Grab your knitting needles and come relax with me.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Of Lost Videos and Found Yarn
Today I recorded some video of my lace surgery. But no one will get to see it. At first, I thought the video was lost. I had taken three videos...one showed up, one was not even a second in length, and the third was GONE. Poof. Disappeared.
So I swore and grumped, then got over it.
THEN I found the third video. But then I watched it. 90% of the video is of my very freckly shoulder.
Thunk.
I have two options right now: I can wait until I make another mistake (I surely will) or I can enlist the help of my husband as the cameraman to hold the camera over my head away from my shoulder, make sure the lace is in focus and I can ladder back down AGAIN and pretend that I didn't fix the mistake at all.
If I chose the later, I may have video for your on Friday. The former? Well who knows the next time I make a mistake...could be tomorrow...or in several weeks.
No video today, but I do have yarn pr0n.
I bought this Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend from Yarnivore on Sunday during the good bye party for one of my knitty friends. Not sure if I am going to make one of the scarves that is SO very popular to be made with this yarn...or something else...I was thinking perhaps something vesty.
So this made me think though. WHY DO I KEEP BUYING YARN!! I put myself on a yarn diet. I don't need any more...I have enough knitting bunnies chewing up my brains to give them more fertile ground with all this new yarn.
THIS is the yarn I have been buying since I put myself on a yarn diet.
And every one of those skeins were bought with some sort of rationale why I NEEDED the yarn despite being on a yarn diet. (I did forget to include the yarn I bought at Myrtle Beach, tho). Okay that green yarn, bought in Alexandria at Knit Happens: it's vacation yarn. The big hank of red Baruffa Cashwool is also vacation yarn, bought from Aylse Woolgather's. The gold bamboo and red lace cake (it's alpaca) was WHIBSIB yarn. The yarn cake in the cool autumn colours and the red Malabrigo I bought while I was up in Austin seeing the Yarn Harlot. It's all special!!! The pink in the back...well that WAS an impulse buy months ago at Yarnivore.
This weekend my online artisan group is having a radio-thon and a silent auction to benefit one of our friends who is dying and needs life saving surgery.
Larry Hamm is very involved in our Handmaid Independent Artisan's group and online radio station, Blockhead Radio. He's given the shirt of his back many a time and NOW it time for us to help him out. Larry recently lost his insurance and his medications run about $2000 a month. And then of course there is the surgery, the doctors give him less than 18 months to live without a life saving surgery. His wife doesn't make enough, but also makes TOO much for him to receive gov help/
I don't believe the government can or will or should help him. This is (and should be) on us. We can do a much better and more efficient job on this. We, as his friends and as fellow humans, can help him out. By participating in this silent auction YOU CAN HELP. Many many artisans have donated their art to this silent auction. And folks their art is AMAZING. There's jewelry, paintings, gift certificates for their shops (Birdy's Knits has gift certificates as well-all my patterns and stitch markers are available, just scroll down), music, and many many more wonderful things. Do your holiday and birthday shopping NOW and help save a life. You can also donate a few dollars.
The radio-thon and auction ends TODAY at 6pm eastern. Please go shopping! And retweet, plurk, and email your friends...pass this message along.
And Mom, I have a wishlist!! There is some stuff that YOU will love as well.
this post was written under the influence of Dare Dukes.
Last night was my knitting groups monthly potluck...despite having brought my camera, it never made it out of the bag and so no pictures! Sad! But we had a marvelous time. We had planned a sort of pool side grill out. But it was rainy (YAY for rain, we are in heavy drought right now), so we moved inside and cooked our meat in the broiler.
It was so awesome seeing my knittahs again (I missed last month's potluck while on vacation)...new people came and missing people came! I particularly enjoyed the talk of old children's tales and the wonderful morality they taught.
I also discovered (much to Jamey's delight) a mistake in my Swallowtail shawl...so sometime this week we shall have a lace surgery video to share. Jamey has been wanting a new, proper, video to put on the site. And DAMNED if I was going to make a mistake on purpose. LOL.
Now, I believe the mistake is a forgotten yarn over (marked by the red star). So it should be an easy fix. In theory.
Now to clear things up I did NOT make the mistake at the potluck...but sometime last week...or so...I think. Swallowtail is easy lace and easily knitted while talking about grotesque fairy tales.
I've got some really fun and awesome things on the horizon...I can NOT wait to tell you all about it. Can't right now since we are still working on the details, but it'll be fun. I promise.
So tired today! But I did want to post pictures of my almost done Swallowtail Shawl. I've been knitting it since Dec 07....yeah, long over due for a shawl most knit up in a week. What can I say I am easily distracted.
So without any further ado: CAT SICK!!
I am adding beading to the edging, yes I am at the edging I should be done (if I actually spend time knitting on it) with in a weeks time.
If you ignore my hands and toes, you can sorta see what this lace is supposed to look like.
