It made me feel so good to hear from you all - to know I have friends and people who care about me. You all made me feel so much better with your words of wisdom and encouragement. And the good thing - it worked. I'm feeling much better about the whole situation, and am getting used to living alone again...although with two kitties I am never really alone! I'm exercising, dropping pounds and feeling good about myself. Don't believe me - this was taken today at lunch -

During my little hiatus I indulged in a little retail therapy - yes my friends I've bought a new wheel! The coveted Lendrum DT her name is Larissa the Lendrum isn't she pretty!

She joins Geraldine the Carder, Big Bertha from Brooklyn - the Electric bulky spinner, and Gooch my workhorse Louet wheel. I'm thinking this is how my little fiber family will stay for a while...I've been a little spendy lately (shopping can do wonders!) so now I'm starting to really save again.

Ohh I've also got proof for you that I still knit I've finished two pairs of socks My Dublin Bay inspired socks which were started a VERY long time ago. The yarn is something I got off of Ebay a while ago I can't remember the name - it's a no brand type of thing.

And here is a pair I knitted from Deep Elemental Instant Gratification - they knit up so quickly - simple stockinette toe up. Being modeled by my sister Lauren.

On the exercise front I've been walking to Brooklyn at least 3 times a week each week and I'm trying to take a slightly different route home each night. I'm calling this my NYC Urban exploration time. I was born and raised in NYC but it's amazing the things you don't know and have never seen if you don't take the time and walk around. I'm going to try and get pictures of interesting things to share with all of you - Here is my first pic...The Brooklyn Bridge while walking over it -

Update time

2006-06-15T12:11:00.000-05:00

The SHOP has been updated!

Just a little tip - if you sign up for the newsletter you get first dibs - they have a 1/2 hour run before I update it to the blog!

Ohh FO's tomorrow!

I'm pleased to introduce...

2006-06-14T07:22:00.000-05:00

The newest member to my spinning family - Geraldine, the Pat Green Fancicard!

I ordered the carder about 2 months ago and late last week it finally arrived - This is an amazing machine! It's quiet and fast and with one pass the fiber is lovely. I love that it's motorized and I can use both hands to feed the fiber, I don't need to change drums, and with a quick band change I can change the speed. It also came with a number of tools.

Here we have a burnishing brush (the large one), a felting brush, a doffer stick (the pointy metal one) and two wooden dowels - one of which has a plastic sheet attached to help in removing fine batts. The tools are just as well made as the machine itself.

Of course I got right to work - here are my very first batts:

From left to right: Merino/Silk, Merino/Firestar sparkle, Merino/Icicle Sparkle (if you view the larger pic you can see the sparkle better) - I am going to be having soooo much fun doing this! I started spinning up the middle batt (I actually have a few batts in that colorway) and you'll be seeing the results soon. If you have never spun from a batt before, you really need to try it. The batt is so fluffy and the sparkle is nicely integrated, drafting is a breeze. It's so easy to get either a thick or fine single....can you tell I'm in love?

Vacation's over

2006-06-05T12:03:00.000-05:00

Well I'm back home - I've been back for a bit now, but I'm still trying to get used to working...it's never easy! You should see the piles of stuff on my desk.

We had a really fun time in Amsterdam even though we battled with the rain, and poor E had her own battle with a particularly nasty bit of salmon.

ok ready for some pictures - they aren't the best since it was pretty grey out most of the time.
Here is the top of the palace at Dam Square.

This picture, to me, really represents Amsterdam - Canals, canal houses, and lots and lots of bikes!

I couldn't pass up the smoking Alien...he wasn't about to share!

This is the ferry that E and I took every day. Our hotel was located in the Noord neighborhood - it was very nice but it was a 15min walk to the ferry, although once off of the ferry we were right at central station. Luckily the hotel offered either a ride to the ferry or on certain days a ride right into the city proper.

Anne Frank statue - if you go to Amsterdam you MUST visit the Anne Frank house.

The Atomaton in Brussels -built for the 1958 worlds fair....very cool. I'm ready for another vacation - a vacation from my vacation - maybe mexico...laying on the beach drinking frosted margaritas!

I have a ton of photos but I can't seem to upload anymore - stupid blogger!

I also have finished objects...are you amazed? shocked? so am i! I'll get them up soon.

Also, thank you to everyone who has commented on the last few posts - not only have I been crazy with the trip, work, and then my performance - but I haven't been getting my email posts - so thank you - I'm trying to get back to all of you soon -= I just want to let you know I appreciate it.

Greetings from Amsterdam

2006-05-24T06:58:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone! Well E and I are halfway though our trip andwe've had a great time so far, even though it's been raining on an off. I wanted to write an entry the day we were leaving but it got way too hectic - yes I am a very LAST minute packer.

We've seen the Anne Frank house, the Rembrant House, a few churches and Museums, and yesterday we took a trip to Antwerp and Brussels (I Love Antwerp...so pretty) The only complaint I have so far is I've yet to have a decent meal. It's most likely I'm going to the wrong places but there seems to be way more bars and "coffeeshops" than real restaurants. Oh well, I'll keep looking.

Today it's pretty crappy out so we are taking it easy and just chilling - I'm catching up on some knitting. I will definately finally have my Clapotis done...I know, shame on me I've had it in a pile so long I almost forgot what I was doing!

I'm thinking tomorrow we'll take the train to Haarlem or Utrecht and see what they have to offer. Sorry for the pictureless post, this place doesn't allow uploading.

Since this is a fiber blog I will tell you I have been to one yarn store already and have the address of another to visit before I leave. I bought 2 skeins of a simple lambswool blend for socks and 5 small cones of a really funky holographic thread to spin into a future yarn. I thought with all these sheep around I'd be able to buy some wool but alas spinning hasn't caught on here...oh well I have plenty anyway.

Hope to check back in again soon!

Shop Update

2006-05-12T12:52:00.000-05:00

Hello All -

I have updated the Shop Go take a look! I have 3 different superwash sock yarns - I like them all so I think I'll keep offering all three.

Look what I do while I'm on a phone meeting...I'm sure plenty of you do the same!

Fiber goodies

2006-05-11T16:25:00.000-05:00

Yes, I decided to join the hordes and go to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival! E and I drove down on Sunday morning, got lost about a mile away, spent 45 min and precious expensive gas trying to get there - we did eventually. Once there it wasn't too crowded - My guess is everyone went on Sat. We walked around looked at some cute stinky sheep and then met up with the wonderful MamaE, her husband and thier son - the cutest little cowboy out there (it's so adorable the way he called me Miss Marie, and called E Miss E!) After a quick bite to eat with them and my induction into the deep fried oreo lovers club (Erin you are so in trouble for that!) , E and I went shopping...ok well, I went shopping and she stopped me from buying another wheel (have you seen - these - Like I can afford a Golding Wheel, it's on my lottery list.)
I want one of these - Alpacas are so cute...poor baby, if he was mine he'd always be cold!
Here are the goodies: 1 lb of white cashmere, 1 lb of black alpaca, 8ox of 100's merino, 8 oz commercial angora, 3 batts of amazingly soft angora, silk, fine merino, and Brooks Farm Duet - 3 skeins of a pretty blue for a sweater for me, and 1 of some earthy colors that E picked out - destined to be a hat and scarf set or maybe a small vest. All In all, I did well, and I didn't break the bank. Good thing E was with me becuase there were a few wheels I really really wanted - oh well there is always Rhinebeck!

After MSWF - I came home to a lovely package of goodies from Stephanie. Since she lives too far to attend the festival, we had a little fiber exchange of our own -

Take a look at those batts - they are so delish you can't tell in the pic but they are filled with sparkly firestar and just soooo soft - I can't wait to spin these up! Everything is so nice - THANKS STEPH!

Now if you've read this far - you're in luck...I will be updating the Shop tomorrow at about 2 pm - with at least 30 skeins of sock yarn in all new colors!

McGyver is at it again

2006-05-04T14:05:00.000-05:00

Lately I've been thinking about electric spinners - mainly because spinning cotton on my louet is driving me bonkers - for cotton you need to spin fast and have very little take up or pull on your yarn. I could go and buy a high speed spinning kit (I probably will) or I was thinking a smaller electric wheel would be nice, like the Roberta (faint, swoon) But over $750 is just not in my budget!

This is where the cheap-ass-make-use-of-what's-lying-around-the-house skills come in. I do have the bulky babes spinner - which is great but if I want to spin finely I really don't want to use a bobbin which holds 2 lbs of fiber. I took the motor and foot pedal from the babes and connected it to the louet like so -

And guess what? It works like a charm! And it goes fast fast fast - max is about 7,000 RPM's. I was able to spin some cotton on it and also some really fine lace weight merino. The only problem with this is that I was doing this at about midnight (yeah I'm loopy like that) and E had already gone to sleep, so I didn't want to make much noise. And as many of you know who have sewing machines - they aren't exactly quiet. In addition, while the foot pedal is great and allows me start and stop hands free, it's hard to keep the wheel spinning at a steady speed. Any slight variation in pressure from your foot will either speed it up or slow it down and this isn't the best when you want to try and get a very even fine single. So I was looking around to see what other kind of motor I had in the house and Viola! I found one. I pulled out my little quiet Dremel tool it's powerfuland can go up to about 20,000 RPM's and it's variable speed so I can go slow or fast with a change of the little speed indicator (although I do have to then disrupt spinning and use my hand to turn it up or down). Since I don't have a proper vise, I used a clamp from a pasta machine (from my polymer clay days) and a wooden board to secure the dremel to. Here it is -

It also works well and much more quiet. I'm thinking of buying a mother of all and flyer kit and mounting them on a board along with some kind of motor to make my own smaller electric wheel - maybe one which uses the louet bobbins I already have. Either that, or save up for the Roberta...hmmmm

I thought you all would get a kick out of my craziness!

New Labels!

2006-05-02T13:44:00.000-05:00

A wonderful fellow knitblogger designed a new label for my yarn and also was kind enough to make a banner for the upcoming website and a button for all of you to steal!

Like the label? I love it! Just what I wanted and it only took her a weekend! This lovely lady is Chris of Fuzzy sheep Knits And not only is she great with Photoshop - she's a sweetie!

Here - take a button! (please use your own bandwith)

Now I'm off to have them printed up all nice like and start using them! Wow I feel like this is a real business - it is a real business but the labels make me feel all grown up...lol.

