Tired.

Apparently my Maryland hangover was much more severe than anticipated. I got home last night shortly after 5pm and laid down to take a nap. I didn’t wake up until 9:30pm. Yeah. Not good. That didn’t leave much time for crafty pursuits with a bunny that needed out and a kitty that was kind of wondering where I’d disappeared to all night. So here is a list of random things for a Friday.

1. HWJF and I had an impromptu lunch in lower Manhattan yesterday. I don’t think I’ve been that far downtown since I was 10 years old. I saw this nifty building near city hall:

And the Brooklyn Bridge:

It felt very weird.

2. The month of crazy continues. I have a spinning event tonight and a cranking event tomorrow. I’m not complaining! And I’m really hoping to get some help with the sock machine. It seems like all I do is break the damn yarn halfway through a sock lately.

3. Mother’s Day is Sunday. Eek!

4. Our baby turned 3 months old the other day!

Our big girl has begun to figure out that the fluffy white annoying thing is not leaving. She is not amused.

5. After knitting down so that it would reach a reasonable not bolero-ish length, the bog jacket is finally getting an edging.

I may actually get this thing finished sometime this century. Stay tuned!!

6. Those of you who wanted to know the colorway numbers for some of the skeins of Trekking that I bought in Maryland– Sorry! I really will get them into Ravelry sometime soon. Promise!

7. Only 6 days left to sign up for the Summer of Socks 2008 as a participant! Make sure you get in there soon if you’re going to do it!

Sadly I believe that’s about all I can muster today. I hope you all have a lovely weekend!!

I always seem to come back from fiber festivals absolutely itching to spin. If I was a spindle girl, I probably would have been spinning all the way home this weekend. But alas, I had to wait until I got back to the wheels.

With the fatigue of the weekend finally catching up with me, finishing off two bobbins was about all I had the energy for last night. The first is some merino-tencel in a very light lilac color (despite what your monitor is probably telling you).

It’s pretty easy spinning on the trusty old Schacht. When I had some people over lately I was told I was spinning it “insanely thin”. Perhaps this will be sock yarn, perhaps some lace. I really have no idea at this point. I’ve hit a couple of road bumps with this mostly because the Schacht needs a new drive band and I’ve been too lazy to tie one. I’m also pretty sure that the kitchen cord I bought to replace it is too heavy, so I’m not looking forward to the switch and possibly putting this wheel out of commission until I find something better. *sigh*

The next is some merino/silk from Cloverleaf Farm.

Not my usual color range, but I really love the color variations in this fiber. It goes from a deep red all the way to a light pink with a touch of sheen from the silk. I’m spinning this slightly thicker than the merino-tencel. Still not sure what it will grow up to be though.

I will now end this sad attempt to be even remotely interesting with an equally sad attempt at capturing Stitches’ cuteness. Now that Flickr is doing video I thought I’d give it a try. The only problem was that I kind of forgot that turning the camera on its side would effect how the video came out. So put your head on your own shoulder and enjoy the sights and sounds of Stitches devouring her favorite veggie, parsley!

Another Maryland Sheep and Wool festival is in the books and didn’t disappoint again this year. This was my second time at this particular festival and I enjoyed myself thoroughly. Risa and I drove down Friday night (Thanks for driving again Risa!) so I got some bonus time to work on my new pair of socks (which I still cannot reveal for a bit). Our trip was uneventful (except for that little weasel incident at Cracker Barrel which we shall not discuss) and we settled into our hotel for an early morning the next day.

We arrived at the festival at 8:30am to primo parking and long lines for STR and the festival T-shirts which we avoided carefully. Tess yarns wasn’t quite ready yet so we went off and I did my usual stock up on fiber before 9am. We are power shoppers! After that it was back over to Tess where I picked up four skeins of sock yarn.

The blue one is a new yarn called Peruvian Dream which is a blend of silk, alpaca and merino. Quite yummy! I’ve got colorwork sock ideas bouncing around in my head for these.

The next purchase was the most major for me of the festival. My first fleece!

