bag 'n' trash -- home of monster yarn

I'd Rather be Hookin'

i've lost my voice.  well not entirely, but when i do try to speak, i've got this 2 pack a day for the past 20 years, smokey, lounge singer sort of voice.  it kind of sucks, although the guy across the hall kind of thinks it's sexy.  hey, i'm all about "sexy."  hahaha.  (ouch that hurts).

anyway, this post has nothing to do with my voice, or lack thereof.  except that maybe the way my voice sounds right now  might have something vaguely to do with the title of this post, in that i sound like an old whore. 

so about the hookin'.  i've lost the knitting mojo too which seems to be going around.  i think i'm in a rut.  well i know i'm in a rut.  but i didn't think my rut would infiltrate the knitting.  but i guess it has.  so i've been crocheting instead.

using the big giant t-shirt ball and a giant size Q hook (i think) i'm just single crocheting a couple of kitchen mats/rugs. 

although insanely simple, i find single crochet here to be very satisfying.   much like garter stitch can be.

and because my baby niece needs a spring/summer blanket (that's what her mom says) i pulled out my sugar 'n cream cotton stash/scraps and started a giant granny.

finally, because i get anxious if i have less than 3 projects simultaneously in the works, i have some simple socks going.  these are knit.  you know, for the commute.  the t-shirt yarn ball is just too big to fit in my bag.

An Ode to Cummington

it's official.  the MA Sheep and Woolcraft Festival is my favorite fiber festival.

even though i didn't have my usual energy and social butterflyness due to the sickness which had afflicted me, i still had a very good time socializing and shopping and admiring sheep.   again, i didn't come home with a fleece and the reason for that is that i don't like touching them.  i think they're gross.  but i had no trouble assisting in the enabling.  what i did come home with though is 13.2oz of this beautifully colored roving.  i can't remember the name of the booth where i purchased it, but it's not amy boogie's. 

here's what i got at amy boogie's. 

corriedale in "rocky mountain high"

bfl in "mash"

skinny sock in "leaf peep."  yeah i stopped there, but could have easily kept going.  willpower i tell you.

half of the reasons why cummington's  my favorite though  have little to do with the festival itself, but rather it's location.

first of all, it was the first time since december that i got to listen to Stephanie Miller in my car.  see, the boston area no longer has a progressive radio station.  turn to 1430 AM in boston and you've got 24 hour rumba.  not that i have anything against rumba, but i think that one of the most "blue"  cities in the country should have it's own  progressive radio station.  i find it pretty hard to believe that "24 hora rumba" makes more money.  northampton on the other hand isn't all about the rumba and still has a progressive station, so i was able to listen to a little stephanie on my way to the festival, which  made me very happy.

but that's not all.   i missed "this" on my way to cummington, which is funny as i was stuck helplessly behind some NH asshat who was going a good 10 mph BELOW the speed limit (you would think that going at a crawl would allow me to actually do a little sightseeing)  but caught it on my way home.  i had to stop.

minis!!!  a whole bunch of them!  really old minis.  really teeny tiny minis! (and another car that i can't identify).

i love minis.

then there's webs of course.  i went with the intention of purchasing a new bag or two.  but elisa and kellee had already been there, so they didn't have any of the colors i was looking for.  but that didn't mean i came home empty handed.  i bought some cotton classic  and a couple of skeins of silk garden.  i also came home with a big ass blocking board.  yes, the big ass size.  (the new bag(s) will be for another time.)

that's all i've got for today.

It Wasn't the Plague.

thank you for all the well wishes.  i'm still working on emailing everyone back.  it's official.  i didn't die. 

this morning, i had a choice.  i could spend the 4th day in a row laying in bed feelng sorry for myself, or i could drag my sorry ass to the Massachusetts Sheep and Woolcraft Festival. since i was clearly in recovery, i opted for the latter.  a day spent vertically and in the fresh air would do me some good.

i lost steam relatively early in the day and headed home at a reasonable hour, surprising J.  when i'm out with my "lover"*  he no longer counts on me for dinner.  unfortunately, that means that i'm missing the blegger which is taking place as i type this.  *sigh*

i might have had enough energy to stop by webs on my way home though.

i'll tell you more about it tomorrow.  i'm going to bed.

*my "boyfriend" and i have progressed in our relationship.

