Since last we chatted...

...more has happened than I can possibly blog. Let's go to the bullet points!

• the magical Sock Summit
• a lovely vacation trip with my mom and sister
• the fall issue of Knitty, celebrating 7 years of Knitty goodness and a gentle redesign
• a trip to The Knitting Nest in a really comfy, not-hot Austin, TX [I didn't think the not-hot was possible!]
• a trip to WEBS -- New England in early fall [heaven!]
  

You already know about Sock Summit [see the post below for wrap-up links all over the web], and the vacation was much needed.

The fall issue of Knitty was the result of months of planning, work and not a little fretting. We're all glad you like it, very! It was a huge relief to go live...a redesign of any sort is always a bigger undertaking than you envision until you're right in the mucky middle of it. I learned a lot, that's for sure.

The Knitting Nest was just a lovely, warm place full of great yarn and nice people. You know the reputations Texans have for hospitality -- well, Stacy and her crew [and her charming husband and daughter!] took more than excellent care of me. We had a great class and a lovely party to celebrate their anniversary and poof, I was home before I knew it!

I've been traveling mostly camera-less lately. Too much to shlep with the uke, I guess. But I did take a few pics with the iPhone on my last trip -- to WEBS -- and you've gotta see them.

WEBS itself is really indescribable. It has nearly everything from every company that makes yarn, and even the work of some smaller hand-dyers. Bags, tools, spinning things, weaving things. And then there's the back room where the bags of discounted yarnish goodies reside, and it's hard not to walk around with your mouth open. For a long time. Just wow. I was so stunned by it all, I took not a single picture inside the shop. But here's their highway billboard:



I had a great Plug & Play shawl design class with really excited and motivated students, and a lovely No Sheep lecture the night before. I bought a sweater's worth of, not kidding, Berroco Comfort worsted, to make this [rav link], and a little yarn for a few friends. On my last afternoon, it was decided that I needed to see a little of the surrounding area

My tour guides, Karen [the lovely shop manager] and Melissa Morgan-Oakes [who I'd never met before this trip, despite us being in the same places more than once over the years] made sure I got a little infusion of New England before I went home. Yankee Candle? Sure! A quick stop at Scandihoovians, yup! But here was the highlight of our spontaneous road trip:


I know that logo. No way. Lexie Barnes' showroom is within driving distance of WEBS? I freaked out.


Here's Lexie with samples from her brand-new line. And I finally got to put my hands on it...folks, the fabric we all know and love is BACK! The nearly bulletproof fabric that is the friend of knitting and the enemy of spills. It feels so solid and smooooth, and look at her new prints!

The little shiny thing in her hand? That's her brand-new circular needle case. It's brilliant! The page on her website doesn't give a hint at the insides, so this is your sneak peek! Lots and lots of pages to hold your needles and way more, plus it zips closed so nothing escapes. Wow.


Another [slightly blurry, sorry] pic of the new goodies. The Kiri print looks bright red on her site, but it really is this deep burgundy color, so I wanted you to see.

One of the other things I've been excited to see is Lexie's new bag shape, the McCoy.


Now, this print is called Lotus and it's not on her site because the factory screwed up and the color isn't what she'd ordered. I personally love the color as is, but Lexie is the designer, and what she says goes! Meanwhile, if you like this pattern, you can grab it if you move fast. Lexie is having a sample sale, this coming Saturday (Oct 3) from 10-5. She'll have bags in this Lotus fabric (limited quantity of course), special deals on sample Classic Lexie totes, and other surprises.

Anyway, back to the McCoy -- yup, she gave me one of them to take home with me and you'll never guess what fits inside this bag:


That's my sopranino ukulele. Fits in perfectly, with tons of room to spare for yarn and everything else a traveling knitter might want. My full review of the bag will be in the winter issue of Knitty, but I just couldn't keep my lips zipped about this one, especially for those who are close enough to grab a sample at the sale this weekend.

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So that's a very spotty, very shwag-oriented catch-up post. I'm home for a two-month stretch now and you may see a little more action on the blog than you're used to.

Downward-facing head, but a little treat for you!

Longtime knittyBlog readers know that, as new issue time approaches, my head goes down and posting gets a little weird around here. So as I get into it, I leave you with a little something!

Have you wanted a Lexie Barnes Lady B bag for a while? It's a huge favorite among Knitty staffers and readers alike! Her current collection of Lady B bags is marked down to a crazy low $65 [usual price $130]

Well, because Lexie is the coolest, she's offering an EXTRA 10% discount on these great bags for Knitty readers. Coupon code: iluvknitty

Click here and you can choose your favorite of the three available prints.

Happy Lexie day!

would you like a little Broccowli with your knitting?

A lot of wonderful things came about as a result of this pattern.

First, the yarn...a special gift from Chris, the star behind Briar Rose Fibers. Until now, her yarn could never be on my needles, since Briar Rose was a 100% wool shop. But thanks to some persistent prodding by my friend, Jennie the Potter, Chris has now added silk to her shop! You can find the new yarn here.

It's called Penny Lane, and it's really awesome. 2ply silk, thicker than what you usually find done by hand dyers, and of course [!!] the colors are Chris' signature Briar Rose deliciousness. The cowl only takes one skein, so you can indulge without guilt!

Then, after a blog post requesting test-knitter help, Jenny stepped up and has been just super-fabulous and awesome. Her handspun -- which is what she test-knit the pattern with -- is impeccable. And her cowl, since it was knit in a creamy color, isn't Broccowli. It's Cowliflower! Oh, heavens, I love a good vegetable pun any day. Turns out Jenny sells her handspun and other goodies at her Etsy shop. Yum.

So there you go. No longer is Montego Bay the only lonely pattern in my shop. Now you too can knit your vegetables and then wear them! To get your copy of Broccowli, visit Amy's Mindless Knitting. Both patterns are a modest $3. Happy knitting!

what i picked with my birthday gift certificate

Because it's all about a good night's sleep, I decided it was okay to treat myself to a brand-new uber-stuffed down pillow. I picked the Royal Velvet Majestic Gold 1200-Thread-Count Hungarian White Goose Down Pillow. I leave the full label in there, because there are [not kidding] seven billion different varieties of down pillow from this company and the differences are freaking subtle.

