Brooklyn General

I can't wait to visit Brooklyn General. It looks like such a unique store since it is more than just yarn and fiber. And they have spinning classes! There was an article about it in Knitter's Review.

I am so looking forward to this weekend. A couple days with a good friend and a city to explore!

Some Gray Things

I am joining the Grey's Anatomy KAL. Here are some of the things I will post on there (once I am fully signed up). I got this yarn from Woodstock Wool Company. It is their own line called bare alpaca. I am going to make a cable knit scarf with fringe - a free pattern I got when I bought the yarn. This yarn is sooo soft!

bare alpaca

This has been my travel project for a while now. I leave it in the car for when I am sitting in traffic or in a line or something. It is gray 100% silk by Debbie Bliss. It is the lace scarf pattern from the Debbie Bliss pattern book, Pure Bliss.

silk lace scarf

This is the start of Knucks that will be a Christmas gift for my brother.

knucks

Also, I think this is such a cute post by Melanie!

I so wish I had a super nice butt so I could wear a skirt like this. I would love to join this KAL!

intolerable cruelty

I am also loving the cable knit arm warmers in the 9/19/06 post of this blog.

Hail?

It is actually hailing outside. This wouldn't be so weird if it wasn't 85 degrees outside today.

I am watching a really ridiculous movie that Weekend Knitting "recommended". Granted, they did say "better suited to teenagers than adults". It is about a kid who tries to keep his murdering hand busy. He does so in one scene by knitting... and then ends up killing a cop with one needle.

I went to Chelsea Market for the first time today at the request of my sister (who was deciding if she wants to visit it when she's in the area with friends). I got some yummy brownies at Fat Witch Bakery and stocked up on a few essentials. In one shop there were huge containers of spices, most for under $2! Even the bulk ones at Wegmans are that price for about 1/4 of the amount!

Chelsea Market


Cheap Spices at Chelsea Market

I also went to City Island, a part of the Bronx I had heard about. I wasn't too impressed with the lack of things to do there, but there is a nice small town feel to it, and a nice harbor view. There was a super cute house for sale. I was tempted to go to the open house being held today. The island was very small and the main road ends by just u-turning at the water. I had a cone from an adorable little ice cream shop.

City Island (photo from Chamber of Commerce Site)


Lickety Split Ice Cream Shop, City Island, Bronx, NY

Tiny Preview

Somehow I dropped a stitch about 5 rows ago (see stitchmarker). How did I not notice this while knitting lace (and therefore needing a correct number of stitches on my needles)? Well, when you have an extra stitch somewhere else, coincidentally creating the correct number of stitches, one might overlook the dropped stitch. Here's a preview of the lace blanket, previously unshown. Please excuse the lack of color balance as it seems the "evaluate white balance" function on my camera is acting up.

I now plan on tinking back these rows because I know if I pull them out, I won't be able to figure out how to get it back on the needles... I can't take that chance this far along (end of repeat 16 of 24).

Events

I had a good night out with Provi last night at Diva's Lounge. Afterward, we had some good food at Cuban Pete's. It definitely wasn't my typical night out. Usually, it is hard for me to go out on a Friday night at all as a single. Somehow, I was convinced and had a good night.

I finally got my software issues worked out and was able to download the pictures from my phone of last weekend's Garden State Sheep & Fiber Festival. Here are some highlights:

The angora bunnies were so cute!


and fuzzy!


Alpacas... for more on them see this post.


Cute sheep- and look at the funny feather crown on the duck!

My email knitting buddy and I met at the festival super-early (before they had even opened) and waiting for the spinning class to start. It was delayed for quite a while but we finally learned to spin using a homemade drop spindle made with a CD on top. There's a tutorial on how to make one of these here. They gave us some carded white wool and showed us the basics. This was the first time that I didn't buy any yarn at an even like this. Instead it was replaced with the alpaca and wool/llama roving I bought to spin. I am halfway through spinning the caramel-colored alpaca roving. It isn't very even, especially since I barely know what I am doing, but I'll post a picture soon.

Only a few of the many animals are shown in the pictures above. Besides the obvious (sheep and alpaca, there were goats, and ducks, and roosters, and pigs, and even a very large turkey. I had pictures of most things but they didn't come out clear on my camera phone. They were selling lots of angora bunnies for about $50-$65! I wish I had room for one in my apartment! I have heard they can be litter box trained and that you can spin their fur with them sitting in your lap. How cool would that be?