It’s a 6 lb. cormo fleece and it is incredibly clean and in beautiful condition. It was a bit more expensive than I was expecting, but I think it was totally worth it. Risa is being kind enough to let me borrow her drum carder so that I can mix this baby with some angora when I have it. I think I should experience the process of bringing wool from sheep to yarn so I decided to make the investment. And check out the crimp in this baby!

Beautiful, no?

At this point details begin to get hazy. There was much walking and fondling of fabulous fibers and calculating of budgets. There were also wonderful people sightings! I finally got to meet Carole in person!

It was nice to be able to thank her for three years of SOS help in person!

I also ran into some of my old buds from CT, Sneeksleep and Jenn.

Unfortunately it seems a seriously intermittent case of camnesia set in after that because I know I saw Elinor, Heather, Laura and probably several others throughout the festival, but there is sadly no photographic evidence.

I do have photographic evidence of the NJ Fiber Fanatics meetup on Saturday:

It was really nice to see many of these ladies again since I haven’t been able to get to a spin-in since I moved.

Somewhere along the line there was also a stop at Cloverleaf Farms booth on day one where I picked up some bamboo to spin:

and a little more BFL to add to my collection as well.

After a long day at the festival we went over to Liz’s to say hello and relax for a few hours. I should have gotten pictures of her beautiful cat and dogs too, but obviously I was a bit fried by then.

Then it was off to the Ravelry party where apparently winning something will erase camnesia!

Kim and I both won woolwash! It was a nice party despite the crowding caused by being forced to move inside. If the energy level hadn’t been so low by that time I might have been more social, but it was still fun and rather nice to have something like that provided for all of us I must say.

Day two was much more low key. I finally bought some undyed merino that I had been thinking about all night since Little Barn didn’t have any this time out. It’s pictured here with the other fiber for dyeing.

The final purchase of the festival was four more skeins of sock yarn, Trekking XXL this time because I found a tiny little sign that indicated they were selling it for $3 less than the usual price:

At least two of these are for HWJF and I’m sure nearly all of them will be going on the CSM at the first chance I have to get to it.

Definitely a fun festival overall. I’m still trying to dig out a bit as there were many e-mails and postings for SOS while I was gone. I also came home to a boy with a horrible sunburn and a hell of a hangover from a weekend bachelor party in Miami, Florida. Yeah, when my household goes out to play, we play hard! Hopefully Wednesday’s post will be more punctual. See you then!

Y’all sure know how to make a party happen!! I’m pretty overwhelmed by the response to the Summer of Socks 2008 so far. We had 250 people sign up in the first 24 hours! The Ravelry group is already going strong and many have already joined up over on Flickr too. The donations are starting to roll in as well and I think this is going to be another great year. Take a look at the drop downs on the left to see who is already playing along. And there is still time to join us as a participant or a donor so go sign up!

In the meantime I’ve got another FO for you this week!

XO Socks

Pattern: XO Socks. Made up by me
Yarn: Socks that Rock Mediumweight in Monsoon
Needles: Size 2 addis
Knit: 4/1-4/27/2008

My “emergency” knitting for the Yarn Harlot event in NYC has become an FO! I had fun making these socks and I’m sure the kick off event that started them didn’t hurt! I really didn’t like the colors in this yarn when I first got it in the club last year, but it really grew on me as I knit along.

I used a pretty traditional cable pattern for these as something to keep me a little bit occupied while they were being knit. Luckily HWJF didn’t mind since they would ultimately be for him. I did run into one road block though. I originally put a cable up the center back of the sock, but I didn’t allow for enough extra stitches to compensate for them pulling in the fabric. I discovered this after I finished the first sock and HWJF tried it on. By that time I was already on to the second sock, so I left out the back cable on the second sock and it fit fine. I then took out the bind off of the first sock and laddered down the cable stitches:

I picked them back up in stockinette and I had a finished pair of socks!

The cables have plenty of mistakes design elements, but I wasn’t really looking for perfection in these. The boy has happy feet and that’s all I care about!