In the end, I went for pure down, Hungarian [because I'm half Hungarian, don'tchaknow], with the largest fill amount [26oz] I could find. I like the gussets on the side.

I've had many down pillows over the years and there are two on my bed that are so squooshed from years of use that they're not so much good any more. I am thinking, when the new pillow arrives, I'll take the two oldies to a down shop [we have several in town!] and have them made into one new pillow. They usually clean/refresh the down when they do that, so I'll have a fabulous backup pillow as a result!

Thus endeth my diatribe on pillowness.


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It's WWW day! Stay tuned!

A wee winner!

Thanks to Trinity for her suggestion -- her comment was the randomly selected winner of my sort-of little contest.

Trinity, send me your address so I can mail you your wee prize!

You want to know what I've bought, right? NOTHING yet. Nothing. I'm still waffling. Turns out the Kindle doesn't work in Canada [blerg], not that it was in the budget. Current idea: someone suggested an Ice Cream maker. I get bored with the low-fat Chapman's flavors [yummy, but always the same], so this just might be the ticket!

In any case, thank you all for participating! I loved reading all your suggestions and clicking on the links. It's fun to dream.

help me spend my birthday present!

How weird is this? I have a birthday-present Amazon gift certificate from my sister and her sweet hub burning a hole in my e-mail box and I cannot, for the life of me, make a decision about what to spend it on! Wanna tell me what I should buy?

I've got $75 to play with [they spoiled me!] and I can ship to their US address, so it can be anything Amazon sells. Things close to $75 but a little over are also cool. Books, music and DVDs are obvious choices, but too easy. I'm looking for...I don't know what! They don't sell yarn and I already looked for a Lazy Kate [not kidding].

If you're game, fill up my comments with your suggestions! Get creative! I don't promise that I'll pick one, but I just might...

I'll pick one commenter at random this Friday morning and send them something from the Knitty prize cupboard, so it'll be a little birthdayish for the winner, too! Let the coveting begin!

p.s. The cake above? Chocolate raspberry truffle. That's what hub got me to celebrate this birthday. It was UNBELIEVABLY delicious. <3 Dufflet.

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eta: My birthday was a month ago, but thanks for the wishes! Thanks for the DVD recs, but I don't think DVDs this time, either. Sorry I left it out of the original post. It's in now. :-)

Favorite suggestion so far? Kaphine's accordion.
Closest to my own taste: I already have a fuzzy logic rice cooker [bought from Amazon!] and LOVE it huge. Also have 2 OTT-Lites.
Wish I had the budget to top it up for: the Kindle. But I don't. Oh well.

Keep commenting! I love your suggestions! Off to see what vintage they've got! :-)

improved portability and a BIRTHDAY

Remember this? the portable solution

I have been trying to figure out some sort of mobile connectivity solution for 2 years now. The Palm T|X is good, but often S.L.O.W. And there's no e-mail without wifi.

Fast forward to Scout and I driving to Rhinebeck. Hub txts me that we need to do a bank transfer and I'm nowhere near the internet and won't be all weekend. What do I do?

Scout hands me her iPhone. I am intimidated. It's so shiny.

I type in the URL for my Canadian bank and within 5 minutes [because of the spotty cel coverage where we were driving, otherwise it would have been faster], I've transferred $ from one account to another and am lost.

It's my birthday today, and guess what I'm getting? [It's ordered through Rogers, just not here yet.]

It's still not the all-in-one solution I was hoping for [I'll need to use the Palm for fixing HTML files and uploading them], but it's 80% of the solution, and that's good enough for me.

Besides, it's really cool and I'm an embarrasing sucker for the coolness.

Knitty's 2009 Calendar Contest winners announced!

It's here! The 2009 Knitty Calendar, fresh off the press and ready for you!

This year, we had a great assortment of photos to choose from and that always makes the final selection process hard. But it's a fun kind of hard and I had a blast putting this one together.

This year's cover photo is from Emily Smartt of Tennessee. Don't miss the fuzzy friends in the background on the right. Just a great picture, Emily, and congratulations! Your huge [and I mean HUGE] box of books, yarn and shwag will be in the mail shortly.

The other 11 winners featured in this year's calendar are also stellar!

January: Elizabeth Caron
February: Emily Smartt
March: Angela Moore
April: Renée Sparkes
May: Ann Makela Schneider
June: Lindsey LaPlant
July: Lorrella Cobb
August: Heather La Rivière
September: Alex Walper
October: Allison Reilly
November: Sarah Friesen
December: Michelle DesGroseilliers

To see each of the winning images, just visit the calendar in the Knittyshop and you can flip through each page at your leisure. Each of the runner-up winners gets a copy of the calendar. They'll be in the mail shortly as well!

What about all the other great photos that didn't make it in? You'll find them in the 2009 Honorable Mention Gallery.

I got to pick up the load of calendars for prizes at Rhinebeck, and they really look fabulous. I'm so pleased, and I hope the winners and our readers will be just as happy.

For now, just remember: when you're photographing your Knitty knits, think about making a calendar entry out of it! You could be the winner of the HUGE box of coolness next year!

the new kids, adopted at Rhinebeck

the new kids
Originally uploaded by amysinger

There are more pictures on Flickr [click the image at right to see them all] including closeups and descriptions of each new foundling. The secret mission spindle was the one in the middle, the Hatchtown. The spindlemaker only does a small assortment every year and they sell out before you know they're gone. We were there when the show officially opened and most spindles were gone by 10 am that day.

I was quite selective this year, but still managed to drop a bundle of $.

One thing not pictured? A gorgeous jacket [quite lagenlook, Brenda!] from Maiwa Handprints [did you visit the Ancient Textiles booth in the back corner of the barn? If not, you missed some serious gorgeousness. Photos of the jacket on me next time I feel photogenic.



Norm Hall niddy noddy in cherry.


All my spindles so far [except the Avi Wasserman who was hiding].


The only fiber I bought. Sliver Moon Farm. I love them.

how I know fall is here

My goLite is back on my desk.

I bought mine at the end of winter earlier this year, so it was priced lower than it's available for now, but I'd say it's a bargain no matter what.