Anyway, my buddy and I had a good day overall. And the lamb stew was amazing... it seems like there is something wrong with selling lamb stew at a sheep festival only about 20 feet from the animals, but it really was good.

Quote

In the October 2006 issue of Redbook:

"Besides spending time with my family, I'd learn how to knit better"
- Julianne Moore when asked what she would do with three hours of free time

I am still having software issues... at this rate, I will have Rhinebeck Festival pictures up before the Garden State Sheep & Fiber Festival.

Learning to Spin

A good description on how to spin using a drop spindle...

Reminder

Check out Grumperina's Tips if I ever decide to make the Votive Candle Holder's from Handknit Holidays...

A Fiber Weekend

I spent most of this weekend doing knitty things. Saturday I went to the Garden State Sheep & Fiber Festival. I will post about this as soon as I can get the pictures off my phone (long story). Sunday I went to the Knit Out in Union Square. I only got there towards the end of the day, but it was well worth it, if only to learn the correct (and very invisible) way to mattress stitch on both stockinette and garter stitch fabrics. I saw the end of the scarf contest. Lily Chin was there wearing her crochet dress that took her only 3 days to make! I believe she holds the title for world's fastest crocheter.

Lily Chin wearing her crochet dress and holding the grand prize scarf


Lily Chin and Me in Union Square

I stopped by The Point (I couldn't resist) and bought the new Stitch -n- Bitch calendar and a couple skeins of Rowan Tapestry. I think I will make a pair of Fetching for me out of this.

I think I really want to make these socks now that I see how they came out in a different colorway than is shown in the pattern.

Knitty!

How did I miss the fact that the Fall issue of Knitty was posted!?!?! and with a Suss design as the cover pattern no less!

TV, Travel, & Knitting

I have lots of random (an mostly unrelated) things to write about tonight that I have been saving up until I had time to post.

First, I am loving the fact that Six Feet Under is going to be shown on Bravo beginning October 2nd. I wouldn't have known this if I hadn't been watching Project Runway at the gym (since I don't have cable). The finale to Six Feet Under is so amazing that it is worth watching all six seasons, even the bad ones. High Fidelity is coming to Broadway!

I love Provi's post on Installing Love.

I read an article in a magazine today about traveling to Peru. They mentioned a restaurant that serves alpaca! I didn't think people ate this kind of meat. I guess I should know that any meat is eaten somewhere in the world. See this post to see how cute alpaca are (too cute to eat)!

I am going to the Garden State Sheep & Fiber Festival on Sunday with my email knitting buddy. I am looking forward to hopefully learn to spin with a drop spindle! Unfortunately I am missing the Knit Out in Union Square! I have a feeling there will be more to do and see at the festival, especially if I learn to spin.

I can't wait to have the time and money to take a sewing class at Make Workshop. I have been wanting to do this, not only cause I think the idea for this place is great, but also because I can't even thread a sewing machine (they actually teach this in the basic class). I don't actually care much about sewing but I think it will compliment my knitting well, even if I only ever make a knitting needles holder or project bag or something.

A package came for me yesterday. My first issue of Rowan magazine plus my free gift with membership! I wonder who I will make this cabled and bobbled bag for?

Today I got an envelope from Knit One Crochet Too containing a generous amount of sample metallic yarn (merino wool and metallic blend).

I have been looking at a few more KALs. I will add them to my sidebar. I am not actually a member of most of these- only Handknit Holidays and One Skein. Most are just about projects I am interested in or that I plan on knitting someday (and possibly join the KAL at that point). Anyway, the knit alongs I was reading tonight were Mason Dixon KAL (I own and love this book), the Log Cabin KAL (a project from Mason Dixon that has its own KAL), and the Irish Hiking Scarf KAL. I have actually started a log cabin blanket (never joined the KAL) and am hating the colors and yarn I chose (a really ugly set of dark fall colored yarn in a chunky - and cheap - yarn). It was going to be for my grandmother for Christmas but that probably won't happen at this rate. I definately want to try a new log cabin blanket when I find the perfect yarn.

This Ebay store has a bunch of great patterns. I figured out how they did the colors for the Double Vision blanket using 2 strands. I created a diagram in Excel, but I am not sure if it would be breaking the author's copyright to post it. Hopefully I will get a chance to knit this one day. Actually, the author's of this blanket are "mathematical" knitters. They have a lot of cool designs.