*ack* *cough* *a-choo!*

so i actually managed to make it through the winter without a sniffle only to get felled with a head full of goo, a hacking cough, weakness and general malaise a month before the start of summer.  yesterday i couldn't breathe and spent most of the day updating my yarn stash inventory (i'd like to point out that i'm still not done).  today, i can breathe through my nose (DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE JOY OF BEING ABLE TO BREATHE THROUGH YOUR NOSE) but sitting up is proving to be a challenge and i'm going back to bed in a bit to wallow in my sickness.  i don't do "sick" very well.

before my immune system shit the bed, i did manage to finally finish my version of the chevron scarf.  holy crap!  "last minute knitted gift" my ass. 

my version was knit alternating koigu in a reddish colorway (i want to say P51 but i'm not 100% sure) and approximately the same amount of koigu scraps left over from a charlotte's web that i finished last year.   and i knit until i ran out of yarn, so my scarf is about 100 inches long.  i took a lot of pictures of this scarf for this post, but i'm afraid that none of them do any justice to the fantastic color juxtapositions that i encountered as i knit this thing:  golden olive next to silver blue, deep red next to spring green ... you get the point. 

ok, i think i'm going to die.  i need to lie down.

My NHSW

last year, NHSW was my first fiber fest ever.  and the weather conditions were heinous with all of the rain and the wind and did i mention the rain?   since the forecast indicated that the sun would be shining and the temps would hover around the 65 degree mark, i was a little concerned that the festival would be packed and would be more reminiscent of the madness that is rhinebeck.  but thankfully, i was wrong.

this year like last i didn't come home with a trunk full of fiber or some crazy fleece or anything like that.  i had a list in my head that included the following items:  addi lace needles, roving for practicing my spinning, and a big ass sausage.  check, check, check.

within a half hour of arriving i had found my addi lace needles at The [Chuck] Woolery (heh heh) booth.  i was very excited that i found the needles and yes, that means i plan on knitting lace .... some day. 

i bought a little scrap roving from  darlene and norm ratte from newport center, VT.  yep, that's 100% sheep.  gotta love 100% sheep wool and such a bargain too.

          

and then at some point in the afternoon, i ran into the boston girls (i'm not linking to them.  you know who they are) right in front of the grafton fibers booth.   i think it was kellee who grabbed me and pointed out a batt that she said reminded them all of me. 

hmmm.  so i remind them of the circus and clowns.  "not scary clowns though," clarified debbie. hmmm.  thanks guys.  see up until this point i fancied myself to have a rather sophisticated sense of color.  clearly, i'm wrong.  because when i protested, i was asked to pull out the sock yarn that i had purchased earlier.

oops.

but then, i considered the batt in question carefully and quickly threw it into my bag.  one woman's "clown spore" is another woman's "rainbow flag," which i can totally stand behind.

of course, it was a great time, but at the end of the day, i was in complete agreement with this little girl.

My Nieces

yeah it's heavy on little E, but two of her cousins are there and so is one of her sisters. 

I'm a Big Dork

i just finished watching the very last episode of Gilmore Girls and i'm crying.

it's ok to mock.  i'd mock myself if i weren't so sad.

Today Is Going To Suck Ass

it's barely 9:30 and i'm already agitated.  on friday, i was notified by someone who shouldn't have notified me -- as it's not her job -- that i would be sharing my miniscule office with another person -- actually two other people -- who are theoretically only going to be in the office when i'm theoretically not in the office.  i say theoretically because in actuality i can guarantee that there will be overlap.   and i plan on noting when there is overlap in a little notebook.  what really gets up my ass even more is that this office -- although no one will admit to it -- was a bit of a bribe to get me to take on additional responsibilities without the benefit of a raise or an official promotion (you can call me queen of the world but if it's not indicated in my HR file, and i don't get a crown and throne, i'm really only a loser).  anyway, the person who was supposed to notify me on friday, just did this morning.  and the additional responsibilities that i took on?  those were hers when she bailed.   finally, because my boss doesn't work here, i'm additionally at a loss because i have no one to look out for my interests.

if i weren't such a pathetic fool, a coward, and afraid that i couldn't get another job, i would quit.   that's how pissed off i am right now.

also what's not helping is that two tires on my car need to be replaced post-haste.  this is my fault.  i've been driving around on practically bald tires for months now.  (although in my defense, J is in charge of the cars and he's known about the tires as well -- i mean why have a guy around if not to take care of the freakin' cars!)  and i'm lucky that i actually made it to and from the NHSW without an incident and only had the flat tire monitor come on 8 miles from home yesterday.  but for the rest of the week, this means that J needs to drive me to the train station at 6:45am and can't pick me up until 7:45pm, which means i won't be getting home until 8.   i don't recommend talking to me for the next 5 days or so. 

oh, and some asshat is trying to spam my comments.  FUCK YOU LOSER SPAMMER FUCKER!!!

and now for some new finished projects.

spunky eclectic's may fiber, corriedale in strawberry fields, about 100 yards.

new socks in bernat hot sox in "i don't remember the name right now" colorway.  i made these in less than a week.

i'll show you my NHSW haul soon.  you know when i'm actually home again.