I was having a hell of a time getting out of bed last winter. By using the goLite [there are instructions with it that tell you how to do this] at specific times for specific lengths, it helped reset my inner [sleepy] clock. Here: you can take a test at the manufacturer's site that helps explain if you need the thing and how you'd use it if you do.

This morning, I woke up to rain and grey and could have slept another 2 hours [and I'd already slept in]. So I pulled out the goLite for the season. It's nice to know that even as it gets darker outside, I have a way out of the dark this year.

another Vintage Office sighting in the wild!

A big wave and e-hug to Zonda for a lovely post, with great pics, of her new woolly skeins of Amy's Vintage Office. Thank you, Zonda!

Blue Moon nooz!

Did you wonder how my Blue Moon sweater was going? I can't imagine you did, but for the sake of ongoing knitting content -- and because it's SO GORGEOUS -- here's where I'm at. This picture is quite color accurate -- the colorway is Gypsum, and the yarn is Luscious Silk, a recent addition to the line at Blue Moon! [I get very excited when my favorite yarn companies start adding Amy-friendly yarns to their lines, as you can tell.]


Sadly for me, I didn't start knitting from two different skeins until, well, you can see where I did, and that's just life. It'll make the right front look like an, um, art piece. Yeah, that's just what I meant to do! [snork.] The pattern is Kristi Porter's Sonnet, transfigured into lace to make the yarn I have go further, and because silk is warmer than wool, so solid silk would be steamy to wear! Toes included in the shot for scale.

I'm halfway [or more] through the back and progress is quite speedy. I keep getting motivated to get to the solid-knit row pair in the super-simple lace repeat, which keeps moving me forward.

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Speaking of all things Blue Moon, have you heard about this? It's going to be so insanely cool. Sounds like a cannot-miss event of a lifetime! I wanna go.

Amy's Vintage Office on Silk/Bamboo

I can't hold this in any longer.

This is the Lorna's Laces colorway on the gorgeousness that is 51% silk, 49% bamboo and oh.

Just oh.

This colorway was inspired by vintage enamelled steel office furniture and accessories in a variety of shimmery, glowing colors, and this shimmery silk/bamboo version is exactly what I had hoped for. Better, even, with Beth's exquisite sense of color, flow and balance. I am in deep love. Click the picture to see it larger. Yum.

Read more about this yarn and how it will only be available for a limited time from Lorna's Laces.*

Contact your LYS and ask them to get it for you. And then come back here and show me what you knit with it! I'm multitasking, but promise to show a knitted swatch asap!

*if this stuff sells really well, it might encourage Beth to keep it in the lineup full time. I dream of being able to get Lorna's Laces colorways on Amy-friendly yarn and I can't be the only one. Speak with your wallets, knitters, and tell Beth you love the new non-woolly Lorna's and want to see more of it!

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eta: Kim Werker, crochet goddess and editor, was at Lorna's this week, and look at the pic she took! I forgot my camera on the Chicago trip, so even though she didn't do it for me, thanks for taking this pic, Kim!

if you can't find it, make it yourself!

I've gone to Rhinebeck twice and every time -- as an avowed hoodie junkie -- have been disappointed by the merch they offer. It's very old-school and if you like sweats with watercolor paintings of sheep on them, then you will think I'm crazy. I couldn't even find one with a cool logo + image [i think they do a new one each year] from the festival like you can get at Maryland.

I personally favor the old-school big name in arched letters style if I have to pick. So dangit, I made one for all of us, and it's now in the Knittyshop in case you want one, too. Jillian will be thrilled -- I drove her crazy with the "where are the Rhinebeck hoodies? I must find a Rhinebeck hoodie!" last time we went.

p.s. YES, I know Rhinebeck is about yarn and spinning and making things to wear. But sometimes a sweater isn't what you want, and nothing makes for the cozies except a big, comfy hoodie. Yum.

Ooh! Chicago readers...heads up!

Hey! I'm in Chicago with hub to visit the parents post-Knitty. We haven't been here in ages.

Guess who else is here? The pictures are a hint: Jennie the Potter! She and a whole bunch of cool vendors are at the Renegade Craft fair today and tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday, 12 - 10pm. She has brought all sorts of her beautiful hand-thrown, carved and glazed knitting and spinningy-themed mugs and bowls and other goodies and if you like her stuff like I do, you'll want to stop by and see her! She's also one of the nicest people you will ever meet.

Her booth is on Division near Wood. Dress for wet weather, but don't miss it!

i has a color.

And it has a name: Amy's Vintage Office. Have you seen the new Color Commentary series from Lorna's Laces? Well, it was just one color until we got mine done -- Franklin's Panopticon, which is an insanely cool combination of yumminess, was the first. Now that there are two of us, it's definitely a series! [I hear there are many more colors to come from famous knitting folk all over the place!]

So Beth, who runs Lorna's, asked me to describe my dream colorway to her, and as she writes, it took us a while to get there. I thought I wanted one thing, which was bright and crazy. But then it turned out that what I really wanted was for Beth to encapsulate one of my big loves -- vintage office furniture -- into yarn colors. The mainstay, of course, is my huge charcoal steel desk. The rest are aspirational items -- things that aren't yet in my office, but I would love to have them here. The tones of vintage powdercoated steel make my heart beat faster at a flea market, and now that I see them in yarn form, I am just as enamored.

Why is there no knitted swatch here like there is on Franklin's post? Well, that's because Lorna's Laces is pretty much a 100% woolly house of yarn. All the protoypes I got to see were on wool, and I even borrowed a group of Purple Purl knitters including a visiting author-friend to help test knit swatches so I could choose the final color. Adrienne took home two different colorways, one of which turned out to be the final Amy's Vintage Office.

Beth will be dyeing up some of my colorway on Amy-friendly yarn and I promise to share a big swatch with you the moment it arrives. Will she be selling this Amy-friendly yarn? She might, if enough of you ask for it. Go visit Beth's blog and tell her what you think of the colorway!

[Lorna's Laces retailers will be able to order the colorway for you. Just sayin.]

Notes from an audiobook addict

If you've been reading this blog for a long while, you'll know I'm a huge fan of audiobooks. I spend so much time using my eyes [on the computer, for knitting, beading, etc] that when it comes to focusing on print on a page, I don't last very long, which is frustrating. Plus there's nothing better than being read to, imo, especially by a good reader. I love that.