Also, My yarns can now be purchased at Yahaira's fancy new online store Pure Knits While you are there, check out the rest of her site - she has some amazing products. For you spinners out there reading this, she has super soft and sparkly batts by the talented Stephanie under yarn and Spritely Goods - also check her blog out for more handspun and fab. batts.

I've been playing around with my collection of beads and decided to bring my two passions, jewelry and knitting, together. I've combined stitch markers and jewelry - I know this isn't a new concept but I haven't really seen stitch markers which use semi precious stones and sterling silver! I'll probably offer them with a sterling silver chain - you never know when you need a stitch marker!

What do you think? Would you wear them? I think they make great cluster necklaces. 4 regular stitch markers and one center one just in case you need to mark the beginning of a row. Of course I can always add even smaller ones on the right or left side of the necklace if you need more markers.
This one is Garnet, Aquamarine, Peridot, Amethyst and Citrine - great for up to a size 6 needle.

This one is all faceted Smokey Quartz - and can be used with larger needles up to 11.

Edited to ddd - The stich markers are being held in my hand - although I can see why some people have thought they were my boobs - nope, luckily my boobs don't have creases like that! LOL

My name is Marie and I am a Fiber Addict!

2006-04-27T16:13:00.000-05:00

And I have the pictures to prove it!

These are the purchases I've made in the last month alone. In this pile I have: about 24 lbs of Merino (love that RHLindsay!) 4 lbs of Tussah Silk, 1 lb of Bombyx silk - the most luscious silk around, 1 lb of cotton/merino, 1.5 lb of cotton/silk (both of which I still suck at spinning), 5 lbs of Mill end rovings (I have 2 more lbs of black in a bin someplace), 2 lbs of alpaca/merino/silk, and a few other odds and ends. Umm yeah I might need a 12 step program...lol (hey, I'm not knocking them - many friends are alive today because of them!)

My apartment is in utter disarray - I've neglected the housework, good thing I don't have plants because they would all be dead - don't worry about the cats they tell me when they are hungry...meow meow meow, scratch scratch, meow meow...

But isn't this pretty?!?

Here are the custom orders that went out earlier this week...most of them anyway. I say there is about 10 lbs of yarn there - 40 or so skeins - some of them fell down into the couch before the picture was taken.

Since I don't have much more content I'll leave you with some sleepy kitty pictures

Guidy sleeping like a princess - the only time she is a princess - all the rest she is a QUEEN.

Gary and Gina - Gary looks Gigantic from this angle! More proof of the mess - a bead box...stay tuned for some kick ass beaded stitch markers, and random tax papers - don't worry I got them out ontime.

I swear - I'm alive!

2006-04-21T14:47:00.000-05:00

I'm here I promise! Thank you for your concerned emails - I've just been busy here at work and at home so blogging time has been cut off for a while. I've been dyeing up a gigantic amount of custom orders and spinning up some huge wholesale orders to go to various stores - so I'm pretty tired.

Other than all the spinning and dyeing there isn't much going on! I did start the hourglass sweater but umm I'm only like 10 rows in, so a picture would be kinda pointless. I do have some exciting news though - on June 17th and 18th I will be selling my yarn in a Handspun Collective with other very talented Spinners at the Renegade Craft Fair in Williamsburg Brooklyn - Go Brooklyn! I'll give you more information soon!

I'm also working on my Brooklyn Handspun ecommerce website - I was going to be quiet about it until it is done and ready for the unveiling but I can't pass up the opportunity to bitch about how deficient I am in HTML and how pathetically little I know about PHP! Not to mention my graphic art skills also need some serious help. Anyone want to offer services for yarn? - I've got a lot of yarn!

Sorry for the pictureless post but I've got nothin new for you - On Monday I promise I'll have more pictures!

Have a great weekend!

Back from Vegas

2006-04-10T10:01:00.000-05:00

And guess what? I actually won something! Amazingly I came back with more money than I went there with. I didn't win millions or thousands but I've got a few hundred dollars and I'm putting it all towards my fibery pursuits.

I bought myself a Pat Green drum carder - I'm on a waitlist for it so I'm not going to go into it until I get it and can show pictures...I am so excited.

I didn't take too many pics while in Vegas cause you know the saying - what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas - well actually, it's because my mother and I were way to busy gambling to take pictures (hey I know they are dorky - but make sure you get those cards to put into the machines or to give to the dealer when playing the tables - we got 2 nights free from our stay and another 2 nights for a future trip!)

Here are a few pictures:
Isn't this sign just the coolest? Too bad it'll be gone by the end of the year - yup the stardust which has been on the strip since the 50's will be torn down for something new and over the top.

Love this lion!

Me and my mom - no I'm not standing on something - I'm 5'7 and my mom is 4'11 - doesn't she look good?

When I got back I had some fabulous Spider events to attend. On Friday night Katie and Amanda hosted a Spring Fling get together - where wonderful food was eaten and copious amounts of wine were imbibed! Being the special girl I am I didn't bring my camera but I'm sure there will be pictures floating around - so check out the other Spider pages.

On Saturday we had a baby shower for our very lovely and very pregnant Kaitlyn. We arrived at The Point bright an early in the morning and had mimosas and lovely treats from the cafe -

Here you can see Veronique (Head on over to her site where you can see the amazing Rapunzel she just finished) and Carrie partaking of the bubbly!

Steph organized a baby shower project and we all knit up mitered squares and she and Lisa put it together in the fabulous baby blanket

Here is Kaitlyn holding it up - I stole this pic from Lisa's site (don't worry I copied to my hard drive first thanks Lisa!)

Very eventful week I must say - oh I also got my final package from my SP& but I'll show you that tomorrow - she rocks!

Update and a Winner

2006-03-28T11:07:00.000-05:00

The Shop has been updated with 24 skeins of superwash sock yarn.

Since I got so many great responses to name the bulky electric spinner I couldn't pick my favorite so I decided to enter everyone into a random drawing this morning - and the winner is....

SKYLAR I just went over to her site and her birthday just passed - Happy Birthday Skylar...what a coincidence! Email me to claim your prize!

Scant little knitting has been done around here lately but a lot of spinning and dyeing has. They dyeing you can check out on the sales page - I've got a lot of new colorways - I've got to change up every now and again so I don't get bored with doing the same colors over and over again. Although some colorways are just too popular to not do - like Chocolate Covered Cherries!

This is the new way I've been dyeing a lot of my roving - I used to do a lot of saran wrap sausages and then steam them but it's way too time consuming when you are trying to dye 8 oz to a pound at a time. This way is much faster and you get great results. Both of these roasting pans were done similarly but a little different. The pre-soaked fiber was first randomly placed in the pan trying not to overlap much the with the orange one I squirted the dye in sections the covered the whole thing with foil to keep the steam in and put it in the oven for 45 min at 340 degrees. I added a little more water to the Blue and purple then covered it and stuck it in the oven - after about 20 min I took it out and squirted dye on it - this I think is called the hot pour method and I love it. The dye strikes the fiber immediately right where you squirt it...I think I can get great results from this method with more practice!

I've also got some spinning done:

From left to right is a green merino and sparkle supercoil, Multicolored Optim plied with a thread and lurex sparkle, Spring colored Merino plied with a rayon thread and sparkle, Two ply merino with sparkle in pink, and Natural Fawn Alpaca plied with rayon and gold sparkle lurex. These are Giant skeins each over 150 yards except for the pink one. They are all spoken for but these are the styles I've been spinning up lately.

Ohh take a look at this here is a comparison of bobbins

again from left to right a regular louet bobbin which holds about 6 oz, a bulky louet bobbin, and the babes bulky electric bobbin...Whoa baby that thing is huge!!! I LOVE IT!

Car update - the insurance paid off the remainder of the bank note since we were still financing and we only got 1,000 back. With that and what we had available to us we went out and bought a 2001 Dodge Stratus. So far so good, it's a nice car and very roomy. The best part about it? It's not on the stolen lists!

Finally some breathing time! and a Contest!

2006-03-22T10:47:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I haven't posted in over a week - getting close to 2 weeks (have you missed me??)- don't delete me from bloglines just yet! I've been busy but I have been taking pictures so I'll get ya all caught up in photos - here we go.

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting the lovely lolly - she really is lovely and so sweet! I met Lolly and Carrie (I'm always happy to get a chance to hang with a fellow spider!) We went right for the yarn and took a stroll over to School Products - Here is a great picture of Lolly and Carrie in front of a full color spectrum of yarn - very fitting!
From there we got a bite to eat. I wish we had more time to hang out - we'll have to plan another get together soon ladies! Maybe at Sheep and Wool??

Here is proof that yarn is officially taking over my apartment it has escaped from the craft room and is thinking of starting it's own blog! Don't worry I've remedied this and shot down the mutiny by sending most of these unruly skeins off to Kpixie for relocation! Take that yarn - you will never get the best of me...bwahahaha

Please welcome the newest member of my spinning family - He's a bit on the chunky side which makes him even cuter. This big baby is a Babes Bulky Electric Spinner with electric skeinwinder attached. Don't worry I haven't neglected my little Gooch the Louet - she gets plenty of action when I spin silk! So what should I name the Bulky Spinner? Any suggestions? Free skein of Brooklyn Handspun Superwash to the winner...come on I know you can get creative...

Last but certainly not least my SP7 sent me some fabulous gifts. There are earrings, pins, stickers (hmm I'm thinking she is from london!!!) some Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn and the creme de la creme - one ounce of Cashmere! It's soo soft - I've never spun cashmere and I have a feeling I'm going to have to buy more of this stuff! I'm loving the luxury!

I'm off to catch up on the 400 new posts on bloglines that I've neglected - if you haven't heard from me in a while don't worry I'm back - and will be commenting away!

Update time!

2006-03-10T12:29:00.000-05:00

The Shop has been updated - go take a look!

Ok I can't belive I haven't blogged at all this week...well I do have a lot on my plate right now...you wanna see the state of my craft room?

this was taken a few days ago - it's much much worse now!

I don't have time for an indepth post but here is something for you to laugh at - me as a soildier in the first act of the Opera -

As you can see Soldiers costumes are not normally made for busty gals like myself!

More to come soon!

Performance time!

