ARTwin knits

Where in the world....

Wow - I forgot how many states I've been to.

bold the states you've been to, underline the states you've lived in and italicize the state you're in now...

Alabama / Alaska / Arizona / Arkansas / California / Colorado / Connecticut / Delaware / Florida / Georgia / Hawaii / Idaho / Illinois / Indiana / Iowa / Kansas / Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Maryland / Massachusetts / Michigan / Minnesota / Mississippi / Missouri / Montana / Nebraska / Nevada / New Hampshire / New Jersey / New Mexico / New York / North Carolina / North Dakota / Ohio / Oklahoma / Oregon / Pennsylvania / Rhode Island / South Carolina / South Dakota / Tennessee / Texas / Utah / Vermont / Virginia / Washington / West Virginia / Wisconsin / Wyoming / Washington D.C /

Go HERE to have a form generate the HTML for you.

I've been so super busy that I haven't had much time to blog - or knit for that matter. I had a business trip in Boston last week and then a conference there over the weekend.  I got home last night but was so exhausted that I didn't have the energy to do anything.

While I was in Boston, I had time to check out a fairly new yarn store: Newbury Yarns.  It's tucked in on Newbury Street and had a great selection of yarns. I had fun walking around and fondling all the yarns.  The owner was really nice and helpful, though she was pretty busy helping another customer, which was fine 'cause I was mostly just looking anyway. I think that the prices were a bit on the high side, but nothing was labeled with prices, which I hate. Even still, I walked away with 3 balls of Dalegarn Baby Ull in Peach. It's a really soft orangey color.

It's snowing yet again, so I'm glad that I'm inside. The wind just kicked up a bit. Could be a big blanket on the ground in the morning.

FOs

Last night I cast on and started a hat for Larry. It's coming along quickly, but not quick enough. It's cold out there, don't you know..
Anyway I finally have some pictures to share of WIPs and FOs.

Here's my Papa Bunny (details are in the photo album). I still love thie pattern and want to try making one with some fuzzy yarn to see how it will come out (vs. the flat yarn I used for this one and the earlier one). 

Here's the beginnings of Ginger. I'm loving the Patons Grace and the way it knits up.  This is just the simple 2x2 ribbing at the bottom of the front.

And finally, two parts of Kristin's Christmas present. Click on the picture to see the non-distorted version. Can you guess what it is? (no guesses from those of you who know, and Kristin - don't peek) 

Finally an update

Wow, this has been a crazy week. Not a good week to continue to recover from being sick last week, but oh well, I did survive.  The reason it has been so busy is that this week was the beginning of our Employee Art Exhibition at work. We host an annual exhibition of art works by employees and their families, and it is a hassle in terms of coordination. Well, I guess hassle isn't the right word - it is just a lot of running around and stuff.  But it should slow down after this week and I'll be back to my other job of working on my dissertation. I had a great discussion with my advisor on Monday night and finally got some good feedback on where things are going with my dissertation. I'm excited to get back to work on it. The holidays and then being sick put a crimp in my dissertation time. 

On the knitting front, I only have about 5 more inches and the finishing details to complete on Kristin's Christmas present. I'm devoting all of my knitting time to finishing it so that I can get it in the mail to her.  I hope to finish it this weekend and mail it out on Monday. Then I'm gonna start working on Larry's Basketweave. Luckily it hasn't been a cold winter so he hasn't really missed it.  I'm also going to start on Ginger, my raglan newborn sweater that I'm making for a friend whose baby is due in March. I couldn't resist the beautiful yarn in the color Ginger to make for my friend Ginger. 

We now return to your regular schedule

Well, I mailed off my almost complete chapter to my advisor.  Whew - got that done. I have to admit, though, that I'm still suffering from writer's block. But, hopefully I can get over it in the next few weeks.

So, I wanted to share with some promised photos of WIP and almost FO's (I must apologize for the quality of these images - it's rainy and gross here, so I had to make due with the inside light - and excuse the mess).

Here's my Booga Bag. Made with Patons Classice Merino (petal pink and leaf green). It has a green handle.  It's sitting in the kitchen blocking (note the cuisinart - and my coffee thermos (a birthday present from Larry) in the background. I love the way the colors turned out together, though it is  a bit hard to see the green bottom. I should have come up the sides a bit, rather than sticking just to the bottom. I'll have to change this for next time. This is going to be my step-mom's Christmas present.   The thing I love about it, is that it sat on the chair for the longest time before I had time to felt it (it took me forever to finish the i-cord) - and Larry kept saying, "Who is that big hat for?" Sorry I don't have a pre-felted shot to share with you.

And here's my homespun hooded sweater. I love the way it turned out. For those of you who remember that I was fretting about the colors matching up, they line up perfectly! I'm really amazed. I still have the seam it up but I think it will look really cute.

And lastly, I wanted to tell you about my present that Larry bought when we were away for Thanksgiving.  He went out one day looking for biking stuff (he's an avid cyclist).  He stopped at the Container store and got me this:

                                 

It's a plastic wheeled chest to hold all my yarn and projects. I think he bought this more for himself, so that I have a place to put things in the living room instead of on the couch and the floor.  I absolutely love it.  It holds all of my project bags, and I might end up transferring some of my stash here.

Oh - and on top is the start of another Sophie bag. This one will be black.