So I figured it's about time I shared my favorite audiobooks with you. Not all at once. :-) Let's do it a book or series a week, okay?

Unsurprisingly, I'll start with my favorite, one of the most unique audiobook series I've ever come across: His Dark Materials series written by Philip Pullman.

In the audiobook version, Pullman narrates along with a cast of character voices that make the story come to life. Pullman may not be the most brilliant writer of our time, but he is a brilliant storyteller, and when you listen to his trilogy told as he [likely] imagined it as he wrote it, there can be nothing better. Be sure, if you're going to get these books, that you choose the UNABRIDGED versions, narrated by Philip Pullman and the Full Cast. There are other versions available and I wouldn't want you to miss the whole experience.

The first book, The Golden Compass, was recently turned into a major motion picture staring [sigh] Daniel Craig and a whole bunch of other people, but mostly Daniel Craig. The second, The Subtle Knife, will likely never be made into a movie and the third, The Amber Spyglass, I highly doubt. There's a strong anti-church theme to the books that grows with each volume. If this upsets you, please don't choose these books. You won't like them.

I don't necessarily share all of Pullman's views, but I found all three books fascinating, captivating and hugely entertaining. In fact, I'm re-listening to them now and am nearly at the end of the final book. Pullman is stunningly innovative and I love the fine details of the alternate worlds he creates and especially the two main characters [you won't meet one of them till book 2, so I won't give away anything here. I hate spoilers.] and the armoured bears. Our world could use armoured bears, if you ask me.

If you click here, you'll be taken to a page on Audible.com that offers you a free audiobook download -- that you get to keep -- with a trial no-obligation 14-day subscription. I'm all about the free stuff, and I've enjoyed being a customer of Audible, so I don't feel weird about passing the information on to you.

I'll have another book for you next week.

looking as cool as a Fisher & Paykel

My office has recently had a makeover. Wanna see?



What, it doesn't look so different from the last time, except significantly messier? Well, you're not paying attention, then.



Every good office should have a ukulele. [and a Pee-Wee bobblehead and a set of 3 Serenity action figures including Captain Tightpants in said pants and Jayne with a bigass gun].

But wait -- here's the best thing. Did I buy this $14.95 custom-designed hanger to get my uke out of oops-i-just-sat-on-my-uke range?



No. I went to Rona and bought this, except smaller and in grey:


For 80 cents. What the hell costs 80 cents anymore? Not even a pack of gum. I feel quite clever.

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Also! The Knitty Calendar Contest ends tomorrow night at midnight! Have you sent in your entry yet? You know you want to.

you want beads? i got yer beads right here.

the first FO. these are shimmery delica beads in a pre-mixed assortment i bought at a great bead store in Chicago a few years ago. the contents of one tiny tube JUST made a band long enough.



here's the clasp from the pretty side. it's sterling and was $6 [i think] at Arton Beads on Queen West in Toronto. here's how i attached it:



is that the right way to do it? it's the only way i could think of, and it's very strongly attached to the band, so i'm leaving it as it is.

the clasp is rather brilliant. easy enough to get on but a bugger to get off, which means i don't have to worry about it coming undone like toggles do.

and the peanut is a little thing i've been wearing on a simple chain for a while. i just like it.

can somebody please remove these cutleries from my knees?

and now, i end the teasing. look what arrived in my mailbox last week.





4 skeins of sex brand-new Blue Moon Luscious Silk in the colorway Gypsum. i had no idea it was coming. so i opened the package and then i had to sit down because all the blood drained out of my head. i rubbed it all over the public parts of myself [don't get gross now] and made soft moaning noises.

if you haven't been stalking the Blue Moon website [or the new development, Tina's blog!], you might not have noticed the new additions to the site. silk. one or two-ply and worsted-weightish. can you stand it? more stunningly, 360 yards of this gorgeous hand-dyed-by-Tina silk is only $28.

then i ran to the swift and turned the first skein into a cake and started swatching.

jillian has taught me that long stretches of color aren't going to work so well horizontally on my bod, but if i knit side to side...



and when i think side to side, of course i think of kristi porter, which is why a lacy variation of Sonnet is going to be the next thing on my needles. lace because it's cooler [and silk is warmer than wool, so coolness must be factored in to the design plan!] and because 4 skeins of this sex gorgeous 2-ply silk = 1440 yards means it needs to be lacy if i want it to be long-sleeved. and i do.

i'm knitting something for fall Knitty as well, and it's damned hard to concentrate on deadline knitting with this stuff looking at me and winking seductively. oh, my life is so hard, isn't it?

knitting math

+

+

+
a mystery ingredient =
the newest thing on my needles.


how's that for a weekend-eve teaser?

My sweet Vespa

Doods. Today was my first scooter rally -- The Twisted Wheel Scooter Rally in Toronto. Rallies are basically a reason to ride together, compare and compliment scoots and get ideas for what you might want to do to yours next.

There was also a raffle for a brand new vespa [I didn't win], and contests in all sorts of categories. Surprisingly, I *did* win one of the judged awards: Sweetest Modern Scoot. I guess everyone was won over by my pink leopard seat cover and matching pink sparkly tassels. There's also a pompom hanging from my rear rack in sparkly purple. Clearly, the sparkle appeals.

Take a peek at my photos for the day if you like Vespas too. There's a purple one in there that I will wager you have never seen the likes of anywheres. [And it won for Sweetest Vintage Scoot. You ain't kidding.]

time for some Tour de Fleece!

the title aside [because I know it's about spinning, not just about wool :-)], i'm in for this year's Tour de Fleece!

summary: pick a spinning challenge, start when the Tour de France starts and finish when it ends.

in the last post, i showed pics from the beginning of my Tour de Fleece experience. here's what you haven't yet seen:


roving from my stash, at least 2 years old. clearly i like to let things percolate.



that's my very pretty, perfectly balanced, incredibly long-spinning Houndesign lace spindle, purchased at The Purple Purl. for my fellow spindlewhores, it's a 19-gram Pau Amarillo lace spindle. my new favorite. Houndesign is a spindlemaker in BC. they're delicious.


and this is the first night's spinning, some of it in near darkness. rock.

oh, i neglected to mention the details of my challenge. it's simple: finish this roving [2 whole ounces], including plying and setting the twist. and spin outside for half an hour a day when it's not raining. i will amend the challenge to add the following: "...when it's not raining, or so humid that i begin to question the sanity of spinning silk in summer." and since the forecast for the next few days is super humid and super hot, i'll probably be doing my spinning inside.

holy crap. i did it to myself.

so i recently went on and on about how newly made stuff breaks too soon, requiring replacement, and how we're programmed to think "must have new" any time we see something shinier than what we have. [i'm sure many of you resist this, and perhaps it doesn't affect some of you. lucky buggers.] i try to resist this horrible condition and often succeed. and sometimes not.