Knit Gallery

Pattern Notes added to my knit gallery.

I'm about halfway through the lace blanket. Hopefully I will be able to post a picture in a month or two.

Knitting lace while watching a subtitled Swedish movie is not advised...

Fixed - Again!

I finally fixed my blog - mostly. I found out that the problem in IE is that you can't have an image in the sidebar larger than a certain size. It works in Netscape though (the sidebar is just made bigger). I can't upload the smaller version of my title image though right now since my ISP (i.e. my friend in VA) is down right now. So, I have a squished up version of the original image there for now.

I am definitely getting sick and hoping it won't affect my ability to go to J's opening at the Big Art Show in Brooklyn tomorrow night.

Oh No!

My blog is broken in IE... I guess I will have to spend yet another night on this!

Finished Fixing Things

Well, after totally f***ing up my template, I have fixed things here and I think they are back to normal with a few minor improvements. I like my simple design (if you can call it design), so it killed me to have to choose one of blogger's templates in order to fix things. I am in the process of figuring out if I can transfer my old non-blogger posts here and have them be dated correctly.

I have added a gallery of my FO's (see sidebar). I have only been knitting a couple years and some of my early knits aren't worth posting, so this is everything either really new or old, but somewhat worth posting. I plan on adding project notes as much as possible to the gallery also. Anything new, I plan on posting here first (with notes), as well as in the gallery.

I found out that Classic Elite Charmed is not discontinued, as many yarn shops in NY, NJ, and even Maine thought it was. I emailed Classic Elite after seeing it on their site and they told me that String Yarns had it. Well, I was just there like 2 weeks ago and they didn't have it, so I emailed them. Turns out, they just got a shipment in. Well, I looked online and it turns out that this yarn that I have been looking all over for is $29.95 per skein! Now granted, I only need 4 skeins for the tank top I want to make from HandKnit Holidays, and granted, it is cashmere but that's $120! I really like Karabella Breeze, which is cashmere and silk, that I have been knitting the lace blanket with, and it looks like it might be a good substitute (about $12 per skein where I found it in Maine)... or maybe I'll splurge when I get closer to actually having the time for that project.

I was telling my knitting group about a couple of the male knitters that have been on Knitty. One of them recently had a debate (through comments on their blog) about if it's okay for men to knit...

AHHHHHH

Ok, so you'll notice the change in design. I accidentally deleted my blogger template (very frustrating!) and had to choose a new one. Therefore, all my links and lists that I worked so hard on are gone. I will try to recreate them in the next couple days. Bear with me (for the very few that are actually reading this thing).

Worried

I found out this morning that my 11 year old nephew may need brain surgery...

Hell's Kitchen & D.U.M.B.O.

Today I went to see the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market, recommended by some of the participant's of Apartment Therapy's 2nd Annual Smallest Coolest Apartment Contest. I was worried I wouldn't be able to do this because of the weather, but it turned out to be quite a nice day, weather-wise. This is the perfect place to go if you are looking for buttons or beads, doilies or other vintage linens, and even some antique furniture. I will definately be going back there when I have an apartment to decorate.

I also decided to take a trip over to the D.U.M.B.O. neighborhood of Brooklyn, which I have been wanting to go to for a while. I kept hearing what a nice, new, trendy neighborhood it is. This is home to New York's 2nd West Elm store (the 1st being in Chelsea), as well as several other little furniture and home decorating stores, both antique and new. Jay East is a great Chinese antique store with lots of furniture, unique boxes, silk scarves, and figurines. From the Source Warehouse Store is the outlet of a wood furniture store in Chelsea, with lots of great deals. Journey Gifts & Furnishings is a cute store with all kinds of great stuff. All I will be revisting again once I have an apartment to decorate, along with Anthropologie, Pier One, Ikea, and Pearl River Mart. I also had brunch, complete with a mimosa (yum!) at the Water Street Restaurant & Lounge and had an ice cream sandwich from Jacques Torres.