There is another sock on the needles, but I will have to share that another day. In the meantime, I am off to Maryland Sheep and Wool with Risa tonight!! I can’t believe it’s finally that time of year!! If you see me, do stop me and say hi. And do a little sun dance, will ya? I don’t want to bring home a wet fleece.

I leave you with a couple of fuzzy critter pics since they have been so lacking this week:

She’s starting to realize that the annoying fluffy white thing isn’t going away.

I can’t believe my little girl is growing up so fast. She’ll be even fluffier when I get back from Maryland!

See you on Monday with a festival report!! Have a great weekend!!

Yes friends, I may be crazy but we’re going to do it again! There are several changes to how things will work once again this year, so please read the following carefully before you decide to sign up. I’ve tried to highlight new things by underlining them.

What is The Summer of Socks?

The Summer of Socks is a two month knitalong* designed to help us celebrate the warm weather while preparing for the day when we’ll want all those cozy socks to keep our feet and those of our loved ones warm again. Socks make a great project for taking on vacation and for keeping us at our hobbies and learning new things in those warm months when you just don’t want a sweater or an afghan on your lap (but I didn’t have to tell you that right?!).

*This along will be exclusively for knitters this year. There has not been enough interest in the past to warrant a separate category for crocheters. Sorry!

When is it?

The along starts on June 21st and ends on September 1st. During the course of the two month along, you can knit as many or as few socks as you like. No pattern requirements, no yarn requirements, do as much or as little as you want! The whole point is to have fun and relax while knitting along with others. The ways in which you choose to participate are completely up to you! But there are some fun ways that can help you make the most of your two months.

Who can play?

Anyone can play who loves knitting socks! The only other rule is that you *must* have either a blog, a Ravelry account and/or a Flickr ID.

The contests

Yes there are contests involved if you want to exercise your competitive spirit while you crank out your new socks.

Most socks contest - For each pair of adult sized socks you knit, you will receive 1 point. Whoever has the most points on September 1st will win a fabulous prize! In order for your socks to count this year, you must post a picture to the Summer of Socks 2008 Ravelry group (and while you’re at it you might as well put them up in Flickr too). Each two week period will have it’s own thread for posting completed socks. (ETA: Please note, the use of a CSM is NOT PERMITTED for this contest. Hand-knits only please!)

Socks on vacation contest - Take your socks on vacation! No matter where you are going to go to relax this year- the back yard, the local pool, the mountains, the ocean or somewhere else- take a picture, include your sock in it and e-mail it to me to enter the contest! Our participants will vote to determine the best picture and the winner will also go away with a fabulous sock-y prize!

Bi-weekly raffle - Every two weeks we will have a random drawing of all the pairs of socks completed during the given two week period. For each pair of adult socks completed in the two week period you will receive one entry into the drawing. The winner, drawn at random, will win a socktacular prize! In order to qualify, a picture of your completed pair of socks should be posted to the proper thread in the Ravelry group for the given two week period.

*****PLEASE NOTE! Each of these contests must have at least 15 people entered in order for the contest to run. NO EXCEPTIONS!!!*****

Spin-off groups - This year I would like to encourage those of you with an interest to create your own spin-off groups as part of the along. Would you like to organize a swap? Coordinate a charitable effort? E-mail me at Zarzuelaknits [at] gmail [dot] com with a proposal. If approved, you will be given your own thread in the Ravelry group for coordinating your spin-off group. You will take on full responsibility for all efforts to coordinate your group and its success or failure, so please consider carefully before creating such a group.

Ready to sign up?

Signups are OPEN NOW and will close on May 15th. Since we have Ravlery and Flickr this year, there will not be a separate along blog. I will be posting updates and links to all the participants right here on my personal blog.

Want to be a sponsor??

If you are a vendor of materials that might be of interest to the members of this along and would like to make a prize donation, please sign up for that on the donors page. You’ll find full instructions there and I am happy to answer any questions you may have. Feel free to e-mail me at Zarzuelaknits [at] gmail [dot] com.