[this post is not going to end the way you think it is. stick with me.]

all the cool kids are getting new cameras. they take really great pictures, although we know a lot of that is the person behind the camera. so this makes me think about my cameras. i've been carrying around a Canon Powershot sd550 since I bought it for our trip to Italy a few years ago. the other camera I had was bulky and annoying. this one was light! it fit in my pocket! it takes pretty great pictures! and it's 7.1 megapixels, which is more than the other camera i had. more is better, right?

seriously. i'd just bought this super-expensive camera less than a year before the Canon. it was to be the Knitty magazine camera. but it was big and only 5 megapixels [oh, dear. less is bad, right?]. once the Canon arrived, i felt that the Lumix was already obsolete, and was angry at myself for choosing it in the first place. instead, i used the Canon for everything. that was more than 2 years ago.

this thursday, Mel and i were excavating my office, transforming it from a pile of piles into functional space -- which is another post for another day. Mel unearthed the Lumix in its rather-small, quite-nice LowePro case [smaller than I remember. hmm]. i took it out and there on the lens i saw this: 12x optical zoom.

oh. right. i chose the Lumix after hours and hours of careful searching on digital camera review websites because it had a kickass optical zoom and a Leica lens. clearly I had forgotten that part.

dudes, i talked myself out of liking something i already owned that was more than good enough for my needs just because i thought there was better to be had. it's a good lesson learned.

i charged up the battery last night and took the Lumix along with me to a Tour de Fleece kickoff party. i have some serious manual-reading to do in order to take advantage of all the features of this camera -- many manual or semi-manual options, even -- but here are a few point-and-shoot, low-light, no-tripod shots from last night. i know they are nothing special, except for the subject matter, which is lovely. but i'll be able to do better shortly, and soon, without spending a penny on anything. i love that.










bokeh, here i come.

oh mama!

I blogged a few weeks ago about my mama's new Etsy shop and lots of you commented that you liked her work.

Well, the enabler in me is not sorry at all [:-)] to let you know that mama has cut her prices on almost everything in her shop. Rather quite a lot, actually.

Each necklace is one of a kind and now they're so much more affordable, it's kind of nuts. This amethyst and yellow druzy necklace? It's now just $45. That's crazy talk.

Mama gets the pendants and other elements from a variety of craftspeople in Africa and Asia. Buying one of my mama's necklaces helps to support these artisans and their extended families. Which I think is seriously cool.

Here are a few of my other favorites from mom's shop:









And if you buy that last turquoise one, don't be surprised if you see me wearing its sister. I asked mama if she could find another pendant like this one and she's making me my own version of this baby. She says it looks chunky, but is really almost light as air. The pendant is actually dyed yak bone! I can't wait for it to come!

I <3 Laura + Ysolda

Ysolda designed the sweater.
Laura took the picture [and did a great job. I haven't liked a picture of myself in I don't know how long, and I like this one very much.]

i've got a Liesl!

One of the bonuses of having a world-famous knitwear designer stay in your house for a few days is that you can browbeat her for a pattern she's designing and knitting right in front of you.

This is the reason my Liesl is done, even though the pattern was just released today. My version is knit from Araucania Nature Cotton [7 skeins] and I just love it. It's not a BGK-styled big girl knit, but it's quirky and I like wearing it. I just try to channel Denny when I've got it on, Denny being the queen of asymmetry in clothing and layers of knitwear.

Laura and her new camera will be taking pictures of the sweater on me at Ysolda's request later today.

p.s. brother, do our floors need refinishing. sigh.

my shop is actually open [no, really this time]

So if you'd wanted to buy the Montego Bay pattern, now you can! Actually, I just made my first sale while writing this post! Thank you, Melissa!

[eee! this is fun!]

uh on.

i went to the store for these [I knew I'd run short]:

because they're having a 20% off sale that ends today -- tonight at midnight for web orders [I'm just saying].

One aside: I asked for a rough estimate of how many beads I'd need to complete a simple inch-wide peyote stitch bracelet. Several employees -- one might have been the boss -- said, "I dunno. I don't do peyote beading," seemed annoyed at the question, and didn't go any further to help. In a yarn shop, wouldn't you direct someone to a book or magazine that might help if you didn't know the answer yourself? Anyway, a few other employees did at least try to help, but really we ended up guessing.

Then I saw these:


Which led to these:


Want closeups?






Whut? Did I do something wrong?

[Notice that, after I finish the tiny peyote piece, I'm moving on to a more reasonable, less-headachy size of bead. It may not be as exquisitely slinky, but I bet it'll be nice just the same. And it won't make me cranky.]

For Theresa, and anyone else interested, some peyote stitch tutorials to help you!

This is the best video I could find on the subject. (wait for the closeup at around 4:30 -- it helps you understand where the needle goes)

This is a cool animation that's quite clear. It's just not something you can take away from the computer.

This is the one I printed that finally explained it for me [I didn't use the videos, because I like to make things hard for myself].

There you go. Let's see your peyote!

i am like this.

I go to a craft show in the Beach on the weekend. I see beautiful peyote stitch beaded bracelets. Little shimmery lengths of tiny Japanese Delica beads in beautiful colors. They are $25 each [and up]. I remember the tubes of Japanese Delica beads I have in my [small, but reasonably useful] bead stash, bought just because the colors were so pretty and I'd figure out what to do with them later.

So, of course, I couldn't buy the bracelets. I had to make one of my own.

I started with google and found several pages of instruction. Sat down to do it and failed. Next morning, tried again. Failed. Searched Etsy for a finished one, because the amount of time I was wasting had to be worth $25. Didn't find anything I wanted. Searched for better instructions. Tried again in better light.