2006-03-01T16:29:00.000-05:00

Sorry I've been such a poor blogger as of late but it's time for another Opera. This weekend will be the first performances of L'Elisir D'Amore! I'm having a great time, although I'm stretched a little thin and feeling just a tad of stress. Hopefully I'll have pictures of the show on Monday to show everyone.

Considering the above, I really haven't had much time to knit but I did get a little spinning done.
Here is a sorbet handpainted merino 2 ply with, of course, some sparkle lurex thrown in. I've still got about 2.5 pounds of dyed fiber to spin up so there will be plenty of pictures to post. I've also spun up some plain tussah silk that I will be dyeing. This stuff is so soft...like buttah. I'm thinking dark burgundy with some purple thrown in maybe a little olive green...we'll see what happens when I get to the dyepot! I've got about 3 more lbs of of this, so you'll be seeing silk a lot.

COLOR

2006-02-22T17:23:00.000-05:00

EDIT - TODAY 2/23/06 - The SHOP has been updated!

After a dreary weekend of auto thievery, I need some color.................here are some splashes in preparation for Project Spectrum

Freshly dyed roving

Pre-drafted roving ready to be spun

8 oz of super chunky sparkle yarn!

4 oz of sparkle spun yarn

A Preview of tomorrow's Shop update!

Bye Bye Auto

2006-02-21T13:37:00.000-05:00

Well this was supposed to be a nice long weekend full of relaxation, knitting and yarn buying - ummm some of that happened but not in the way I would have preferred.

This weekend our car was stolen! yup it must have been picked up by a crooked tow truck company because we had the club on it, and the alarm - which incorporates a cut off switch - and there was no broken glass where we parked it. And for all of you wishful thinkers out there - nope it was not towed by the city - we checked. Good thing we have a good full coverage insurance policy!

You know the worst part? That we had to dig the friggin car out from under 2 feet of snow last week and in addition, E got a $115 parking ticket and the car was towed (another $185) on Thursday - for being like 2 inches into the intersection in Brooklyn Heights. The police told her that the traffic cops were making up for lost ticket days on Monday and Tuesday because of the snow...isn't that nice? So if they were going to steal our car couldn't they have done it the week before? At least we would have had $300 more in the bank and I wouldn't have gotten a big bruise on my butt from falling while shoveling the car out!

On a good note - I had a great time hanging out on Friday with mah girls and I did pick up some misti alpaca for a thicker lace shawl! Oh well, I've got to look on the bright side at least we weren't in the car while it was stolen and now we get to go car shopping!

Necessity is the mother of Invention

2006-02-17T11:10:00.000-05:00

That Plato he was a smart one!

So, last night I was reskeining yarn and I was so annoyed at how slow it was going that I decided to do something about it. First, a little backround info - I am a spinner and handpainter of yarns and yet, I do not own a Niddy noddy - I know it's adsurd (for those of you who are thinking very bad thoughts - take a look HERE where you can see a niddy noddy in action) Instead of the proper tool, aka the niddy noddy, I've been winding my yarn around the table in my hallway. The hallway table is great because it's a yard wide and makes measuring my handspun very easy - I drag my spinning wheel into the hallway throw the bobbin on the lazy kate and wind away. This is fine for under 150 yards of handspun but when I'm reskeining 480 yards of sock yarn it gets to be really tedious. I figured what I needed was a skein winder - something like this , but since it was about 9 pm and I wanted something right then and there this is what I did:

I broke out the power tools - the cordless drill with all of the bits, and my nifty jigsaw (E and I bought this when we were making our hallway table - it really does come in handy!) and I turned this:

our lovely dinner try which was muched loved but has admittedly, seen better days.

into this - now I don't have to wind around the table and it's much faster - it spins great due to some washers a large bolt and a plate which normally holds a table leg in place. This is the prototype - I'll be heading to home depot this weekend to pick up proper supplies, and make myself one which is a little more balanced and smoother. I'll also add another peg in the center so turning it is easier, and have been thinking about how I can mount it upright - I could probably mount it to the wall but I don't think E would appreciate that.

And this is my reskeining set up - the ball winder is in the middle because I needed to use the little metal hook - the swift was much too high to wind onto the skein winder evenly. The winder is screwed onto a scrap peice of wood and the clamped to the table for support. As usual E thought I was insane, but I was rather proud of myself!

I don't have any new knitting content but I want to say a big thank you to my secret pal who sent this over on tuesday:

yes that is Trekking XXL in Colorway 100...oh yeah I LOVE it! All the goodies were wrapped in colorful tissue paper and it was all very thoughtful - it even had some destressifying stuff in there for my hectic days! My SP rocks because many of the items in my gift box were from other handcrafters - I love when people support the little creative types! Thank you so much SP!!!

For all of you who are waiting for Brooklyn Handspun yarn - it's on the way. The snowstorm delayed the mail a bit, but you'll get it soon! There is no update this week, because I've decided to update the store every two weeks instead of every week. It'll be less stressful for me and I'll be able to have more yarn both dyed and handspun in each update. So look around the Shop next Thursday for a nice update!

Snowed in

2006-02-13T11:43:00.000-05:00

By now you've probably all seen a million pictures of the great Blizzard of '06 but I'm going to bore you with a few more. I'd like to show you why I am terribly sore today - this is our car before:

Then bring on the ancient shovel E keeps in the trunk - which itself weighs about 30 lbs, and a lot of elbow greese, and this is what you get:
ahh a nice clean car! I've got to remember to buy a couple of those smaller plastic shovels not the wood and metal...hmm could it have been LEAD...shovels.

The good thing about this weekend is that I got to stay home and knit and spin and dye...OH MY! But first check this out. E finished her hat and scarf set:
These really came in handy this weekend and they look amazing. I love the yarn she choose, it is so soft...baby alpaca and silk, and the colors are so fitting for her. Not to mention her knitting skills are really coming along - look at these decreases. I am so proud! She's also started a shawl...I think another week and she'll be done...of course pictures will be following completion.

E isn't the only one who has been knitting, I'm chugging away on my Clapotis -
This is a little over a weeks work - not too bad, and I'm not bored yet...good thing dropping stitches is fun! I've also had a chance to work on my Flower Basket Shawl - I've got the Upper Chart done and 2 repeats of the lower done - I'll have pictures soon. I wish I would have picked a) a lighter yarn so I could see the stitches better and b) a thicker yarn - again so the stitches would be a little more apparent. When knitting lace with two strands of yarn I find, for the novice lace knitter like myself, that I sometimes only pick up one of the strands and I'll have to go back and fix it. Oh well now I know for my next lace project....oh man did I just say that...yes yes I'm liking the lace, even if looking at the chart makes my eyes go cross from time to time!

Realizations

2006-02-09T14:47:00.000-05:00

UPDATE - New Sock Yarns added to the Shop today 2/10/05 - including the superwash!

I've come to realize that I don't knit for the Process or the Product. I enjoy the process and learning new techniques and finding my way through a pattern, and I also enjoy the end product, feeling my feet toasty warm in a freshly knit pair of socks - BUT I don't think either of these sum up why I knit. I knit because I LOVE yarn. I say yarn and not fiber because whether I'm knitting, dyeing, or spinning it's the yarn I adore not just the fluff or color which the yarn is derived from. I can't seem to stop myself when I'm at the LYS - especially at lunch time between stressful mornings and afternoons which drag (it doesn't help that I have 2 great stores within a few blocks distance from the office). I want to touch it, hold it up to my cheek and feel how soft it is, squish it - love that squish factor, admire the colors and sparkle - if there is any, and most of all HORDE IT! I could totally fall asleep in a giant pile of yarn and be very content (it must be true that the longer you have a pet the more like it you become - but cat nip does nothing for me...yet).

With all that said - why is it I sell my yarn and not just keep it? I think because once I've created it I feel as if it is already a finished project and have no desire to knit with it. I do keep a skein here and there but for the most part once it's spun or dyed, I'm done. I also like to see my yarn go off to good homes and be made into amazing projects which I am SO not qualified to knit (although I am getting better).

So are you as addicted to yarn as I am? Do you buy yarn and then search for a pattern to use it? Do you have an ungodly amount of lone balls of precious-amazing-gorgeous yarn that you just HAD to have? Have you made a bazillion scarves because you needed to make room for more yarn? If you've answered yes to one or all of these you are a:

So, in order to help you with your addiction I will be updating the SHOP tomorrow with about 20 skeins of yarn! Oh did you think I was going to give you a 12 step program to kick the yarn habit? HA - not me, nope, NEVER!

In my update tomorrow you'll notice I will have a new base yarn available - it's 100% SUPERWASH wool - and it looks and feels very much like an extremely popular yarn...(koigu)take a look for yourself

oh yeah that's the flickering flame colorway in superwash. It is so vibrant it's actually hard to get a good picture of it. I officially LOVE superwash - it takes the dye so amazingly - I'm thinking that I might stop using my other base yarn in favor of this. It is pricier for me so the skeins will be $22.00 but I feel it's worth it - and you get 485 yards!!! you can get 2 pairs of shorter socks with this amount - a full 4 oz.

Here is a sock knit from my first test skein:

The wonderful Beth graciously agreed to be my test knitter since I knew I wouldn't have any kind of time to knit an entire sock. It's a simple sock - basic stockinette with a 2x2 rib cuff - I think it really shows off the crazy carnival colors.

Here is a close up of the fabric. It's nice and sturdy yet comfortable. Yes I do know that there are white spots in the dye job - as I said, this was a test skein and I wasn't really concerned with perfection I wanted to see how each color would react with the yarn and I wasn't all that careful about painting it. I have one skein left of this colorway which will be up tomorrow (Spots and all - I like them!) but with the other colorways I really strive to have no white spots - although I am only human! So Live long, prosper and keep amassing yarn - you'll never know when you'll need it!

Too fast

2006-02-06T11:45:00.000-05:00

The weekend went by way too quickly. I had so many things planned, lots of stuff I wanted to get done and guess what...I didn't have enough time. Yes this is often the case with weekends, you try and cram way too much stuff into two measly days and then when Sunday night rolls around you look at your TO DO list and realize hardly anything has been done! My time is especially cut short now that rehearsals have begun for the next Opera - this one is Elisir D'Amour and I've got a lot of music to learn in a very short amount of time (the performances are mid march). Since the whole season of operas were cast before I joined the company, I'm still only singing in the chorus but the chorus alone has over 100 pages of music to learn!