I can't believe I forgot my camera. There were beautiful views of both the Brooklyn and the Manhattan Bridges. D.U.M.B.O. is such a cute neighborhood with it's cobblestone streets and old train tracks that end at a storefront. I think if I were to decide to move into NYC, this would be the first neighborhood I look for a place, outside of Manhattan. Actually, I would probably want to live here even above many places in Manhattan. I am worried that they will build it up too quickly and it will lose it's charm. As it is, I am sure I can't afford it (or just barely from what I've seen online), and when it is built up further, I won't have a prayer of living there. I do need to go back soon, before it gets cold to take some pictures. I am worried that things there will move so quickly that the beautiful things I want to take pictures of will be gone by the time I get back there... like the architectural stars, or the faded painting of a woman with a violin on her back on an old warehouse, or the abandoned (I think) spanish food restaurant on the corner. Maybe I will take my 35mm and digital both there next weekend.

In other news:
1. I finally saw Water.
2. I am loving the song on the new Walmart commercial, which is by Citizen Cope, but I don't know the name of it. I keep missing the name on the beginning of the commercial cause I never actually watch them.
3. Also loving How to Save a Life from the Grey's Anatomy commercial and a recent episode of Scrubs (how appropriate).
4. Purl Soho started a blog called the Purl Bee.
5. I can't wait to join the Knitting Blogs ring, which will be re-opening on the 18th.
6. I wish I had things to sell and/or trade at Destash.

In knitting news:
I am on row 9 of repeat 11 (of 24) of the lace blanket. I have now knitted and subsequently "tinked" the row at least 4 times since last night. A few hours ago, I decided to put the project down until Labor Day is over. I instead began Fetching with some very chunky yarn (and therefore requiring math) that I had bought on sale at Saratoga Needle Arts a while ago and had no idea what I was going to do with it (especially since I only bought 2 skeins). This will be a Christmas gift for someone who I don't think reads my blog (or at least not often), assuming they come out okay with my reworked pattern.

Sexy Knits

I am so jealous of the people that are starting the Simple Knitted Bodice Knit-Along. I have been admiring this pattern ever since Glampyre Knits posted it. The pattern can be found here. The yarn for this project can be found for about $110 at Sarah's Yarns: 3 skeins 100% silk and 2 skeins 100% silk with beads.

Other Sexy Knits that I love and wish I had the time to knit:
Knit and Tonic's Sizzle and Somewhat Cowl.

I can't join any of these great KAL's until I have some time to start the projects. I joined the One Skein KAL a while ago and have barely posted anything! Oh well, maybe I'll find some extra knitting time after Christmas. For now, I am focusing my knitting on holiday and baby gifts.

Kurt Halsey Frederiksen

This picture reminds me...

by KurtHalsey ::::: [copyright info]

Long Weekend

I am so looking forward to the fact that I have the next three days off from work. I have no specific plans, but I am sad that it will be raining almost the entire time because it limits my choices. I have been thinking of going to the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market after seeing many people mention it as a source when decorating their tiny lofts and apartments. I think Apartment Therapy might be my new web addiction at least outside of knitting sites.

I was sad when Chow Magazine got discontinued from print. My subscription was replaced by Intermezzo (sooo not in the same league). Their new website (beta version) is up that they are replacing the print magazine with.

A new member of our knitting group, Provi, has gotten me thinking about winterguard again. It is a rare person that understands and appreciates it as much as she does without ever having been in one herself. Now I am finding myself looking for the DVDs of the last time I was in guard, specifically, Patriots, Life is But a Dream, 1998. [Random Fact: If I remember correctly, our score at finals of 99.05 was the highest ever for an Independent Open guard at the time, which is pretty cool - and I am obviously a little proud.] WGI tells me they will all be on DVD eventually (only World Class is on DVD now), but that copyright problems make it a slow process.

Provi also turned me on to this artist.

I got my package from The Loopy Ewe the other day. The owner, Sheri, is so nice. Their shipping was super-fast, so I didn't expect to get it the day I did. I got a couple extra skeins for my email knitting buddy. Had she not suggested I check out the site, I wouldn't have won their Grand Opening Survey. I can't wait to knit more socks. I wish I were further along on my other projects (see side panel), especially the lace blanket and the wool stocking.

After I sent the yarn to my email knitting buddy, she called to thank me and we had a nice chat. We talked about the festival we had planned on going to (among other things), which I think we are both super-excited about: the 12th Annual Sheep & Fiber Festival in Hunterdon County, NJ. We also talked about the possibility of knitting matching socks from the Regia Crazy Color that I sent her (and kept some for myself). I am looking forward to that but both of us have way too many projects going until Christmas, so that may not happen until early next year.

sock yarn from the Loopy Ewe