This time, I got it.

Yes, it's that tiny. Hub watched me adding rows to this little piece last night and called me Insane. With a capital I.



So I am, then. Oh well. At least I'll be Insane with a really cool bracelet.

dood.

I have one of these. I hesitated to buy it at $80 when new, but the shop owner reminded me there were only 400 of them. The guy knows his stuff, so I listened.

Plus, it's Joe Ledbetter, who I love, and IT'S A BUNNY!

I have GOT to watch this auction. Except I don't want to sell him, and I'm pretty sure I tossed the box. But I am dying to see how much it sells for.

[yes, I'm especially bloggy today. what of it?]

My mama made an Etsy!

She's over there on the right sidebar --->
She makes gorgeous chunky necklaces. The elements come from different parts of the world and she has a real talent for putting them together in the most beautiful way.

Go mom!

a little more of TNNA

So you saw I got to spend a little time with Franklin. Then I read his blog and found the image at left...which was part of the best post on TNNA I've ever read. You must read it. It's here. The cartoons made me snort in my chair. Out loud, even. I believe I scared the rabbits.

As usual, lots of the stuff I got to peek at will become parts of future issues of Knitty, so I can't talk about them here. Here's what I can tell you.

I lost my voice suddenly, while talking to co-zone-of-funner Shannon Okey on Friday night. Yes, the night before the trade show. It just suddenly went pop, and was gone. Some time after this photo was taken. [BTW, I may look pensive in the shot, but really, I'm just thinking. :-)]

This photo shows that I didn't need to have a voice to have fun. This is the gang at the Tip Top again, posing for miss Mim.

Meanwhile, between the shmoozing and the business card swapping and much of what Franklin chronicles in that blog post above, there was also some surprise gifting.

Beth, who owns and operates the delightful Spinning Loft in Howell, MI brought little pouches, branded with her adorable shop logo [my favorite sheepies!] for a whole bunch of us. My pouch was filled with 2 oz of undyed Seacell. Yes, I buried my nose in it. I can't wait to spin it. On a spindle, even. I wrote more about my new love affair with my spindles in my most recent Knittyspin column, in case you missed it. So Beth, thank you for a kickass and super-timely present!

And then there's Abby, she of Abby's Yarns? I have no idea what I did to deserve this [probably nothing :-)], but she gifted me with her handspun. HER. HANDSPUN. There was nearly an embarrassing moment which involved plotzing and the aftermath there of, but I managed to hold it together.

Hang on. You can't really see the yarn [did I mention it is Abby's handspun?] in that shot. Look here:

Laceweight singles so delicious you could eat them with a tiny laceweight-enabled spoon. Public additional thanks [beyond my hugging and stuff] to Abby for this beauteous eye candy.

And now, I've got to run out to The Purple Purl [this is not a hardship, let's be clear on that]. It's time for the June Yarn Roundtable and just WAIT till the knitters see what I've got for them tonight!

[Tomorrow is all about the Harlot, Franklin and knitting in public. Let's hope the rain holds off, because wet knitters make a funny noise when you squeeze them.]

---

p.s.! did you know? The Purple Purl is having a KIP day event tomorrow, too! So after I go nuts at Lettuce Knit, I'll be heading back to the Purl to knit in the park with my girls. Join us!

my japanese sheepy likes the B-52s

Dangit, you guys left so many cool comments about the contest that I finally learned Blogger comments has a feature for multiple pages. To celebrate the celebrating about our celebration, I bring you a dancing sheepy!




I bought this little dancing sheepy from some place in Japan [online, of course]. I have no idea why anyone [but me] would want one of these, but it does make me giggle. The blue base? It's the same size as the top of a plastic soda bottle and it's threaded on the inside. Does that mean you're expected to take your dancing sheepy with you as you drink your Tab?

I love Japan. Maybe one day I'll get there.

um, wow.

This is Tracey. This picture pretty much sums up yesterday's launch party at Threadbear. People walked in as normal folks, tried on sweaters, and turned into coquettish vixens of Big Girl bounty and beauty. Click on Tracey's name above to read her account of the afternoon. She's not on our publisher's payroll, promise.

It really was a beautiful thing to see everyone stripping in the middle of a yarn store [down to t-shirts, people -- there was no nudity :-) ] and trying on all the sweaters from the book. Some were quiet. Some were squee-machines. All were smiling at one point during the day [for some, it was ALL DAY]. Here, look:



And here is Jillian, getting a huge, long hug from a knitter [I'm sorry I don't remember your name!] who tried on Cable Love, walked right over to J and thanked her for making her feel beautiful. We all welled up. It was a seriously beautiful moment, and she DID look super fabulous, too. So many smiles. So many women surprised at how they could look in a sweater that was designed to fit them and flatter their figure.

We laughed, we gave advice, we picked colors, and then picked new ones because the selection was so big it was hard to choose! We ate cupcakes without apology. We had an absolutely fabulous day.

Thank you to Rob and Matt, our beloved Threadbear boys. They give the best hugs, and the cupcakes were MORE than promised. We wanted to eat one of each flavor, but managed to top out at 2 or 3. We gave out new Big Girl and Knitty buttons and we mostly laughed until our sides were sore. More pictures can be found on my Flickr, but I leave you with this:



We're going to try to do it all again in two weeks at Lettuce Knit. Will you be there?

a rare and beautiful destash

I hardly ever do this, but I went through my stash this weekend with a tough-love eye and pulled out what I thought I wouldn't use.

I only came up with this: a sweater's worth -- 15 balls -- of Rowan Cotton Tape I bought when Elann had it on closeout.

Price: $80 for 15 balls of sullen (dark brown) + 1 bonus ball of swish (aqua) to use for tipping at the edges, if you so desire. Shipping extra. sold!

---

Also, this spindle still needs a home:



Cascade Mount Ranier spindle, 26g/.91oz
The signature spindle from Cascade...brand new, used briefly by me, excellent/like new condition.
Price: $40usd sold!

Shipping extra. Paypal, please.

a winner!

it's damned good i didn't have to choose a winner based on why you wanted the discount, because so many of you told stories that made me all warm inside. you guys are good people.

instead, i did as i said, and went to the random number generator. plugged in 57 as the total (inclusive, of course) and the number it chose?



so the 12th comment gets it...and that's Sarah! [what's your e-mail address?]**

thanks to everyone who commented. i knew there were more lurkers hanging about. hi to you all!