Although this weekend was a bit crazy with my all day Sat. Rehearsal I did manage to get some stuff done. I am moving along on my Clapotis
Right after this picture I had some train knitting time and I was able to drop on of the Sts and I really think this is going to look cool. I have a feeling it's going to take forever though. The yarn is Nashua - I had never heard of it before but it's soft since it's wool and alpaca and a good price $8.00 for 220 yards. I Love the colors (they remind me of land and sea) but E keeps making fun of me saying it looks like an old man's 1970's sweater..not very nice (but funny!)

I also got a little jewelry making time in -

this is a silver cuff bracelet that I started working on a long time ago. I had already created the cuff and soldered the bezel and now I finally set the stone, a natural Lapis crystal, and shined it up a bit. The only thing I have to do now is stabilize the crystal with some epoxy resin since it's so delicate. I really like the blue, it is so vibrant and it sparkles! - you all know I love me some sparkles!

I'll have some Yarn P*rn soon but until then you get hot mama kitty pics.

This is Gina she's the shy one, but let me tell you she is one lovable girl - she loves to sit on my lap and get pets or she'll walk up behind my head and nudge me..it's so cute. She followed E and I home 2 years ago on Valentines day. We saw her, and being the cat ladies that we are, went to the store and picked up some cat food for her. Let me tell you she was so friggin sweet - much nicer than our kitties whom we raised since kittens. Well after she ate and we started to walk down the block to the house - she followed, we got to the door and she walked right in! We put her in the bathroom and we decided to try and find a home for her. It was then we realized she was pregnant! Well in a week she gave birth to two kitties in our kitchen - the grey kitty, Gary, you see traipsing around the blog is one of her babies, the other one we were able to find a loving home for. Now she is part of the family!

Doesn't it look like she is wearing make up? Eyeliner and noseliner!

Yarn Shop Update

2006-02-02T12:29:00.000-05:00

A quick little post to let you know the Shop has been updated with 13 skeins of sock yarn.

If you'd like to be notified of an update sooner please email me or use the form on the sidebar and I'll add you to the mailing list!

More dyeing??

2006-02-01T13:31:00.000-05:00

Yup that's right I've been doing more yarn dyeing! I took Sunday off but on Monday I was back at it dyeing up sock yarn. I'll have a store update tomorrow but until then here is a little flash of color -
I've got 13 skeins here and tonight I'll be on a reskeining binge for the update tomorrow. I've also got about 12 more yarns soaking to dye up. I'm thinking of making a few that are mainly one color but with a little burst of another, and maybe some that have more of a mottled effect - what do you think?

I've also been spinning for The Point my LYS.
10 skeins of funky supercoiled yarn with sparklies. I tried to get a little crazy with color - hopefully people like it. I'm feeling the need to go back to simple spinning for a while - Single ply, thick and thin, two ply with maybe a little sparkle. I want to spin stuff that is fitting for a large project like a sweater. I've been doing lots of novelty stuff lately and although I enjoy it and I think it looks great there are only so many things you can make with novelty yarn. I recently received a bunch of wonderfully soft merino roving and some superfine 80's roving which I think I will dye in large lots so I can have at least a few hundred yards of each lot. It'll be much easier to knit a larger project with this much yarn.

With all this dyeing and spinning going on my knitting has really been pushed to the back burner. I'm only at the heel on my second Dublin Bay inspired sock and have only done the first chart of the flower basket shawl - by the way, the chart reading is getting much easier and I don't have to pay quite as much attention as when I first started. I've also went and bought more yarn today (I'm insane - I know this) and I'm finally going to knit up the Clapotis! Wow I'll have 3 projects on the needles - I know this isn't many projects for most of you, but I'm usually a one project kind of gal so this is kinda weird...but exciting.

Check out the great gifts that fellow bloggers have sent me for my Birthday

Isn't this sheepy cute? Stephanie sent me this adorable sheep she made. She has the pattern available for anyone who has crochet skills - argh how I wish I knew how to crochet! She also had a kitty who is super cute too.

And Erin (aka Mama-E) has sent me some kick ass stitch markers! I love that they are apples! You know I never knew that Baltimore was called Charm City...you learn something new everyday. You should check out her Flash your Stash Mondays - it's a great way to see what other people are buying and drool!!! In the future it might be a great place for swaps!

Spiders Dye Day

2006-01-29T13:22:00.000-05:00

Yesterday my partner and I had 16 lovely ladies over our house for a full day of eating, drinking, knitting, and of course yarn dyeing. The festivities began at 1 pm and we didn't finish till close to 10 pm! Most of the Spiders were there a few of which I had actually never met before - Carrie, Julsey, Iraida, Sarah and her sister Mary, as well Jess (she's not a spider but we won't hold that against her!) all of you gals are great and I can't wait for us all to get together again.

I loved eyeing all the great projects they had on the needles as well as the colorways each one came up with (I was taking mental notes for my next yarn update!!! Thanks girls!). Some additional excitement came when Amanda got stuck in the bathroom for a good 15 min. or so - I broke out the drill and took the plate off but that didn't do anything. We were struggling for a while till Stephanie saved the day and promptly opened the door with a knife in like 30 sec! go Steph!

Also in attendance were Lisa, Abby, Veronique, Sarah, Joy, Sandra, Katie, and Kaitlyn. Thank you all for making the end of a very difficult week, full of having a cold and food poisoning, great for me! We will definitely be having more of these dye days.

Lots of knitting action here
Don't you love Katie's new accessories?
That's one huge tub of yarn - over 40 hanks!
All steamed and ready to be rinsed
Rinsed and hanging to dye - aren't the colorways lovely?
Can you tell a good time was had?

Yesterday was...

2006-01-26T09:57:00.000-05:00

My Birthday! And can you guess what I did? Did I go dancing? - nope, have a romantic dinner with E? - nope, spend time with my family? - nope....I'll tell you - I was home sick! Actually both E and were home sick...we were like two beached whales on the couch all day. We both had fevers and took the day off of work. Good thing we had Netflix movies to keep us in our close to comatose state. We watched Flight Plan and The Island, both of which were better than I had expected. So with all this laying around you'd think I got some knitting done...again nope. I just didn't feel like picking up the needles. I pre-drafted some fiber for future spinning but no knitting progress whatso ever! I don't even have any good pictures to show you but since I feel like blogs are so much better with pictures I have to show you something...

This is Gary the baby of the family he is the most cute when he is sleeping cause he can't get into trouble!

He loves to help me rewind yarn!

And a Meme I was taggted for by Natasha and Sylv

Four jobs you have had in your life:

1. Insurance clerk at an eye surgery center - terribly boring but I worked with a funny bunch of ladies so it wasn't too bad.
2. Law clerk - basic filing and copying crap while I was in HS this was my first job I got lucky and as a kid dind't have to go the fast food route.
3. Legal Assistant - part time all through college - 3 full days a week and the other two days in class from 8-6:30 can you tell I dind't do much partying in college
4. Paralegal - I've been here 8 years...oh yeah 8 years...started in college and have been here ever since

Four (random) movies you
could watch over and over:

1. The Fifth Element - gotta love the Divas song.
2. The Sting - the best con artist movie ever
3. The Goonies - if it's on I must watch it...boobie trap...ahhhhh
4. Any cheesy 80's Brat pack movie - they are so terrible they are great!

Four places you have lived:

1. Born in the Bronx
2. Moved to CA from 2-4 yrs. - lived in El Cajon, Escondido, Julian, Oceanside
3. Back to the Bronx
4. Last year made the move to Brooklyn - I felt like a traitor to the Bronx...the whole Bronx / Brooklyn rivalry thing...I'm over it..I swear!

Four TV shows you love to watch:

1. LOST - boy how I look forward to that show although I wasn't too thrilled with last nights episode - I hope they come back to it cause it seemed to be a total waste of time
2. L-Word - although this season for me has gotten off to a show start - too much whining not enough action!
3. House - don't you just love the totally bizaare diseases and disorders they come up with?
4. Good Eats on the food network - Alton Brown rocks!

Four places you have been
on vacation:

1. Italy - 3 years in a row - a week in Florence, Rome, then Venice - in that order.
2. Prague - What an amazing city so pretty
3. Cancun - oh I've been there like 4 times and I never get tired of the beach
4. Spain - Barcelona and Madrid - I went in HS with my Chorus we spent almost 2 weeks touring and singing there so amazing - my first trip away from my parents and firs titme out of the country.

Four websites you visit daily:

1. Bloglines - it's and addiction
2. Google - for gmail and also for the random things I look up and research everyday - what did I do before Google???
3. Yahoo Instant messenger
4. Hotmail for the other email account which is very unreliable...but still must be read

Four of your favourite foods:

1. CHOCOLATE in all it's incarnations
2. Guacamole - oh how I love thee and thou green lusciousness atop a tortilla chip
3. Baked Ziti - my staple party meal (some of you will get to taste this on Sat!)
4. Ice Cream - Ohh Coldstone Ice cream - if you haven't had it go and find one - heaven I tell you

Four places you would rather
be right now:

1. On vacation - the next one is going to be Amsterdam but I have to wait till May for that
2. Home sleeping
3. Shopping for yarn and fiber - although I do that often enough online
4. Basically anyplace other than work

Four Boggers youa re tagging....

consider yourself tagged if you haven't been tagged already for this Meme!

Thank you - Thank you

2006-01-24T11:35:00.000-05:00

I want to thank everyone for all the lovely comments, support and help in making my yarn shop a sucess!!

I've sold out of yarn but don't worry I hope to have another update on Monday. I've got some exciting things happening and in a few weeks I'll have a great superwash sock yarn - it reminds me of koigu with a nice tight twist and great stitch definition. The best thing about it is you can throw it right into the washing machine - so be on the lookout for it.

I have been knitting, albeit not all that much. I started the Flower Basket Shawl - my first forey into the world of lace and chart reading. It took a little time and lots of help from Veronique and Virginia for me to get cast on and figure out how to read these annoying charts! Thanks girls you rock! It's so nice to have such a talented group of friends to learn from. Since I haven't had "quality" knitting time where I can sit down and concentrate on a pattern I don't have much done but here is the measly progress shot:

If I stretch it out I can see two cute little flower baskets - I'm going to have to stop stretching it out because I'm going to make the yarn all ratty with my pulling and tugging. I have to accept that with lace the progress is slow and you don't really see all the details till you block it. In the pic I have it in straight needles but I can't stand them so I went out and bought addis and it's much smoother going.

