Archive for October, 2009
Remember my skirt disaster? The mouse that made a nest in my skirt while Thebes and I were on vacation?
With the return of colder weather I pulled out the skirt for repair. The mouse had dug into the skirt and there were little poofs of fabric. I cut those off first. Inspecting the skirt I found a third spot that was damaged. While there wasn’t a hole the mouse had scratched it so much that it was very thin and would have become a hole if handled much.
After cleaning up the holes I put the live stitches on holders. Then I poured myself a tall glass of wine and set to work:
Basically I knit patches with the new yarn. I bought the same yarn, Shades of Plum, from Lonesome Stone. I k2tog and ssk to attach the patch to the sides. Two of the patches were stockinette and one was feather and fan. The feather and fan one was tricky at first but I got the hang of it.
I took these pics with flash so the patches stick out more. You can tell where they are in person but I don’t think it’s as obvious as it looks here.
Original skirt post here.
October 29th, 2009
Laura came over recently. We seamed up her sweater for her husband Paul. We used an alternative method:
Yup, we cut several inches off of the knit pieces.
Have a sweater that turned out too big? Here’s what you do. Pin it together and try it on. Pin it again until you get a good fit. Then grab some good scissors, take a deep breath and cut off the excess. We left about a 1/4″ for seaming.
Getting it through the sewing machine is a bit tricky. I used a heavy duty needle and went slow.
First we cut the excess off the sides, about eight inches total.
Next up we sewed the tops of the front and back together.
Then we cut about four inches off the sleeves and sewed them to the body.
We tried it on and it fit Paul! Later Laura picked up stitches and knit the neck ribbing.
Want to know the punchline to this whole situation? She got gauge for this pattern. Yup, gauge can lie.
October 25th, 2009
Awhile back Merce gave Abbey and I some dyed fleece to play with. I carded up some of the red fleece and was surprised how pink it became. I felted it onto the womb and got this:
A good background color yes. But it was way too cheerful looking. Meredith gave me some black fleece. I felted some of it onto the womb.
Side note-I’m struck by how many of my female friends have unknowingly donated to this piece. Here I am working on art about my toxic relationship with my mother and so many of my women friends have been helping me process, helping me heal. Thank you!
After adding the black fleece the phrase “toxic relationship” came to mind.
Our relationship has not been a healthy one. The more I work on this piece the more I realize my title is fitting. Through Our Pain We Know Love-that’s my mother and I’s relationship. When one of us was willing to show love, the other responded with indifference, dislike, meanness, harshness, emotional cruelty. We’re both guilty of it. There were happy moments but they were not the majority.
The majority of times my mother and I were symbolically butting heads. The older and more independent I became the worse our relationship got.
Unknowingly, my mother is the one who gave me the idea to move out at 18. I had said something flippant and pissed her off. I stomped off to my room and slammed my door. Shortly after, my mother stormed down the hallway, slammed my door open and started screaming at me. This was her god damned house and if I was going to live there I had to follow her rules. If I didn’t like it I could move the fuck out.
It felt like her anger was a hot tidal wave hitting me. But something occurred to me then-I didn’t like living there. I could move out.
A week after high school ended I moved out. She disowned me later that year.
Putting down the black fleece was not easy. The whole time I felt nauseous. My stomach was churning from start to finish. I had that funny little feeling in my throat that happens right before I throw up. But I didn’t want to stop. I had to work through it.
I was so convinced I was going to hurl that I decided I’d puke on the womb so I wouldn’t have to clean up the floor. How would I clean the womb? Would I just felt over it? I didn’t care at the time. I just had to get the black fleece down.
I lightly carded it and lightly felted it down. The womb now has a bumpy, uneven texture that fits so perfectly.
Thankfully, I didn’t puke. I finished with the black and felt exhausted. My whole body was tired, like I had been out hiking all day.
Prana was with me the whole time, lending his support. He laid across the womb and made it clear he would not me moved. I’d shift him around as I worked the fleece into the womb. Cats are amazing spiritual creatures.
October 24th, 2009
Last year I bought a mountain bike and started riding again. The wind can zap the heat out of you while peddling uphill. I made some Bike Helmet Ear Warmers (Ravelry link) to keep my ears toasty. I used some of the black Halcyon yarn I had left over from the second Che purse. (pics of that soon)
I made some alterations. After reading other knitter results I CO 30 stitches to avoid making them too big. I cut out rows 17-22 to avoid making them too long. For the bottom I added three rows of k1p1 ribbing.
I would have knit these in the round but wasn’t sure I had enough yarn for two muffs. They fit nice and snug.
If you ride a bike I recommend this pattern.
Pattern: Bike Earmuffs
Source: Ravelry, free pattern
Yarn: Halcyon Highland-Washed Skein, High Black
Needles: 4.5 mm
Size: NA
Modifications: several, see above
Started: October 2009
Finished: October 2009
October 18th, 2009
I figured I’d buy a mix of fleece and yarn at this year’s fest. Instead I bought lots of yummy fiber and no yarn at all.
