What am I doing?

Yes. I do have something on my needles. I have finished a sweater back. I sorta blocked it. I have a picture, but I'm too lazy to upload it. I'm a few inches away from finishing the front of the sweater. I'll block that as well and get going on the sleeves this weekend. I hope. One of my many unfinished shawls is almost done. Maybe that can be another fait accompli for the weekend. It's sunny today. I can be optimistic. Happy Friday.

SSNB Knitter's Digest 9/24/07

We were back in the front room at the HPAC. If anyone can think of some bribes to help keep us there, that would be nice. F was working on Bears hats. K was making teeny tiny baby stuff. M had her shawl. T was practicing. L was making hats from her own dye/spin and N was seaming a sweater.

We talked about Ravelry and how great it was to find a community of people willing to bitch about those things that got on your knitting nerves. Most others were happier to find a community of people to share the good times. N received her invite right after the SSNB.

The story of the evening was about L's excursions on the road. She will be staying at a nudist campground in Ohio. She found out about it online. No, she did not as others thought, enter a search for naked camping. The site just popped up. (Sure it did.) This discussion led to offending people's naked sensibilities. For example, did you know that even more family resemblances arise when seeing a mother and daughter naked? Do you have an unfortunate mental image now? Indeed. T even knew of a dog that brought his owner her bathrobe when she was naked. Offend your dog's naked sensibilities and you have a situation.

This led us to talking about pets and farms and Windy City's next bus trip to the naked campground. The main idea was that on the farm you eat your pets. F mentioned that people are told not to play with their food. Every animal, even cats, have a purpose. One day you're hanging out with a chicken, the next day you have a pot of soup.

Eventually after all this food talk, we got to discussing samosas. This actually led to SSNB's first ever food run. K and M were inspired to hop into a car and scurry off to Rajun Cajun for a samosa fix. T had never tried a samosa before. We discussed the different sauces, what was hot and what was not. A veritable air of contentment descended upon the meeting as we knit and munched.

Until the next digest.

SSNB Knitter's Digest 9/17/07

We met a new friend L who came with afghan squares to crotchet. N was working on charity hats. I think she knit up 18 in a week. Eep. F has also racked up a lot of Bears hats. M continued with the shawl.

We talked about vintage horror movies that scared people. Creature from the Black Lagoon was really scary for some people. There was suspense and there was the creature chasing you with his slimy claw. Then there was the American Werewolf in London. People who had been to London could see how the werewolf could eat you easily in the tube and other places. Some people agreed that Christopher Lee was hot and that his vampire could come get them any day. Evidently there's some horror movie coming out called Black Sheep where the mild mannered creatures go out on the prowl. Scary stuff for knitters.

Then we had an extensive conversation about the Idaho senator and his bathroom tryst in Minnesota. We talked about the various signals he was giving such as stomping his foot and whatnot. And we talked about his excuse and how nobody picks up trash from public bathroom floors. There was some debate about whether anyone would pick up a $50 bill from the floor in a public bathroom. Some people decided they would just rinse if off.

N brought her new wood options needles from Knitpicks. Everyone liked them. Well, one person quotes a comment on the web referring to them as clown barf, but she was alone in her opinion. Everyone else thinks they're lovely and would like a set for themselves.

Anyone out there want to give us a recap of Renegade? F was there and she said there was a lot of bottle cap art.

Until the next digest.

Kinda Book Reviews

As I continue my month of knitting bounty, I figured I should devote some space to my brand new books. My favorite is a pattern book Loop D Loop by Teva Durhan for Tahki Stacy Charles yarn. I wanted it originally for the pattern on the cover, a shawl with a collar, but it has a number of cool patterns. And I was lucky enough to get an autographed copy! I'm so excited. It's my first knitting rockstar autograph. Once I get out of the shawl phase I'm in right now, I have a lot of different patterns to look forward to. Thanks to Arcadia for this one.

I also have two new books from south of the border. One carries designs by Jane Ellison for Mirasol yarns. This purchase was for a good cause as the proceeds help build and maintain a school/health care center in Peru. I was excited to see a knitting book with Latina models. Granted they all dyed their hair lighter with blonde highlights, but hey, we all had our J Lo phase. There are also patterns in this book.

I got a great deal on the yahoo knitting list. Someone was trying to rid themselves of their Andean Folk Knits book for $10 shipping included! I've wanted this book for a long time, but it was more for inspiration than utility. I like the designs on many of the pieces they remind me of Atari graphics. A bunch of cute llamas made it into the book where they flirted with the camera.