I've also cast on last night, while on the train, for the second dublin bay inspired sock - I really am loving the toe up thing and I've got a hang of the figure 8 cast on and magic loop method. I am not a fan of provisional cast ons. The act of unravling the beginning of my knitting freaks me out a little. I won't post a pic till the pair is done I don't want to bore you.

Here is a little spinning I've done between LYS order spinning. It's plain jane spinning - no sparkle or fluff just me and the fiber working to make yarn. The top is bulky merino 2-ply, then bulky Alpaca 2-ply, and DK 2-ply Blue Faced Leicster (so great to spin!)

I'll leave you with a picture of freshly dyed fiber - I wish I had a room full of this - I'd jump in it and fall asleep like my cats do!

Fiber Friday

2006-01-20T12:21:00.000-05:00

First - YARN SHOP UPDATE!!!! go check it out!

Now for the Yarn P*rn

To the right you see the yarn shop update and your the left you see the yarn headed for The Point

This is one giant cake of yarn it's the same type of yarn I used for the Jaywalkers but this time dyed with Lavender, hot pink and brown - I am diggin this color combo. I haven't weighed it but I think it's about 6 ounces! I can probably knit 2 pairs of short socks with this much yarn. It's not up for sale because I think it's alittle too pilly - and I don't mind it for myself but I want what I sell to be of the best quality.

Speaking of quality I've been searching for new sock yarns here is a superwash dyed in a rainbow of colors:

this is an 8 oz skein that I have not yet reskeined. Most likely I'll knit myself some socks with it and see how I like it. Already it has a lot going for it - it's superwash so it won't felt and it's spun tightly very much like KPPPM and it takes dye really well - I've got very vibrant colors. The only problem I can see is that it looks a little fine - like it might need to me knit on 0's but 1's might do and it's fairly expensive. I'll keep looking!

Ohh I finished my toe up dublin bay inspired sock yesterday - a personal best it only took me a week to get this one done.

The colors came out nice it reminds me of trekking. There is another lace panel on the back - I think full stockings with only the lace up the back would look oh so sexy, warm, but sexy especially in black! I digress, I haven't yet cast on for the second sock but I will tongiht.

I'm also going to get help tonight with the cast on for the Flower Basket Shawl...I'm excited. I'll have the sock for my train knitting and the shawl for home knitting.

The new Meme on the block

2006-01-17T11:22:00.000-05:00

I've been tagged! But before I get to that Here is a sneak peak at some of the yarn which will be up for sale at the end of the week!

Now off to the Meme...

Instructions: Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom slot.
citymama
making (nee stitch marker)
step into my thimble

scissorina
Brooklyn Handspun

Then select five people to tag:

Stephanie
Erin
Sandra
Casey
Jane

What were you doing 9 years ago?
Let's see - 9 years ago I was in college struggling with my BORING classes and trying to figure out a major which wouldn't drive me too crazy. I was trying to justify going to NYU and getting a "regular" BA as opposed to going to a conservatory to pursue opera. I told myself it was because I didn't want to be waitressing after I graduate so I needed a back up career. I've still got mixed feelings about it - On the one hand I met E in college and If I had gone to conservatory I never would have, I found my job while I was there through career services and I've been here ever since, and I am not waitressing, I did get to take voice lessons in College although not at the intensity I would have liked. On the other hand one of the girls I went to HS with went to the conservatory I would have wanted to go to and she is now singing mainstage at the Pittsburgh opera....oh well I'm not out of the game yet!

What were you doing 6 years ago?
Graduating college, then working full time and hating it - still do! Taking Voice lessons and naively thinking that I was going to be singing mainstage at the met by the time I was 30...HAHAHAHA yeah right. It's a lot harder than that, but I've still not given up my dream - it might not be at the met but I'll be singing mainstage in a few years!

What were you doing one hour ago?
Writing letters and other boring stuff here at work.

Name 3 movies you can't turn off if you stumble across them on television.
The 5th Element - I don't know what it is but I HAVE to watch it - maybe it's because of the giant blue diva

Any con artist movie like Ocean's 11(12) or The Sting - it must be my Bronx upbringing

Any Movie or TV show that has to do with WWII

one more....any NOVA or national Geographic Presentation...I live for the nerd channels - History, Discovery, TLC, and National Geographic

Name 3 things you want to improve upon this year.
Time management

Weight control

Learn more knitting techniques and finish more objects!

Name 3 things you can't live without
My Iriver Mp3 player and voice lesson recorder

chocolate

Fiber

Name 3 things you could....
My Commute to work

Work - if I were somehow independently wealthy

My Commute home from work.....do you see a pattern here?

Name 3 things you really like about yourself.
My ability to teach myself techniques and various hobbies from books

My eyes - although they are often covered by glasses and many people don't even know I have Green eyes

I'm outgoing and have no problem talking with total strangers...I meet some wonderful people like that.

Jaywalker Pics

2006-01-16T14:30:00.000-05:00

Here we have my finished jaywalkers...YAY!

I made a few mistakes but hey it's only my 3rd pair of socks! Not too shabby me thinks. I really like the way they came out. The yarn I used was a wholesale two ply which I then dyed (I had originally wanted more vibrant colors but I was impatient with the dyeing process and I rinsed them way too soon. But I love my Sweettart jays - I wore them all day yesterday.

I've also made progress on the toe up magic loop sock -

I took the advice of my lovely commenters (I love you girls!) and did a short row heel - the instructions in my sock book looked more complicated than they were and it didn't take too much time at all. I then was thinking about some kind of pattern for the leg, I wanted something with a little lace feel but not too open so I took the pattern from the Dublin bay socks I originally saw on Beth's site. The only thing I did was change the positioning of the lace panel from the sides to the front and back. These are flying off the needles I'm pretty close to done with this one and I only started on Thursday.

This little lace stitch is the first one I've ever tried - after the socks are done I'm going to jump right in to the flower basket shawl. I hope the lace goddess is with me!

Just a quick update

2006-01-13T14:57:00.000-05:00

My Jaywalkers are done!!! Finally! I don't have a pic now but I'll update this post as soon as I can. I don't know why they took so long but I relly love them and will most likely start another pair soon.

I've also been trying out the magic loop technique and I think I've got it down. I started a toe up sock yesterday and so far so good.

I did a figure 8 cast on which I didn't find too bad (I was way too lazy to do any provisional cast on). I increased every round cause I'm impatient and I have squareish toes so it's perfect. I got a little laddering before I realized I needed to have the cable in more of a figure eight so I can get a tight join. Now I'm fretting over the heel...I have no pattern that I'm following since it's a simple stockinette sock but I'm going to have to find something to figure the heel out. Once I get passed the heel I'm going to see what kind of lacy stitch would look nice and work with the number of stitches I have - 72.

Yesterday I was supervising a funiture move for my office and I basically sat knitting for a few hours - that's my idea of a cool job! but I also took a few pics - I love the city...

SP7 Questionnaire

2006-01-10T14:40:00.000-05:00

Ohh I am so excited to join this time - I missed out on the last one so here are my answers...

Update for my SP...I forgot #13....lucky 13...how could I forget you....

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? I swore I wasn’t going to become a yarn snob, but the inevitable has happened I am now I am – especially after learning to spin! I’m not a fan of acrylic – it squeaks too much.

2. Do you spin? Crochet? I spin…a lot

3. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in? - an old tin

4. How long have you been knitting? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? – a few years I’d say intermediate I really didn’t start making stuff other than scarves and shawls until 4 months ago – and now all I want to do is knit new things – especially socks!

5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? – nope but I’ll have to start one

6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.) I like clean smells like linen and flowery ones like honeysuckle…no vanilla!

7. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy? Oh yes – chocolate…especially if it has hazelnuts in it…ohh Nutella (if you haven’t had it you MUST try it)

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? I design and make jewelry

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) I’m a big music fan of almost all genres and yes I can play MP3s

10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand? My fav. color is anything in the purple family…I tend to like autumn colors deep lush colors.

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? I live with my partner and our 3 kitties

12. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos? I do except for ponchos

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? hmm this is a very difficult question!!! and one of the most important...lets see I generally love it all!!! ok, I really enojoy all types of sock yarn and I don't have too much of it in my stash at the moment - like Cherry Tree Hill, Koigu, I've been salivating for the much coveted Trekking xxl in colorway 100. I also love most of karabella yarns. Hey if it's soft and pretty I'll like it!

14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? Acrylic

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s? socks socks socks

16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? Umm see #15

17. What are you knitting right now? See #15

18. Do you like to receive handmade gifts? Oh yeah

19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Circular all the way

20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? Addis first and then bamboo

21. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift? Yup

22. How did you learn to knit? I taught myself form a learn to knit book

23. How old is your oldest UFO? A scarf I’ve been knitting for about a year but it’s an on going thing I use up leftovers for the never ending scarf

24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird? Anything with cats

25. What is your favorite holiday? Any one where I get gifts!

26. Is there anything that you collect? Other than yarn and fiber…not really..unless you count my tons of books

27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? I don’t have any

28. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? I’ve got a lot of books, I can always use some cherry tree hill sock yarn, and addi turbo circs in size 2

29. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn? I’ve got a lot to learn but nothing in particular

30. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements? Oh yes I am a sock knitter – my measurements are ankle – 9 in Length 9.5 in , 2 ¾ inch from bottom of ankle bone to the floor – I’m a size 8 1/2

31. When is your birthday? (mm/dd) 1/25

Stash of Shame

2006-01-07T08:15:00.000-05:00

Now for the contents of those yarn bins - I figure maybe I can shame myself into stashbusting - I've got a few projects in mind but who knows when I am going to find time to bust this stuff. Not to mention that I know I have very little self control when it comes to buying yarn so it'll keep growing no matter what I do - although now I have much better taste hehee.

without further ado here it is...

My most recent purchases - regia self stripe sock yarn, Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn and misti alpaca lace (for my Flower Basket Shawl.

Some fun stuff - 4 skeins of art yarns ballet, karabella gossamer, glitz, matrix, pixel and a black and glittery KSH.

My eyelash stash (I know you all have some) from my scarf selling days - I swear eyelash was all people wanted! I'll proably spin these into my own yarn for a funky effect. 10 Skeins of Recycled sari silk - I plan to make the bias bag from knitty with these.