Questions about the along and how it works? Please post a comment and I will answer it here so all may benefit.

So are you ready to sign-up?? Then click HERE!!!

Looking forward to another fantastic summer of sock knitting!

And once again this year, we all need to say a huge THANK YOU to Risa for her coding magic that made all the sign up stuff happen. THANK YOU RISA!!!!

My big event of the weekend was attending the wedding of a certain favorite blogger:

It was a lovely event and the weather behaved for the most part although it was a touch on the cold side. We had a wonderful time and in the beautiful surroundings it was the perfect occasion to get FO pictures of Adamas (I knew Kristy would understand!).

Adamas Shawl

Pattern: Adamas by Miriam L. Felton
Yarn: Some handspun I finished at bassoon camp last year. Fiber from the Little Barn.
Needles: Size 4 Knitpicks Harmony Circs
Knit: 3/30-4/26/2008

This was a really nice pattern to knit. It reminds me of my Kiri Shawl in a lot of ways. The shawl is constructed in a similar manner and the motifs seem to flow in much the same way. Perhaps this pattern is slightly more complicated because of the diamond within a diamond motif, but it really isn’t all that difficult.

I have to say that I did enjoy knitting this with my own handspun. The yarn has a bounce that it didn’t loose during the blocking. While it may be slightly thicker than the pattern called for in places, I think it worked out well and gave me a shawl of a very reasonable size that I can wrap around me without much problem.

The knitpicks needles were a good combination here as well. They were pointy enough for the more complicated stitches but not so much that they were splitting the handspun in all the wrong places.

Believe it or not, this actually made a pretty good train project once I got familiar with the main chart. It was complex enough to keep me engaged with the knitting, but not so bad that I couldn’t do it on the train without annoying my fellow passengers with a heavy duty chart moving around.

I’m very happy with the end result and would highly recommend this pattern to anyone interested in knitting lace. Give it a go when you can!

1. Today is your last chance to get your entries for the contest in! Do it now!

2. I’ve gotten some really great entries. It’s going to be hard to decide! I think I may ask permission to make them all available to participants so they can choose a favorite after I select a winner.

3. I saw this in the bookstore yesterday.

There was a point in my life that I really thought I was going to *be* that action figure! I wonder if there’s a crazy cat and bunny lady action figure?!?

4. Spring is hands down my favorite season. There’s just something about growth and renewal that makes me happy. I took this picture at lunch in Bryant park yesterday.

There are lots of flowers popping up in my own back yard that I hope to get some quick pictures of this weekend.

5. I took this picture in the park yesterday too.

It isn’t quite right on my monitor, but I really loved the contrast of the two colors. Expect this to land in a dyepot sometime soon.

6. I have exactly one weekend day that I do not already have plans for between now and the time I go on vacation at the end of May. Ugh. Many of the things I have planned are fun… but still. That’s crazy! If I am babbling incomprehensively by the end of next month, you’ll know why.

7. Thanks for the comments on the dental floss trick in the last post. A word of warning, watch that first row of knitting after you add the lifeline. That dental floss is sticky and can work itself out! Ask me how I know…

8. One week from today Risa and I leave for Maryland Sheep and Wool!! WOO HOO!!! (I told you some of the things were fun!)

9. Stitches likes carrots with the top on.

Simba likes to beat up toys that were meant for Stitches.

10. Believe it or not, I bound off Adamas at MYSnB last night (to many cheers, thanks ladies)! She will be blocked tonight and may just make her debut at a special event this weekend.

Have an awesome weekend everyone!

Psst! Don’t forget you only have a couple of days left to enter the contest! I’ve only got one entry so far so your chances of winning an awesome prize are pretty darn good! Get those entries in!

Thanks for all the kind and interesting comments on my Earth Day post from yesterday! I wasn’t entirely sure how that was going to go over, and it was nice to see it met with some enthusiasm. Sometimes I just throw stuff out there on the old blog and hold my breath until the feedback starts. It’s always nice when it’s positive!