I've also come up with a knitting plan for the next few weeks, so that I can hopefully finish my Christmas gifts. I had to prioritize given that some of them will have to be mailed. Although, as I'm typing this, I'm realizing that the black sophie will not need to be mailed now, since I'll probably see my sister-in-law a few days before Christmas (we just planned it yesterday). Maybe I should move on to something else. 

Another Knitter into the fold

My sister and I both learned to knit when we were kids - I would say we were about 11 or 12.  Our grandmother had taught us to crochet a few years before, too.  We used to have a summer project that we did and that was about it.  When we went to college we both stopped knitting, mostly because neither of us had the time.  When I was in graduate school I started knitting again, but just periodically.  About a year and a half ago, though, I picked up the needles again, and now I'm addicted.  But Kristin hasn't really been knitting in a while. Well, I've drawn her into the knitting fold.  She emailed me last week and said - "you've got me hooked. I'm searching for yarn online. But it isn't as fun because I can't feel it!" And then last weekend we were IM'ing and she had been sitting in the same spot for 2 days, and though she didn't admit it, I'm guessing that she had been surfing the knit blog ring for most of that time. So this morning, we were IM'ing again, and she sends me this:   Isn't it gorgeous? She made it in 2 hours this morning as a Christmas gift for a friend. She used the Blue Sky Alpaca Bulky.  And she's knitting up a scarf to match. She also went out and bought a set of Denise Interchangeables, and taught herself how to do the 2 needle circular knitting for the top of the hat.  Isn't she cool!  Welcome to the circle, Kristin. What's next - maybe she'll become a blogger too. :)

Cans Galore!

Link: The New York Times > New York Region > Starving Artists, Grab a Can Opener.

Yesterday, Kate blogged about watching a domino competition where kids spend hours on end setting up dominos, only to knock them down and create pictures etc. I came across this today in the NY Times, which seems in the same vein. I really wish i could have seen this in person. What an odd little event this is, creating sculpture out of cans. 

I'll be back with knitting content later today - along with the promised pictures.

Grieving for the Sheep

I'm so sad. I heard about this last night and wanted to share with my fiber friends.

Link: The New York Times > New York Region > Metro Briefing.

SEVERAL SHEEP DIE IN TURNPIKE CRASH A collision between two trucks on the New Jersey Turnpike last night killed at least 22 sheep in one of the trucks and left others running along the turnpike in a panic, said a spokesman for the New Jersey Turnpike Authority. The accident, which caused no human injuries, occurred about 11 p.m. in the northbound lanes near the interchange to Route 8A, said the spokesman, Joe Orlando, who said he did not know how the crash occurred. Animal control officers were called to help round up about 16 sheep that had escaped. Michelle O'Donnell (NYT)

Yarn Winding for Dummies...

Wow - I can't believe that it has been almost an entire week since I posted. I spent Friday and Saturday back at Winterthur at a conference, which was fun. I have to say, the NJ Turnpike was actually beautiful with the leaves in all sorts of colors. And Winterthur was nice too, though it was cold and damp. It made it not so bad to be inside. Sunday was absolutely gorgeous. My sister was in town to celebrate our birthday and we hung out in Princeton all day. The weather was warm, and we had a great time. Oh yeah - and here's the lovely birthday present from my sis:

On the knitting front, I'm almost finished with my niece's christmas present. i've renamed it snowball, since it looks like the hostess cakes with the pink snowball icing. I had to go buy yet another ball of yarn to finish it. This sweater has used up more yarn. UGH!

I also cast on and knit a hat for my MIL to match the scarf that I posted last week. One Christmas gift off the list. WAHOO!!

Today, I swatched some Cascade 220 for the bags I'm making. I'm getting ready to throw it in the wash to see how it felts.

UPDATE: I'm not sure if I like the way the quattro felted. I can't decide if I like the specks of color that come through. Here it is after one wash (on top) and 2 washes (on the bottom) The color really isn't that different, either. The second one had awful lighting. I'll try to fix it later. I guess this bag will have to wait. Maybe I'll go ahead and cast on with some of the solid Cascade that I bought and make the first one with that.

And lastly, to the title.... I decided today that I would try to to wind the Cascade using the ingenious idea of using my stand mixer to create a center pulling ball. Well, have to say that the Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer DOES NOT work with this technique. It turns to fast and it kept getting all wound up, but not the way I wanted. So I wound it by hand and tried to create a center pulling ball by winding around a tp roll and then pulling the roll out. First, I made myself dizzy walking around the chairs that my hank were on (maybe I should add a swift to my wish list). But the crazy thing is all tangled already. I guess I'll have to invest in a ball winder, too.

Signing off for now - but not before a quick reminder -

GO VOTE

More yarn! Someone stop me!!

I went on an excursion today looking for some dpns to start my MIL's hat that matches the scarf that I just finished. And I came upon the most amazing find! I stopped at AC Moore and found the most beautiful selection of yarns. I was in shock!! They had the standard Lion Brand, Caron, Red Heart yarns of the other local craft stores, but they also had some luxurious yarns. I ended up with 4 skeins of a beautiful red cashmere blend yarn that will probably end up knitted as a christmas present - maybe for Mom. I don't think she was on my original knit for list, but the gorgeous red should go well with all the black she wears. I was so excited to discover this treasure trove. I just hope I can resist the urge to go there frequently. Pictures to be posted later, when Larry returns with the camera tonight. :)

On a non-knitting note, I've decided to eliminate all sugar from my diet. This is a difficult goal to achieve since I have the largest sweet tooth in the world. But, I think it is best for my health and my need to loose weight. We'll see how it goes.