My stash of GGH aspen - why do I have so many you ask?? because it was on super sale who could pass up $2 a ball???? certainly not I. I think I'l make some hats and arm warmers in funky stitch patterns - they should show nicely with this yarn.

Acrylic - got some lions brandhomespun, some martha stewart from walmart (I was going to make an afghan but it'll take too long!)

More Acrylic

all of my mohairy stuff - again from scarf knitting days.

Let see here I have Karabella souffle which is discontinued although I think I have enough for a light sweater about 10 balls
(not all in the pic) or maybe a short sleeve one, umm 4 balls of aurora 8, 20 balls of merino sock yarn from ebay, Lambs pride bulky, wool ease T&Q, Patons upcountry, and some no named wool - well at one point it had a name but I lost the tags, and some dale freestyle.

So there is it...now what the hell do I do with it? I'm thinking that I will start Christmas knitting now lots of hats and scarves!

Spin Spin Spin

2006-01-05T16:51:00.000-05:00

My knitting has been suffering but I have been spinning to pick up the slack.

Here are 5 skeins and I'll be spinning up 5 more - another purple, 2 orange, and 2 blue. These are all for The Point I should have all 10 washed dried and ready to go by monday. I hope these are liked as much as the last batch - actually I like these more.

I've got a bunch of stuff to go off to kpixie too:

There are about 12 skeins here! I'm going to feel naked when all of this yarn leaves the house - I hate not having anything in stock, which means I besta get spinning so I can update my own Shop - actually I have added a couple of handpainted sock yarns - check them out!

So in the spirit of stashbusting in 2006 here is a sneak peak of the stash I have to sort through
- I'll have pictures of the contents tomorrow!

Happy New Year - a little late

2006-01-03T10:40:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year everyone, I wanted to thank all of my new blogging friends, those who I've met in person, the Spiders and Stephanie, and those whom I've had the pleasure of chatting with online. You've made my online experience wonderful with all of your comments, suggestions and inspiration.

It's amazing how much better my Knitting and spinning has gotten since I've been blogging. I think that having to come up with stuff to post has really gotten me to finish projects and begin projects with more difficulty - I mean before the blog I had only dyed with kool aid and knit scarves and simple garter shawls! Now I've got a professional dyeing set up, and have a hold on knitting socks!

Before I get to my goals for 2006 knitting and spinning wise I've got some freshly dyed fiber to show.

These rovings are going to be spun and then sent off to the point next week hopefully I'll get 10 skeins spun - 2 of each color - by next week. I think I can do it...maybe even by friday!

I've also been inspired by Julie to get more organized and this is my first step.

I've put most of my roving and some of my yarn in bins. I've used my trusty p-touch labler to label all of them - I've got colored roving, (which might be going on ebay soon - this was before I started to dye my own) Natural roving, Natural dyeing yarn, Odds and Ends Yarn (those pesky bits that are too much to throw out but too little for a whole project), and some uncarded fiber and few pounds of mohair curls. I have 4 or 5 more bins, slightly smaller, of yarn which I'll have to organize. And as you can see in this picture my "little" library needs serious organizing as well. I'll be having fun with my little labler...hehee.

So my knitting goals of 2006 are:

1) Knit something lace - I've got the FB shawl all ready to go I'm just going to have to have Veronique and Virginia help me along and answer all my obvious and anoying questions...sorry girls but I have a feeling I'm going to be as dumb as a doorbell with this one.

2) Learn to cable - most likely I'll incorporate a single cable on a sock at first but who knows I might just end up going cable crazy.

3) Knit a sweater or some other sweater like garment - I'm thinking of the hourglass sweater it doesn't look very scary and it might actually look nice on me!

4) The Clapotis which everyone in blogland has already knit except for me.

5) Spin sock yarn that I am happy with...I'm working on this already...you'll see soon.

6) much much more...that I can't think of right now ...oh yeah knitting up the stash - like that is going to happen - yeah right!

The Strike is over and I'm a slacker!

2005-12-28T11:44:00.000-05:00

So the strike sucked, I spent 30 bucks each day getting back and forth to work but now it's over and I have no excuses for being late to work...damn! With all the holiday stuff and the food comas that I have been subject to lately, I've been a super blog slacker...sorry guys I am weak and succumbed to the TV and the super end of the year sales and I've not updated in like a week, but I'm back and my new years resolution is going to be updating the blog 3 days a week - any more than that and we'll all be bored! And getting back to all you wonderful commentors quickly - again sorry.

I had a wonderful Christmas with my family although my father drove me insane....He happened to stay over our house from Sunday to Monday and I thought I was going to kill him. I love the man but he can be very frustrating sometimes! Check out this picture, my little neice and E how cute are they?!

This was on Christmas day...ahh my little ~~Brats~~
Angels!

I got some purfume, and a B&N gift certificate a few other things and then I got what I really wanted...a Bulky flyer and bobbin for my spinning wheel - now I can spin 300 yard skeins!

You really can't tell in this picture but the bobbin is twice as big as the regular louet bobbins I'm thinking I'll get 8 ounces of bulky easy on this bobbin....it's going to be my plying bobbin.

I haven't really been knitting or spinning much - see the above slacker confession - but I did finally finish my 1st jaywalker and have started on the second.

The yarn is some natural yarn I picked up at Habu textiles and I hand painted it - it's very much like knit picks palette. Maybe not the best yarn for long lasting socks but it is so soft!

Ohh I just got in a shipment of different sock yarn for dyeing and I also have to start dyeing and spinning for The Point since my yarns have sold out! I'm really excited so in the next few days you'll see lots of color splashes here!

The Strike is on!!!

2005-12-20T09:44:00.000-05:00

As all of you New Yorkers know by now we are in the midst of a Transit Strike and I'm located in the far reaches of Brooklyn and have no way to get into work today - this is fine for one day but I've been informed by someone who works for the MTA that this strike might do on for 10 days! I'll probably try and get car service but it's gonna cost me! And coming home is most likely going to be worse than getting there - I have no clue what I am going to do...maybe I'll have luck meeting up with my fellow Brooklyn spiders.

For those of you who don't live in New York and are not familiar with the commuting situation here - let me explain: Most people work in manhattan, a huge percentage of those people commute from an outer borough. The best way to get to work is either by an MTA train or bus, for many people that is the only way - myself included (most people don't have cars and if they do there is no place to park when you get into manhattan). I can walk to work but that would be - 13 miles in the freezing cold! Ahh let's see if I can make it into work tomorrow!

The good thing about this strike today is I can get a ton of knitting and spinning done...oh yeah! I should be done with my first Jaywalker sock. It's taken me over a week to finish one because I've had so little time to knit - I've been a crazed christmas shopper! I'm not going to post a pic until it is done, so hopefully I'll have an update tonight.

For all of you Brooklyn Handspun enthusiasts who have yarn but don't know what to do with it - here is a hat I knit from a leftover small skein of Blue Bop, it took about 75 yards on size 10.5 needles. No paticular pattern, I just cast on about 66 stitches and knit until I was happy with the size and then decreased every 10 stitches until I had to put it on dpns instead of my 16 inch circs and then I k2together till I was done!

The Yarn shop is up!

2005-12-14T10:59:00.000-05:00

Finally the Yarn Shop is up and running!

I've got lots of fun stuff there, some you might have seen on this blog before and some that are brand spanking new. I don't have the dyed sock yarn up yet but they should be up tomorrow. Here is a little peak:

Supercoiled holiday fun! Please leave a post or
send an email to me to be added to the Brooklyn Handspun mailing list for all new yarn updates.

Well, I was supposed to have the shop updated Monday, but on Monday night I get a phone call from E and the first thing she says is "Don't worry I'm ok", now of course the first thing I do is worry. She was at her office holiday party and was just finishing up her dinner when she got a fish bone stuck in her throat! She tried water and then some hard bread but it was being stubborn and would not come out. Her co-workers were freaking out and wanted to bring her to the nearest hospital but she played it cool and decided to drive back to Brooklyn and go to our local hospital where her brother-in-law works. I took a cab to the hospital to meet her and got there at the same time she did, we waited for a little bit and then her BIL came out and took us back into the emergency room. (Side note - if you know someone who is a PA, Doctor or Nurse in the ER make sure to stay very good friends with them if not, god forbid you have an emergency you'll be languishing in the waiting room for hours and hours and hours.....) He sat her up on a table took out a pair of super long tweezers and plucked a bone about an inch long out of her tonsil....GROSS. Of course she decided to keep the culprit and she promptly put it in a baggie so on Tuesday she could show it off. Ahh my E she's gross and that's one of the many reasons I love her!

So on to knitting progress here is my progress on the Jaywalkers:

I've turned the heel and picked up the side stitches, it's going well. I really like the way the yarn is striping out - I did not expect this! I am so glad that I decided to knit the larger size, if not I would have never gotten it over my heel! The picture is a terrible office shot but you get the idea. I'm going to try and finish this before the weekend and then cast on for sock #2.

Due to Technical difficulties..

2005-12-12T10:08:00.000-05:00

I can't update my new Yarn Shop until I get home tonight. And I don't have any new pics because, you see, I am a dork and I've forgotten my card reader at home - I have the pictures and the camera but no reader so I'm left with nothing. What I can do is tell you about my fiber filled weekend.

On Friday I went to The Point and knit and hung out with the Spiders including a cool new Spider Elizabeth and an original spider which I had never met before - Joy! While I was there I started the ever popular Jaywalkers (with the help of Stephanie and Sandra - Thanks guys!) with this yarn:

which I handpainted a few weeks ago. It's a little more pastel than it looks in the pic but I really like the way it's looking so far - since I don't have a progress pic I'll just mention I'm about to start the heel flap.

On Saturday I met a fellow knit blogger - Stephanie who was in NYC for the weekend. We met up for lunch and a yarn shop hop. Wehad lunch and then headed down to seaport yarn - I had never been there before and was very interested in seeing what they had to offer. Well it was a bizzare place kind of like a small office where each room was filled with yarn and the hallway was too - It looked more like someones out of control yarn stash than a store. What I did like about it was they had a lot of great handpainted and handspun stuff and yarns which you don't see in other yarn stores. The selection was great but organization is an issue it's best to go if you have plenty of time to browse! While there I picked up a nice skein of Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in a lovely purpley colorway. From there we jumped on the subway and up to Purl Soho another place which I have never been too, it's small but filled with lovely yarn and packed with people too! I was good and passed on the yarn there but then we went to my fav. hang out The Point and there I picked up some misti alpaca for one of my next projects the flower basket shawl which I will be asking Virginia lots of questions since this is my first lace project...check out her lovely shawl!