This is West by Southwest handpainted wool roving. It’s course wool so I’m thinking some kind of outer wear garment. Maybe a hat? It’s 4 oz. so I’ll probably pair it up with some other handspun.
The next two bags are from Lonesome Stone. Last year I got to their booth too late and they were practically sold out of their fleece. This year I made sure to get there early.
Both bags are 90% alpaca and 10% merino wool roving. I’ve started spinning the periwinkle roving and it is heavenly to spin. I love it so much!
I bought some dyed mohair locks for my mother and green man art pieces. The vendor Marie, from the Durakai Sheep ranch, was very helpful and gave me some great advice about needle felting.
Sunday I walked around and tried to buy yarn. Here’s what I got instead:
Llama fleece. It’s such a lovely natural color and feels so soft. I couldn’t resist.
I have so much yummy fabric to spin. I’m really grooving with my spinning wheel these days.
October 16th, 2009
Every year the Taos Wool Festival is so much fun. What a wonderful weekend.
At the Ravelry tent I met Ellen (and her husband Larry) from Los Angeles. She made this cute crocheted headband.
This rocking horse from Ellen’s Wooly Wonders had a knit giraffe animal on it’s head. That and the monkey cracked me up.
Some pretty dried flowers.
This guy walked by me wearing this awesome hat. I asked if I could take his picture and he gave it to me to try on. It’s a wild one! Warm too.
One of Merce’s felt skulls.
A buffalo felt purse. Expensive but oh so pretty.
Thebes thought this one looked cool. It looks so manly.
Yarn goodness.
A knit hat. I need to make one for myself one of these days.
A pretty spinning wheel.
Some felt bags in the Lonesome Stone booth.
A pretty felt bag with dyed mohair locks detail.
A gorgeous woven shrug.
This is the biggest skein I’ve ever seen. The vendor told me it was 1,400 yards, enough for a sweater.
Laura took this funny pic of me.
She also took this picture of Benk, a spinner and knitter from Santa Fe. She spun this vest all from one fleece.
Another pic of my ribbon because I’m still excited about it.
These little goats were so cute. I wanted to take them home.
These two were cute as well.
I simply adore alpacas. They are just beautiful creatures.
Next up-the goodies I brought home.
October 15th, 2009
I had such a great time at this year’s Taos Wool Festival. Here’s me and Abbey:
Abbey and Merce in their booth:
Merce had some of these handspun woolen bowls.
What to use them for? Abbey had a clever idea:
This woman makes groovy clothing. Her name is Lynn and her designs can be seen at her website Lynnie B. Creations.
Her needle felted poncho won first place. She let me try it on and pose for a photo.
Not only is it gorgeous it felt great to wear too.
The Ravelry tent was a fun place to hang out. We knit, spun and ate cupcakes. What a great day.
Here’s the two yarns I entered into the yarn competition, novice category. The purple yarn is Churro wool and the gray is Icelandic wool booth bought at last year’s fest. While I didn’t win any ribbons I did get great feedback from the judges. I plan to enter again next year.
Thebes and Daniel pose with Aurora. They look so handsome.
Then we got a group photo. This is one of my faves.
October 14th, 2009
Abbey entered her felted entrelac bag into the bag competition at the Taos Wool Fest.
She won second place.
Meredith entered her wool 3 ply handspun yarn into the yarn competition.
She won reserve champion and second place in the novelty yarn division.
Merce entered a piece into the wall art competition. This piece appeared in the Beyond The Fringe show.
She won third place.
She also entered her wool and lichen yarn in the novelty yarn division. (Yup, that’s real lichen in there!) She won grand champion and first place.
Congratulations you three!
I modeled my sweater and ribbon at the Ravelry tent. Laura took this pic:
October 12th, 2009
Last weekend was the Taos Wool Festival. I had a fabulous time!
I have a lot of photos from the weekend and will breaking them up into several posts.
This year the festival organizers provided Ravelry with a large meeting tent. Here’s Laura, Meredith, Tara and David getting together.
Meredith got attacked by a Dr. Who scarf. Pink Porcupine is behind her. She’s an Albuquerque knitter that I met over the weekend.
A clever way to advertise some fleece:
Check out these gorgeous felt scarves:
This is a rectangular loom for weaving scarves. Clever design.
Speaking of clever designs, this triangle loom was interesting. The vendor gave me a quick tutorial on how to use it. The warp and weft is done at the same time.
Abbey and Merce shared a booth this year.
Their booth was very colorful and groovy. I tried to visit in the morning and it was packed with people. I waved and came back later.
Here’s Merce wearing my Luna Valentine Shawl. It was fun to collaborate with her.
Normally I hate dolls but this needle felted skeleton figurine was quite cool.
I met a fellow knitter named Lauri at the Ravelry tent who had this gorgeous bag. She spun the wool, knit and felt it. Stunning!
A pretty pillow with great texture:
I liked the color in this woven poncho.
There was colorful yarn everywhere.
More to come soon.
October 9th, 2009
I entered my Fisherman’s Shrug into the sweater contest at the Taos Wool Fest. I won third place!
I’m ecstatic! Yay!
October 3rd, 2009