Despite my issues with the Bog Jacket, not all my knitting has been so difficult lately. As Spring has been popping up around me, Adamas has been growing!

This has actually been a really pleasant knit. I think the handspun yarn combined with the color and the pattern is working out quite nicely. The yarn has a good bounce and will probably take the heavy blocking this piece will require quite well. There are a few weak parts I’m slightly concerned about, but I know enough to be careful.

Adamas has been going to work with me lately. The chart isn’t so complicated that it’s impossible for train knitting. I really shouldn’t even need it at this point, but I just always seem to need to look at it to get those first few stitches going. After that I usually don’t need it again until the end of the row.

And holy geez are these rows getting long! It look the entire first leg of my train ride into work the other day to get through one purl row. Yikes! I was hoping to finish this up for a special event this coming weekend, but I just don’t think I’m going to make it. As of this writing I have one more repeat to go of the main pattern, then the final 12 rows and the bindoff. I even inserted a lifeline at the end of the last repeat (mostly because I did not want another episode of what happened with Kiri last year!), just in case I find myself without enough yarn for all that. It was easy with the knitpicks needles since they have that little hole to slip some dental floss into. I never understood what people meant by that until I got the needles, so here’s a picture:

Clicky to biggie as always.

I suppose I could get it done if I ignore everything else…

… but how could anyone ignore those faces!!

Happy Earth Day everyone!! I’ve done a lot of thinking in the last couple of months about my personal impact on the planet and have taken a few small steps to start to minimize that impact. Many of my changes have been fueled and assisted by the Greencraft group on Ravelry. The people there are highly knowledgeable about these things and have shared a great deal of advice and personal experience on the boards. Do check it out!

So, I thought I’d share a few of the things I’ve been doing with you today since it seemed appropriate. Here’s my list in no particular order:

* A few months back we changed all our light bulbs to compact fluorescents. We did this in the old apartment and didn’t throw away the old bulbs. When we left, we replaced the compact fluorescents with the old bulbs and put the CFLs in place in our new place. We’ve noticed a bit of savings on our electric bill which was a nice side effect. I also try to be very aware of turning lights off when I leave a room and nag gently remind HWJF to do the same.

* We bought a digital thermostat and installed it. It’s programmable for wakeup, leave, return and bedtime for week days and weekends. The highest we allow the temperature to go is 68 degrees Fahrenheit and we go down to 58 at night during the winter, which is two degrees lower than recommended by the manufacturer. We no longer have central air, so it won’t help us this summer unfortunately.

* I’ve nearly totally eliminated using harsh, store bought household cleansers. I keep a little bit of bleach around because of the dyeing I do, but only use it sparingly. As a surface cleaner I use a mixture of white vinegar, water and lemon juice. It works on just about everything (even mirrors) and the smell goes away as soon as the surface is dry. Straight vinegar works for really tough spots. It’s nice to know that switching to this kind of cleaner also makes my house safer for my pets. It’s been another cost cutter too.

* After our recent move I started a vermicompost bin in the basement. We compost a great deal of our food waste this way, which has the nice side effect of making the trash less stinky and not needing to go out as often. We keep a small container in the fridge to put the waste in until worm feeding day (about once a week). For those in the NYC area, you can get a bin like mine and some worms at the Union Square Greenmarket by contacting this group. Another nice side effect to this kind of composting is that I need shredded paper for the bedding, so I bring home stuff from work that isn’t otherwise recycled and get rid of the non-shiny paper from the junk mail this way too.

* I think long and hard before I purchase something “new”. I’ve made good use of Craigslist and Freecycle in the past (and need to put more things up on Freecycle come to think of it) to give away things that might otherwise end up in the landfill.

* I try to buy things like yogurt in large containers so there is less packaging material. I pack my lunch for work on a daily basis and I use reusable containers and wrapping to make smaller portions for my daily snacks and other foods that I bring along with me.