And on Sunday I spun spun spun and I have some stuff for Kpixie and some for The Shop. hopefully I'll have them all up tonight!

Fiber Friday!!

2005-12-09T14:06:00.000-05:00

Woo hoo - it's fiber friday and I've actually got some fiber to show! But, before I get to the fibery goodness I've finished my pink striped ribbed socks:

Here is the lovely E modeling her new socks - she is actually wearing them today for cold feet snow protection. Good thing she has small feet because I only had a few yards left over when the socks were done. While I was winding this and counting the yardage, I got lazy at about halfway through and guesstimated it was about 400 or so yards...I must have guestimated wrong. Oh well they are made and I really like them.

And since I've been on a sock roll I've already cast on for the ever popular Jaywalkers. I've got fat Flinstone feet so I am knitting up the 84 st one but man the ribbing is looking huge!! I know this has been mentioned before on other blogs and that it works itself out but I'm still freaked hehee. We'll see how it looks when I begin the main pattern.

Onto the Fiber stuff - I just love

when this:

Turns into this - Well there are a few more bits thrown in with the wool but you get the idea.

I've also been experimenting with my new Lanaset dyes - oh boy they are fun and the results are really vibrant!

here are three skeins of sock yarn which I am very proud of. They are nice and dry and all I have to do is reskein them so you can see what they'll look like all knit up. There will be more dye experiments in the weeks to come...you can count on it.

I've also got a few skeins done -

I didn't write down any of the specs for these skeins but they are super soft and and sparkly.

This one is for Veronique very soft black alpaca. The only problem I had with this fiber is that I bought it unprocessed which = DIRTY. I had to pick out hay and comb the fibers out which is fine all goes with the job, but...but ...but I didn't count on having to wash it 10 times!!! Alpaca doesn't have lanolin in it so I figured it wouldn't be such a big deal. I spun it up before washing and it didn't really smell but I know it was dirty cause my finers were all grimy after a few minutes of spinning. After the skein was done I took it to the bathroom for it's wash and that's when I was hit with the alpaca stank. Not only was the water extremely dirty it smelled - oh boy did it smell. I washed and washed till the water was pretty clear and then shampooed it to death! I hope you like Pantine Veronique! But the good thing is now it's soft and smells great. I won't guarantee that it will smell so good when it's wet again but I can guarantee you it's much better when it is dry.

It's going to be a fun weekend I have all of this to spin - oh yeah!

Alrighty Blogger is back

2005-12-06T10:17:00.000-05:00

Ok After being pissed last night at Blogger I am back! I don't think I have properly introduced my spinning friends so here are some introductions -

This is Gooch my spinning wheel. She is a Louet S15 single treadle, she's a simple wheel but doesn't give me many problems I LOVE that I never have to oil her. She will soon have a wide flyer and bulky bobbins for spinning larger skeins oh yeah! She is named Gooch because all of her bobbins have that written on it - she was an eBay buy and the woman who owned it before me had the last name of Gooch and I though it was a great wheel name.

Here we have the duo of Fred and Ginger. They spin and dance wonderfully together. Ginger twirls and Fred winds and I get to make a center pull ball much easier than before!

I've yet to buy a niddy noddy because well I don't think I need one. I wind skeins by sitting at the table and wrapping the yarn around the width of the table right from the bobbin. I then tie it up and slip it off and get it ready for setting the twist. For twist setting, the yarn takes a bath, is washed with something that smells good and then is hung up on hangers on my shower rod. My 2 ply yarns are generally nice and balanced so I don't need to dry them under tension, but for the single plies I usually put another hanger on the bottom and then before it's fully dry I remove it so the yarn still has bounce.

In knitting news I'm still knitting the pink socks - no picture it's too boring! But I have been bad at Barnes and Noble - here's the loot:

Isn't it lovely? I have a real weak spot for books I also bought two non-knitting books - Son of a Witch and The Cheese Monkeys, I swear I can't walk into a book store without buying two books - E got me into this - I used to be able to buy only one book but then she convinced me it's not worth standing on line to buy one we must buy at least 2! I foolishly agreed and now I'm stuck with it. It really is just and excuse to buy more books and hoard them! Tomorrow I'll show you a pic of our library.

ARGH BLOGGER.....

2005-12-05T21:47:00.000-05:00

Why can't I see my blog at home??? This is really annoying. Maybe if I publish this post it'll work? let's see...hmm maybe it's IE I mean it's my blog I shoudl eb friggin authorized to view it...hmm Maybe I should download fire fox...

What a weekend ...PAR-TAY

2005-12-05T11:12:00.000-05:00

The short version of my weekend - Jewelry Party, The point for some knitting action, Dinner, Harry Potter, vocal master class, Spider party, pick up at the airport, another holiday/house warming party - home and sleep! Yup I was running around this weekend but in the process I had a ton of fun.

I FINALLY saw Harry Potter and I loved it, as I knew I would. A few plot elements were left out but it was still great (although I would have liked to see more house elves!)

On Saturday evening Amanda and Katie hosted a Spider Holiday party at Amanda's lovely apartment. There was plenty of food (what a spread) and drink (check out some of the other Spider Websites for some drink shots) and gift giving!

We had a white elephant party where we all bring a gift and then get a chance to steal previously opened gifts! And what fabulous gifts everyone brought!

I didn't steal but I did score some seriously luscious
handcream (I'm told it's the Rolls Royce of handcream!) and an adorable Le sportsac cosmetic case which I think will be perfect for carrying my circs and notions - actually I can fit an entire sock knitting project in there!

I think this picture really sums up the night!

can you tell Veronique was having a blast! I can't wait for our next spider party!

Unfortunately nothing other than partying and eating went on for me this weekend - which is not a bad thing - I'll be back with the spinning and knitting soon!

See I AM spinning..

2005-12-01T13:47:00.000-05:00

Look here I actually have some spinning pics!

50/50 BFL and Alpaca with sparkle

Suede like commercially spun yarn with peachy optimum and sparkle

Thick and thin Super fine Merino (oh such luxury to feel) and you guessed it - sparkle

I don't know what it is about the sparklies but the stuff I spin with metallic yarn sells twice as fast as anything else so I'll follow the trend and keep adding the shiny stuff! All three of these skeins were bought up along with almost all my other yarns from Sherri in MA - she rocks!

On the bobbin now is lovely natural black baby alpaca being spun up for
Veronique - I've made her wait long enough - sorry chick! But it is looking pretty nice, not exactly even because I'm spinning it from the sheared off locks and not from a prepared roving but I think it has character. Spinning this stuff cements my resolve to buy a drum carder - I've saved up my yarn earnings and I think I am going to treat myself to one. Now, which one should I buy? I'm thinking either:

The louet roving carder

or:

or the Petite with brush attachment.

Any reviews? Or other ideas? I'm looking in the $300 - $400 range nothing more.

Holidays are here again!

2005-11-29T13:52:00.000-05:00

I've always loved the holiday season, and this one is no exception. I enjoy spending time with my family and friends, exchanging gifts and having an overall good time. The only problem I have is TIME - time never seems to be on my side during the month of December. I'm constantly running around either to parties and gatherings or to performances and jewelry shows (got to capitalize on the Christmas cheer and shopping!) By the end of the year I am so pooped I swear the next year will be different and I'll get all my shopping done before the 23rd! Well do you think I've done any of my shopping yet? umm nope and I probably won't be able to till a week before Christmas...Oh well another year where procrastination and poor time management come out on top! I always get it done so I guess it's not too bad...BRING IT ON! Good thing I don't knit gifts or I'd really be stressed.

Speaking of shopping, I've updated the Store with some handpainted sock yarn and some of the yarn I posted about last week. I'm in the midst of spinning so I don't really have any new yarns to show but I do have plenty of jewelry

These are a little more unique with all the crystal pendants.

This one was one of my favorites - Baltic amber and a ancient fossil of a shell - but this past weekend it sold. Selling the necklaces can be bitter sweet - I'm very happy that someone loves it and is going to enjoy wearing it, but I'll miss looking at it especially if it took me forever to make!

Don't think I haven't been knitting (even though I was such a slacker this weekend, knitting and spinning wise!)

One sock down and close to halfway on the next.

This weekend I performed in the last two shows of Die Fledermaus - it was fantastic! I had so much fun - even though I whined and bitched about all the time it took up - it was absolutely worth it! I'm already sighed up for the next opera L'elisir d'amour! I'm only doing chorus for the first few productions since I came late in the season after all the shows were cast - but I'm hoping to get a chance at leads for next year. I got some of the best compliments after the last show - a few people came up to me and said I was their favorite non-lead part, and that I really took command of the stage and the part even though it was all really pantomime. That really made me feel good...and more confident in my acting abilities.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll have a shot of me in full costume as well as some cast pictures!

Progress

2005-11-23T10:54:00.000-05:00

I think I am all spun out from this weekends marathon spinning sessions, I haven't been in the mood to spin. Although, I have been dreaming up some different styles of yarn to spin - getting those supercoils just right and blending in mohair curls.

Ohh I just got 2 lanaset dye kits from Julie at Sheep Hollow I'm so excited to start playing with them. My mother also brought over a huge stainless steel pot for steaming. I'm going to try my hand at the traditional dyeing methods and then see how I can speed them up!

I've also been in a knitting mood. I have made some progress on my self stripe sock as you can see - socks really fly with enough train knitting time.

I really like the way it is striping out and the pink is pretty cute - not really my style but still cute. The only problem with the sock is I don't really like the way the heel came out I think it's a bit to narrow and I think next time I'll choose a different heel flap this one is too boring. Actually next time I'll be following a real pettern - jaywalkers here I come!

I've got more yarn soaking destined to be stripes and some slated for a varigated look. I really enjoy experimenting with the dyes and the combinations of color. The great thing is, if you mess up you can always overdye!

Well I must finish cleaning off this desk and then I'm off to a nice long weekend with my family, and my last two shows (I'm going to miss being on stage although the next opera is in Jan. or feb. oh yeah!) I wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving and for those who are in other countries and/or don't celebrate i, have a wonderful weekend!