Finally, I'd been looking for a top down seamless sweater pattern. Along the way I came across Knitting From the Top. This lady refuses to follow a pattern and does things by providing general guidelines. As one who ignores row counting, I liked what I saw and went ahead and bought it. I'm eons away from a sweater as my many shawls lie about incomplete, but I have sweater yarn ready to go.

At this point it is necessary for me to call a moratorium on any more knitting purchases until Christmas at least. Geez.

You Knit What?! Looking Needles

I surfed over to the KnitPicks website ready to order the new Options set in wood. Then I saw the needles in question. Goodness! They are ugly. I would've bought this set out of wanton greed, not because I actually need them so they need to appeal to my vanity. I don't want needles that look like they got dropped in the yarn-dye pot. I don't want Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds to be running through my head as I knit. So I sent Knit Picks an e-mail to their suggestions address. It's below. I invite others to join me in asking Knit Picks for a solid-color wood needle if they are as color conscious as I am. I'd still love to add these needles to my collection someday.

I love Knit Picks and their products so I was really happy to hear that you've released a wooden set of options needles. Then I saw the needles. I find them very unattractive and wonder whether you had plans on releasing a solid-color wood needle instead of the psychedelic variety. I am one of those knitters who doesn't need a new set of needles, but I would have purchased them anyway until I saw what they looked like. I have no doubt that in utility they are of great quality like your other products. I hope to be able to treat myself to a solid-color wood Options set in the future.

SSNB Knitter's Digest 9/10/07

The author arrived late to the party so this should really be Knitter's Digest part 2. If someone else wants to fill us in on part 1 that would be great. F was working on more Bear's hats. S made a mini pumpkin baby hat. N was also wrapping up a hat for her husband. M was unraveling her shawl. N was working on hats for charity knitting.

We talked about Chicago's distinguished title as the worst postal system in the nation. N's been getting some guy's seemingly important mail for years, like his license renewal letters from the secretary of state. One would think this person would become concerned and try to get that straightened out. S frequently receives mail from the same wrong address and zip code. N had some packages misplaced or half-heartedly searched for at her local branch. She was also there when her branch was open, yet the staff was having a Christmas party in the back at 9 a.m. The rest of us are knocking on wood.

The word on the knitting street is that Knit Picks released a wooden set of interchangeable needles. Brave N ordered a few needles to check them out. Some of the rest of us just drooled. Chibi needles were also highly praised in the world of knitting tools. They make finishing a bit easier, even enjoyable for some. Most SSNBers wouldn't take it quite that far.

Until the next digest.

Bday Goodies

I went on a mini yarn crawl for my birthday last Wednesday. It started at Arcadia where I was looking for a pattern and some more Misti. I left with a different pattern and some clearance mohair. It makes me happy.

I also picked up some recycled yarn. This is some re-used cotton yarn and I want to make some sporty socks out of them. In fact, I've been yearning for the finished pair already and keep thinking, if these were knit up I would wear them today. But they're not knit. They still sit in the skein.

My knitting friend and guru, N, treated me to an amazing cupcake AND pierogis. I highly recommend The Pierogi Factory where you can get soup and 12 assorted pierogis for $9. Now that's a deal.

Then we were off to Knitter's Niche. It was my first time there and they have a lot of Misti Alpaca. I can't say no to a place like that. I found 2 balls of yarn to match my mohair and intend to make the Knitty Loopy pattern when I get some size 17s.

The one thing I did not do on my birthday was actually knit, but I am definitely all ready to go.

Belated Goodies

So I never shared my Fiber Fest goodies. The first round of purchases involved no yarn. I started with a pattern from Briar Rose Fibers for a shawl. (Nevermind that I haven't finished any of the summer shawls that I started.) To that I added 4 soaps. A lady at the booth was excited that a soap matched her decor. The decorative soaps are such a shame to me. Use the soap!
Then there are two goat milk misting lotions. These not only smell nice, but they also deliver non-greasy moisture. I find them perfect for your summertime moisture needs. Someone's husband said her lavender misting lotion made her "smell like a lady", better than teen spirit anyday! The piece de resistance is Cletus who's made of alpaca. He is the softest little bear ever.

The Chaco yarn was a steal at $3 a ball. I was rather amazed by the price so I picked it up with no particular project in mind. I'm thinking these balls will someday materialize in socks, but I'm not sure yet. Then I went back to Briar Rose for Sea Pearl, the blue-hued yarn. This will become a shawl someday. It's a soft, light mix of tencel and merino. The yarn piece de resistance is Celebration, the pink-hued yarn. I thought the price was reasonable for the quality at $60 for 1200 yards of sport weight merino/bamboo blend. This lovely yarn will someday become a top-down sweater. I'm really happy that I skipped Stitches Midwest and made it to this fair to get unique goodies.