**p.s. Sarah is currently unreachable. If I don't hear from her by Friday morning, I'll pick a new winner! Because dangit, this code needs to get in the hands of another bag ho. :-)

a contest!

Okay, so I recently entered the Moo cards Egg Hunt contest [multiple times] and got one of the prizes, but I just can't use it. So I'm throwing it up here for you guys!

It's a 20% discount on anything at the Timbuk2 shop, and the code is good till May 30 this year.

How can you win? Simple. Leave a comment with the name of the thing you'd buy if you got the discount code. I'll use a random number generator and pick a winner! Make sure you're contactable in your blogger link or with an e-mail address so I can get the code to you if you win!

Comments entered before midnight Pacific time today are eligible. Go to it!

Shazam! with extra pinkness at the end

When I visited Scout on her home turf last year, we had a massive dye party and the result was a new colorway we called ZuluKnitty -- a collaboration between the two of us. She offers it in her shop, and I've seen many skeins pass through her Flickr stream, so I know people are ordering it, and that makes me happy and proud. :-)

Well, someone special was having a birthday and I wanted her to have some Scoutness, so we put our heads together again and here's what Scout came up with: ZuluKnitty Shazam [it's the skein on the left]! The same basic color palette as the original ZuluKnitty, but with extra shazam, oomph and general joie de vivre.

You'll also notice that the yarns look different. That's because, when Scout painted the first skein of ZuluKnitty [on the right], she didn't yet offer silk in her shop, so we bought retail stuff. You can now get this gorgeous 2-ply cascade silk directly in her store, in whatever colorway you choose. And she has a lot of them. Power couple is my new favorite.

Thank you, Ms Scout! This skein will be the one I use to teach my special SeaSocks class with.

---

I didn't mean to fall in love, but I did. Apple released a new pink [peeeeeeeeeeenk!] version of the new Nano just in time for Valentine's Day. And I might have walked around, squeeing "peeeeeeeeeeenk!" for an entire day. Okay, I actually did.

So when a small box came from Apple today, addressed to hub, I should have known, but I didn't. This little pink jewel was inside. He spoils me, my boy, and I am very grateful.

The first thing I listened to was Cast On. It's fabulous, and now holds my favorite playlist, a few choice movies I've yet to watch and lots of Neil Gaiman.

Life, she good.

why we're not leaving the house today

out our front window
Originally uploaded by amysinger

damn, i love days like this, especially when we can just plunk ourselves in place and not leave the house.

it's really dangerous driving, but it's safer than safe to just sit at home in pajamas and do stuff.

here are some of the things I want to do:

- finally play with my new Inkle Loom. the unbelievably sweet Denny gave this to me after we returned from SOAR earlier this fall

along with beautiful handmade shuttles

gifted to me by my sweet friends.

[i got really into the inkle weaving class at SOAR, so much so that i took it two days in a row. here is what i made on the last day:

a little woven band. nothing extraordinary, but damn, it was fun to do.]

i was stunned by the gift of this loom from Denny [it came from out of the blue, and i can't thank her enough!], and have been thinking about what i'll do with it since the moment it arrived. i've got a book on inkle weaving and stocked up on perle cotton at JoAnn's, so i think a little warping is in the cards for today. maybe something a little wider? woooooot!

- now that emergency chanukah knitting is complete, i am leisurely finishing up a few little things that need doing. one took a day and is for someone who reads this blog, so shhh. the other will take a bit longer, but it's so enjoyable [a 2nd djevellue cap, this time for hub's friend's new grandbaby] and looks so deeply cool when finished. [this is the first one i did that's been gifted to my new 2nd cousin Noah]


- i might have mentioned the new wheel that now lives with me. i want to get to know it much, much better. :-)

- i want to start doing things with my handspun, but that may take more percolation time. i don't feel quite ready yet.

oh, there are other things, and most of them involve garbage bags and big recycling bins and trips to the goodwill drop-off depot, and despite how i feel before i start actually doing what needs doing, i know that after it's all done, i'll feel so much lighter.

i'm also making lists [i can hear Jillian cheering in the distance] and working to actually cross things off them, too. it's all good.

right now, i'm going to get warped. see you later.

catchup

So we're back. Hub and I returned last night from a week at my folks' place. We celebrated dad's 70th [THAT was a party, let me tell you...no one can organize a shindig better than my mama], ate a lot of really good food and I rediscovered Mr Pibb.

Did you know? They're making it again, except it's now Pibb, and the diet version is Pibb Zero. Whatever.

My sister and I loved this stuff when it was just Mr back when we were kids. This new Pibb incarnation seems to be only available in a portion of the US. It's like Dr Pepper, but more subtle. I love it.

---

So for this trip to Chicago, we drove. We've got a little Subaru [it's a 4wd car], so travel on possibly slippery roads is less scary to us than it might have been. However, we managed to drive on the two driest December days ever, and that was nice.

Because we drove [we usually fly because you just can't count on December weather to behave], we were also able to stay an extra day and avoid the ice storms threatening our travel route home. And hang with the fam and sample my sister's delicious cooking -- a mexican feast this time.

Oh, and we ordered this with our Amazon gift certificates from my sister and her hub. I do not like reading maps and am, therefore, bad at it. Hub hates getting lost. I hate backtracking. This device is a marriage saver. We call it the lady in the box, and the lady in the box got us home stress free. [sidenote: I'd used this exact model when I visited Scout in an Avis rental car in ABQ last June and marvelled at how easy it was to use, had super-quick recalculation when I decided to take an alternate route and never steered me wrong. The Amazon price was significantly lower now than when I last checked in June. Love this thing.]

---

The buns [both of them] are in great shape. They were fawned over at the bunny spa and came home totally relaxed and happy. We're lucky to have such a great vet's office so close to our home.

We'll be keeping an eye on Boeing, of course. But if she doesn't show further symptoms of the bladder stone, there's no reason to remove it. [If she were a boy bunny, that wouldn't be the case.] We also brought home timothy-based pellets, but confusingly, they have the same calcium content [0.8%] as the alfalfa-based ones we'd been using. I'm going to have to look into this.