Finally I have time to post

2005-11-21T10:28:00.000-05:00

Just because I've been busy (and have been whining about it) doesn't mean I've been slacking on my fiber addiction.

I've been busy in the dyeing department - I got some natural sock yarn in and here are my results:

I really like the way these came out! Especially the red/sunset one. Each of these skeins have 440 yards of merino which is plenty to make a pair of socks

This one is about 400 yards of a fine two ply merino which is so soft! When I wound it into a center pull ball it looks a bit more pastel but I still love it.

This is my very first self striping sock yarn and the sock I'm knitting with it. I was so anxious to see how it turned out I took it out of the dye bath WAY too early, and so it's really pastel - at first I wasn't very happy but it's really growing on me.

It's not all about dying commercially spun yarns around here I've also got a bunch of spinning done.

This is a batch of 8 skeins of 130 yards of very bulky BFL plied with a commercially spun novelty yarn and a metallic thread. These are going straight to The Point one of my LYS's. The owner ordered 8 skeins of this fun stuff. It's enough to knit a scarf with on big needles and it's totally unique. You had to see me spinning like a mad woman this weekend to get 8 of these done - she ordered them on friday and wanted them today! It would have been easy if I wasn't in the opera from 6-midnight on sat. and 3-8:30 on sunday! But I got them all spun up - marathon spinning let me tell you.

Here are two skeins of Austrailian Merino - not quite as soft as some of my other merinos but still very nice. It's a two ply which has some tropical firestar thrown in for sparkle. These two skeins together have 350 yards of DK weight.

Ohh I love this one it is silky and soft BFL 2 ply dk weight 200 yards in this skein.

Ohh here we are with the rainbows again - a single ply thick and thin from sport weight to chunky 205 yards of austrailian merino.

This one is 95 yards of thick and thin austrailian merino plied with the leftovers of the first two skeins with the firestar.

This soft lovely is 2 ply BFL and a metallic thread added for holiday sparkle - 155 yards.

If anyone is interested in any of the yarns on my site just email me for price and availability. I'll have a site soonbut until then email works great!

And just cause I love to embarass myself here is a picture of me (on the very left) with some of the other cast members at this weekends performance of Die Fledermaus - btw, I am playing a 19th century lesbian - how hysterical is that!

I am so special...

2005-11-17T12:03:00.000-05:00

Well I have a bunch of pictures of my recent spinning, my first few dyed variegated sock yarns and some cute kitty pics, but..well I forgot my friggin card reader! I have my Camera and my CF card but without the reader I'm pictureless.

And as of today I'm almost Yarnless! A Wonderful customer in Mass. just purchased a large chunk of my inventory, and she is very nice to boot! I have an appointment to show some of my yarns to my LYS so I have to get spinning tonight. Last night I was busy making earrings and necklaces for a jewelry showing my sister is doing for me at my mother's job. I whipped up 10 pairs of earrings and 4 lariat necklaces last night and I added them to my display. I hope they sell cause this is going to be the money for our next vacation!

I'm starting to feel that maybe I'm taking on too much, I've got the Opera rehearsals, weekly voice lessons, holiday jewelry parties and sales, spinning and sales of yarn to companies and individual customers, my new idea of dyeing and selling sock yarns - btw, self stripe socks are really a pain to do - although the results are wonderful, and working my day job. Not to mention Thanksgiving is coming up, and Christmas shopping - I pray I don't implode! I guess sometimes I set too many goals for myself and take on a lot more than I should. I have a hard time feeling like I am good enough - I'm not spinning fast enough, or making enough money, not in the opera career I wanted to be in, or doing enough to get out of this day job and onto something I love full time. Maybe it's, I'm 27 and feel I should be so much further along than I am career wise. Intellectually I know that I'm young and such things take time and you can't rush life but ARGH if only I could not have to work this day job, I'd have more time to do the things I love. Hmmm I need more lotto tickets!

Oh well I've bored you enough, here is a picture of one of my favorite places:

This is the Medieval Clock in Prague, isn't it wonderful! E and I went there this past April and I really want to go back. The 3 years before that we went to Italy, first Florence, then Rome, and lastly Venice - can you tell we LOVE Italy - it also helps that E speaks Italian and Spanish. The questions is, where should we go next year? I really want to go to Morocco but in this political climate it might not be the best idea.

And the Winner is...

2005-11-14T13:23:00.000-05:00

YAHAIRA! congrats girl, I'll be emailing you shortly, but if you read this before I get a chance to, send me over your address and I'll send you out some yarn. I don't have a picture of it right now but I will tomorrow! (just to let you all know I used a random number generator to choose the winner)

Thank you for all the responses to my contest/poll! What I've gleaned from this is you all want sock yarn!! Especially the likes of "socks that rock" and vesper sock yarn. In addition, most people love to look at the bulkies and novelties but would rather knit with dk or worsted.

I'm working on the sock yarn thing and getting my spinning down to some dk and less thicknesses. I've also been planning my next dying adventure for the self stripe socks and the richly saturated variegated color yarn. I'm going to do some testing tonight and hopefully tomorrow we'll have some good results!

On Saturday Stephanie had us Spiders over for food, drinks, knitting and yarn swapping!

This pic really sums up the night

That's socks that rock in Jewel of the Nile colorway and a fabulous blueberry pomegranate martini! Stephanie can really whip up a cocktail let me tell you!

Here is the loot!

We also got a ton of knitting in -

Here is Lisa, Katie and Veronique, not in the picture but there was Sarah, Abby (who wound and ran but left behind some really yummy cookies!), and of course Stephanie the hostess with the most-est!

I had a great time and can't wait for our next little adventure - dyeing at my place!

Spinning and knitting pics tomorrow when my camera is nice and charged!

I'm a convert!

2005-11-11T11:20:00.000-05:00

Yup, you heard right I've converted - I will now, and forever use two circulars instead of DPN's for sock knitting!!! Of course I've seen many people use this technique and they have always said it's much easier and faster than DPN's, but since I didn't want to go out and buy two circ's in every size, I decided to stick with the multitude of DPN's I already had. Well, a few weeks ago I picked up two size 3 16 inch circs on sale and this morning for train knitting I decided to experiment. I cast on and it was so easy, I thought it would take more practice but after 15 min this is what I got:

A tiny tube 20 st. around. I love it, I'll probably go to ebay and pick up a few pairs of those Addi's everyone is addicted to and then hopefully the next pair of socks will fly off the needles.

Speaking of socks, so far, many people have commented and said they'd like to see some handspun and/or handdyed sock yarn. So....yesterday I went to a couple of my LYS's and picked up this:

8 oz of singles and 8 oz of 2-ply 100% merino sock yarn. Since I haven't had much time for spinning lately I figured I'll so some self striping sock yarn from this wonderful stuff. I also bought over a pound of 60% Merino 40% Acrylic to dye as well, this yarn is slightly thicker but I think size 3 needles would work well for a thick sock - think Regia. I'm going to swatch each up on different size needles and see what works. I think it'll be a fun project and hopefully it'll come out well and I can have them up for sale soon.

Although it isn't much, I have some spinning to show

Two small skeins of tan merino, one plied with a mystery mohair batt with a little sparkle in it, and one plied with a commercially spun mohair yarn. Also a nice large skein of turquoise merino with tropical firestar thrown in, it's 190 yards in a dk weight and I have more of this stuff to ply, maybe another 120 yards or so.

ohh here is some other stuff I scored at the LYS on sale!

I'll be adding these into my handspun for some funky novelty fun.

You can still get in on the contest/poll, it'll end at midnight tonight. For all of you who have already commented, thank you so much it's really a big help!

dreams of knitting and spinning...

2005-11-09T10:27:00.000-05:00

So, I guess it was wishful thinking when I said this week wasn't going to be as busy as last, cause so far it's busier! I won't be getting home before 11 for the next week and a half! well once the Opera is over, I'll be a free woman and I can get back to my evening spinning and knitting.

Until then, check out this Quiz by Veronique

You are The Point!
http://www.thepointnyc.com
You want it all. You might have a hankering for
the most luxurious handpainted silk yarn. Or
maybe a couple of skein of Kureyon. Don't
worry, you can sit down, have a latte and
absorb it all...

What NYC yarn store are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

The Contest/Poll is still going on, I've been getting great feedback but would love some more. All you lurkers - get those comments posted and maybe you'll win some handspun yarn!

Back in business and a contest!

2005-11-07T10:55:00.000-05:00

I have a feeling this week isn't going to be quite as crazy here at the job, and although my final rehearsals for the opera are coming up, it shouldn't be too hectic. I actually have some stuff to show, not much because my friggin camera's battery ran out before I had a chance to get everything.

On Friday I had a lovely time hanging out with the Spiders, and while there, I was working on a hat for my little sister which turned out to be way too short...yes yes you were right Veronique I really should have continued more before I started the decreases...man I am stubborn. Well I had to rip some out and here it is right after ripping.

Tonight I'll knit a few more inches before starting my decreases.

I've also finished my socks! Not quite in time for the end of socktober, but pretty close - they were done on November 2nd - not too bad.

They are so comfortable I have been wearing them around the house all week! I'm hoping to maybe score some sock yarn at the Spiders yarn swap so I can start another pair.

Oh here is a pic of the fiber I dyed last week, they are nice and dry and wrapped up into little fluff balls and ready to be spun up.

I went a little crazy with the blue and green this time (do the colors sound a little familiar Wendy?), I think next time I'm going to have more of a plan of action and make notes as to what colors I want in each roving, then I'll have more of a palette to work with after they are dry. It's so hard to get away from my favorite colors.

Here is a little bit of the spinning I got done:

This is 110 yards of the super silky soft Optim Merino...OMG it is so much like silk - I love it. Sorry for the crappy pic - the color is so much nicer in person.!

This one is 180! yards of the softest Merino, it's bulky and would make something perfect for next to the skin and very warm. It's a two ply one of 80's and one of 64's Merino.

I'm trying to figure out what kind of yarn people would like to see more of, so I'd like to take a poll and offer a random commenter a prize of one skein of handspun yarn with at least 100 yards - my choice of color and fiber.

So... would you like to see

1) single ply thick and thin
2) two ply balanced bulky
3) two ply dk
4) novelty yarn such as Glam Rock
5) any other ideas?

The contest will be over on Friday and I will randomly select the winner and then send out the prize! This will really help me, so thanks to all of you who participate.