I did say, "sorta see." It will be exquisite when it's done. Like all lace it looks like a mess of tangles and then with the magic of blocking it'll turn into a thing of delicate beauty.
I've also been working a bit on my crayzee scarf, because folks, what the hand knits the mind reflects.
I finally blocked Isobel today and it was dry just in time for a photo shoot at sunset.
Stats for those that missed it: Isobel by Jacquelynn Vance-Kuss knit with two hanks of Debbie Bliss Pure Silk. It blocked to be about 7 inches by 72 inches.
I highly recommend this pattern. It's easy lace and it's crisp and pretty.
This post written under the influence of Jason Mraz. My own official song of Summer 2009.
Right now I am hating socks and all I want to do is throw all the socks in progress in the bin. Grr...argh! I admit it is rather extreme (I am blaming hormones), as it's only one sock that is giving me fits...the others are blameless and are behaving themselves. I am just very aggravated.
The heel will not fit over my heel.
Sigh. It's not the sock's fault. It's MY foot. I have a high instep and I neglected to take that into account. It's easier though to be mad at socks than my own feet. I can change/fix my socks...my feet those are unfixable. AND really I do like my feet, a lot actually. And so the sock (all the socks actually) will suffer.
It's so sad. I have to tear out SO much. The entire heel and the inch I already knitted PAST the heel. I was so excited about being able to knit this up to my knee, with that band swirling up my leg. Well, at least I discovered it now and NOT after I was done knitting that knee sock.
That would have sucked.
In other knitting news: I finished the Isobel a few days ago...but it still needs blocking. I bought new pins on Monday, but was in no mood to block it Tuesday (mad about the socks and other things). Tomorrow, I think I'll squeeze in some time to block it. It's fabulous and I miss knitting on it. Knitting with silk is just wonderous during the summer when the weather is so hot and swarmy.
Granny's Shawl is coming along great as well, but it's ceasing to be a good carry along project.
So I have been looking at my project page and stash pages on Ravelry...trying to find some inspiration. Nothing on the needles seems to please me. I have some nice cool type yarn, but I feel worn and stretched and designing just doesn't appeal. But I think I need to force myself out of this rut. I do have several designs that need to be started and just because I am not feeling super duper creative doesn't mean I should slack off.
You know what I mean?
Being an artists does take a lot of discipline. You gotta go hunting for that spark of genius.
Larry Hamm over at Chelsea Lynn Designs on Artfire is a friend of many in the world of handmade, he is also the voice of The Crazy Train on Blockhead Radio. Larry has a fantastic wife Janet, and an 8 year old son Jacob who live with him in Lansing, NC deep in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Larry is a friend to everyone and just an all around swell guy. He is most definitely the “shirt off your back” kind of friend. Right now, all of Larry’s friends and Blockhead radio are teaming up to help him out in a tough time.
Larry is a disabled diabetic who currently has lost his health insurance. His medication alone monthly is over $2,000. Larry is not receiving disability, he has not been approved yet. His wife is the only source of income and she doesn’t make enough to cover his medications. Larry’s doctors have given him an outlook of only 18 months to live if he doesn’t receive a $17,000 gastric bypass surgery as soon as possible. Larry and his family need all the help from their family and friends they can get! Jacob and Janet need Larry to hang around here with them as long as he possibly can! All of his friends surely want Larry to stick around too!
All of us at Blockhead Radio are gearing up for the biggest Radiothon you’ll ever be a part of! July 24th at 6pm until July 26th at 6pm, Blockhead Rod will be live on the radio for 48 hours straight raising money for our friend Larry. A silent auction of donated handmade goods will also be going up on the home page of Blockhead Radio with 100% of the proceeds going to Larry.
If you would like to be a part of this wonderful event, please email DeDe Sorensen at: 48forlarry@blockheadradio.com Please donate any handmade items you can for the silent auction have your emails in with your donations by July 22nd. If you would like to donate cash for Larry’s prescriptions and surgery please visit Blockhead Radio July 24th through July 26th. There will be plenty of ways to get your donations in.
I started Granny's Shawl yesterday. There really is nothing like the thrill of starting a new knitting project. It's almost as thrilling as finishing a project. Which is why I chose to start the shawl rather than finish the Isobel scarf. Grin.
But, I am feeling guilty...so after a few more rows of the shawl I think I will attend to finishing up Isobel. And if I do that, I can totally kill two birds with one stone, as I need to block that Super Secret Project of mine.
Stats for the shawl. The pattern is entitled: Feather and Fan Comfort Shawl and it's on Knitting-And.com, by Sarah Bradberry. I am of course using that new Marble Chunky I got for the purpose...and I am really loving this yarn. It's very soft and very pretty.
On another (and completely un-related) note, July is National Ice Cream month. I thought you needed to know. I am pestering my husband to buy me some chocolate ice cream.
this post was written under the influence of Dare Dukes.
This post written under the influence of 