---

So that's all for now. I've got new tea to sample, lots of catchup work to do on Knitty, and a serious machete needs to be taken to the clutter in our house. But before I go, this:

via Neil Gaiman's Journal, this delicious set of reviews at Amazon.co.uk. Savor them.

this stuff amuses the crap out of me

Seriously. I got this in my e-mail box this morning out of the blue. I didn't ask for it. I didn't arrange it. Cafepress just sent it out. Oh! Okay, then. Thanks for the discount!

[marketing stuff like this amuses me, especially now that I'm no longer a proofreader in an ad agency! w00t!]

Seriously, if you wanted the 2008 Knitty calendar or anything else we sell in the Knittyshop, I guess now's the time to go grab it and save some bucks.

---

Meanwhile, I started my day by frying up onions and garlic to make a huge batch of sauce. Ragu-ish [a little more moist than a traditional Bolognese ragu, I guess]. I'm no purist. I totally avoided the true soffrito -- that would mean adding carrots and celery to the onions as I fried them. All I could think of was big chunks of limp celery in my tomato sauce in Oslo, and I just couldn't do it.

My recipe:
-2 lbs of lean ground beef
-1 lb of lean ground pork

salt the meat, fry, drain well.

-portobello mushrooms, one huge onion, two cloves garlic -- all minced and fried in good Tuscan olive oil
-three large cans of crushed tomatoes
-little bit of oregano
-nice bit of basil
-good bit of marjoram [that's my secret, if you ask me]

simmer, covered, on lowest heat ALL FREAKING DAY. eat some for dinner, save some for tomorrow's lunch and freeze the rest in one or two-person servings.

---

You don't really care, do you? Okay, I'll get back to work. But man, it sure smells good in here right now.

i fell down at SOAR

Full SOAR report later, but for now, I thought you'd want to see my biggest falling-down.

This, my spinning friends, is the new Ladybug wheel from Schacht. She's all mine.

I didn't mean to buy a wheel at SOAR, though the thought of it as a possibility was in the back of my mind. I roomed with Carla [who had her Journey wheel with her] and Jillian [who has a Schacht Matchless] and watched them spin so happily the whole time. So with an entire room of wheel vendors at my disposal, how did I manage to avoid testing any wheels until the last day? Willpower. Fear. Mostly fear.

The morning of the last day, Jillian casually said, "You should spin on the Ladybug." Because she knows me, what I spin, and what I like. And all day, that's all I could think about. Because, of course, my enabler had given me permission to try it out. So at the end of Saturday, I *did* spin on it. And within seconds, was making yarn more effortlessly than ever before. Deep, instant love.

So meet the new Knittyspin wheel, my Ladybug. My birthday present to myself.


The most recognizable feature of this wheel is...the wheel. It's a red bicycle mag wheel [plastic? not sure. will find out]. Did you know that Schacht's other business is building bicycles? Clever people. The treadles look like ladybug wings, and just to make it unbearably cuter, they include a wee ladybug on each wheel [in a unique position] to keep you company while you spin. Here's mine.



I can't stand it.



They ain't kidding.

So, you might ask, what will happen to my Ashford Joy double treadle? Well, it's a really fabulous travel wheel, which is what it was designed for. It went with me as carryon baggage on even the smallest planes [Embraer 4 jets] in the overhead compartment with no trouble. So it's got a very important job to fulfill. I also was able to have Richard Ashford [himself!] tune it up at SOAR, and he signed it, which he was doing for many of the Joy users. Very coolness.

The Ladybug is, their website says, a great beginner wheel. It's also significantly more affordable than the Matchless [which I've heard called the Jaguar of spinning wheels], and therefore more suitable for me, a spinner on a budget. It doesn't fold up, but it is only 12 lbs and very light to carry. I may hang it on the wall in my office to keep it out of bunny-nibble range!

I'll have much more about learning to spin [finally!] on the Joy and will explore the Ladybug more in future editions of my soon-to-be resurrected column, Knittyspin.

the bag...it's finally here!

Do you remember this?

We sure do. We've been talking to Tom Bihn for several years now, giving them our ideas and feedback on their ideas for a new knitting bag design. Well, it's ready and you can finally get one for yourself!



It's called The Swift, and it was named by a clever group of Knitty readers around a big table at a coffeeshop in Toronto. One of them wrote about it on her blog, and she's clearly smitten. Me? I got to test a prototype or two and I'm really impressed with the final bag. Tom Bihn's famous for producing well-made, well-thought-out bags, and now we finally get to benefit from the best of his design expertise blended with what Knitty readers said they really wanted in a bag.

Because you might wonder, we're not involved with Tom Bihn except as cheerleaders and fans of the stuff they make. We don't get a cut of the bags or anything else beyond our prototype samples. We feel lucky to have been asked for our opinions and ideas on the topic, and we're glad to see the final result of our collaboration.

i blame Emily Rachel H

I can't buy these* [Chuck Taylor All Star limited edition, for those not under similar financial restraints], but my covet bone is aching mighty bad. Emily Rachel H, whyfor you tell me about such adorableness? You are cruel! But you were right -- they're amazing. She says they have sheepy ones, too. Oy.

*I'm going to SOAR next month, and it's a damned expensive proposition. Unnecessary spending must be curbed as a result. But oh! Think of how beautifully I will spin when I get home!

stupid eBay tricks

I slipped.

I'd been eyeing cheap white docs, but the shipping made them less cheap. Then I thought about white...who wants white boots, even if they're graffiti'd all over? And while I was thinking that, I stumbled on these. Which I won, thanks to a sniping service [bidnapper.com] while I was at LK this evening. $44. Oh my god.

Mint green patent leather. Old enough to still have been made in England [which, from reading the reviews of current Docs on amazon.com, is a serious consideration -- the new asian-made ones supposedly are not even close to the quality of the old Brits] and barely worn. Lots of pictures in the auction, and I didn't see any wear except that little scuff on the side of the heel.

Will they fit? I think so, but won't be sure till they're here. But with mint green patent leather Docs to wear on my pale green scooter, something tells me I'll MAKE them fit, if it comes to that.

We are the mods.
We are the mods.
We are
we are
we are the mods.

I am so lame.