Po

a couple of posts ago i talked about how great blogging's been for meeting new people and  marking   MAKING new friends (even if things have to stay platonic).   but what i didn't realize was how it would put me in contact with old friends too.

tomoko and i have known each other for probably around 10+ years or so.  we met through her husband, jude, who she had met through work, which is where i had met him close to 10 years earlier.  yeah it's been that long.  anyway, time goes by and for no other reason except that life takes over , we'd lost touch.   and jude's not real good with returning phone calls.  but we know this about him.  and we accept it as god's will.  anyway ....

so back to tomoko ... so one day last month, i'm surfing the blogs and clicking away in etsy shops  just looking at all of the prettty shiny things, and end up here at TADworks.   and i look at the thumbnail photo and think, "HOLY CRAP!  THAT LOOKS LIKE TOMOKO!!"    and then i read on, and see that this person who looks exactly like my friend tomoko has a blog.  so i check it out.  and sure enough, IT IS TOMOKO!!!   

so i go back to her shop and check it out.  HOLY CRAP!!!  tomoko makes the most adorable little "desktop companions" that she calls "po."    normally you don't hear words like "delightful" come out of my mouth unless i'm being sarcastic, but when i tell you that her po are a delight, i'm not making fun or channeling will ferrel parodying  james lipton.  they really are the cutest little things ever.  and yes, it's one po, many po.  like sheep.

so i quickly ordered one. 

look how cute he is on his banana phone!  and then i thought, i need  knitting po.  so i contacted tomoko again, and look what she made.

SHE MADE ME A YARN PO!!!  (so close to yarn po(rn)).  want to see a whole bunch of yarn po that are photographed much better?  click  here.   each of her po come beautifully packaged and are all signed and numbered .  her attention to detail has always amazed me.  she is so very clever.

she's not all about the po though.  (hee hee)  she also makes these cute little knitted taddies.  they kind of look like yarn pacmen to me.  and her featherweight frames are beautiful.  again, everything is wonderfully packaged. 

anyway, i think you need to go to her shop and spend lots of money.    go on... go. 

and this time, i'm not relying on jude to return any phone calls.  now we have blogs to help us stay in touch. 

Eye Sore Friday and Ravelry

how about a little housekeeping today?

1.  thank you so much for the lovely compliments on the ripple.  and i love that some of you have admitted to now wanting to learn how to crochet just so you can make one yourself.  HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!  my work here is done.

2.  is it wrong that i want these shoes?  and in this color?  (this is the eye sore part of the title)

3.  and finally ... have you heard about RAVELRY yet?  yeah i'm a little late to the party.  fashionably late of course.    it's the brain child of frecklegirl jess and her code monkey husband casey and bob the dog (well i'm sure he's been very supportive).  and it's wonderfully clever.  it's like a merging of  flickr and blogs and knitting and CROCHET (YES, CROCHET PEOPLE!!!) .  and i understand that spinning will be thrown into the mix soon.  it's still in it's beta version, but i've been given 3 invitations to dole out.  if you are one of the very fashionably late like i am and have not received an invitation, begged for an invitation (pathetic), or actually added yourself to the queue to get an invite from the ravelry people (that's jess, casey and bob) and would like to play along, just let me know.  first come, first serve.

thanks for your interest -- but all of my invites are gone.  but you can always sign up.

ok, that's all i've got for today.  have a good weekend everyone.

Bustin' The Stash

the rippling has ended.  let us take a moment to reflect ....

started:  march 1, 2007
finished:  april 30, 2007

approximately 60" x 60"
knitpicks merino style
knitpicks andean treasure

size H crochet hook
softwaves ripple from 200 ripple stitches by jan eaton

the original plan was for a much longer blanket.  a rectangle.  i like rectangles.  but i ran out of yarn.  and i wasn't about to buy more.  (have i mentioned that the ball bands lied?  that the skeins that i did weigh, weighed in at 15-20% less than indicated on the label?  just be forewarned.) can i tell you how happy i am that this is finished?

Practice Makes ... Better

i don't like to suck at things.  and rather than inspire me to improve, sucking at things tends to make me want to bail or certainly to avoid.  i know, that's really stupid.  i admit it.  i'm not proud.

for some reason though (probably because of the monetary investment, and the fact that i like all of the pretty fiber) i haven't yet thrown spinning to the curb.  and get this ... i'm getting better!  see?

according to elisa, i should have been afraid of the superwash merino.  but i wasn't, because i honestly didn't know any better.  ahh ignorance truly is bliss.   my yarn is thicker than some of the yarns of other club members (i only got 108 yards), but it's definitely more regular than some of my previous tries. 

i once thought this looked good.  ack!

yikes!

in other news, i have a finished object to show you, but the sun needs to come up before i can take pictures.