* We bring cloth, reusable shopping bags to the grocery store with us. I used to think my mother was an idiot for doing this, but it turns out I was the idiot for not doing it! Some of them I’ve gotten at conferences, some my mother has sewn for us some have come from other sources. A lot of grocery stores are giving us a few cents back for bringing our own bags now which is nice. I also throw a small one in my commuting bag for times I have to buy things while I’m at work. The other nice side effect is that it makes it easier to bring the groceries in the house since we can throw the bags over a shoulder to carry them!

* I take public transit to work except for the trip from my house to the train station. If the local bus system was more reliable, I’d be doing that too.

* A few months ago I started trying the oil cleansing method. When I’m consistent, I’m actually quite happy with the results and my skin has looked a lot better than when I was using store bought cleaners. It’s taken a bit of tinkering, but I’m finding a blend of castor oil and sunflower oil to be working pretty well. I also use tea tree oil to help control breakouts (I just wish it smelled better!).

* I use naturally made soaps in the shower instead of store bought body washes. I’m looking forward to visiting the GotSoap.com booth at Maryland to stock up!

* We’ve switched to environmentally friendly hand soaps and laundry soap readily available at our Trader Joes. We use their dishwasher soap too.

* We wired our apartment to make sure that all non-essential items turn completely off when not in use through the use of surge bars. No more having the wireless router running all the time or the little light on the DVD player pulling power for no reason (these are called “Phantom Drains” in some of the literature I’ve read and can cost big bucks over time). We also liberally unplug things where surge protectors are not practical (think coffee pot, toaster, bread machine).

* I switched to an earth friendly deodorant. I’m still experimenting with trying to find one I really like though (that sounds kind of bad, but I assure you I am not in danger of offending anyone with my personal odors!).

* We buy mostly organic produce. Part of that was fueled by the arrival of Stitches, but we had done some of that before she came into our lives. Even small amounts of chemicals can be dangerous for rabbits. When I don’t think I can afford to buy all organic, I try to focus on items that travel the farthest, like bananas.

Here are some things that I hope to do in the future:

* Buy a more fuel efficient vehicle.
* I’d like to try getting rid of my shampoo and conditioner all together and use a baking soda wash and apple cider vinegar rinse instead. There’s a lot of information on this in the Greencraft group.
* Once I use up my current cosmetics I plan on switching to organic brands. No more rubbing lead on my lids for me!
* If we can ever afford to buy our own house, I’d love to investigate solar power as an energy source or possible geothermal heat. Sadly I think the price of both these alternatives will have to come way down before they will be affordable for the average joe.
* Once we run out of our current supply of paper napkins, I plan to switch to cloth. The amount of virgin forest cut down for toilet paper and napkins is sickening.

I’d also like to suggest some reading for you all. I found this book very informative, inspiring and well researched.

Organic housekeeping : in which the nontoxic avenger shows you how to improve your health and that of your family while you save time, money, and, perhaps your sanity / by Sandbeck, Ellen.
ISBN: 0743256204
9780743256209

This book gives specific recipes for cleaning products and talks about ways to detoxify your home. I was really shocked when I discovered how much easier and cheaper a lot of her ideas were than the things the general media would like you to believe are “making your life better and easier”. Definitely worth checking out.

I hope you’ve found this post interesting and informative as well! We are by no means perfect and there are many more things we can probably be doing, but this is a start. I’d love to hear about your ideas and things that you are doing to minimize your impact on the planet. Do share in the comments! And go hug a tree today!

Remember the troubles I described with the body of the Bog Jacket last week? How the body was not in the right proportion compared with the sleeves? Well I made a shocking discovery this weekend.

42 is not half of 166.

I know! Amazing isn’t it?!?!

You see my “key number” is 166. I was supposed to knit half that many rows for the body. 42 ain’t it. Yes people, I have some mad math skillz!

The only thing I can think of is that I wasn’t counting the garter ridges correctly. Yeah, that’s it.

In the meantime I have picked up stitches from the cast on and am knitting down. No pictures yet. We’ll see what happens.

The blow of this was softened by a lovely weekend where Anne, Juno, Risa and Nancy were kind enough to spend a few hours with me on Saturday. No photographic evidence thanks to a raging case of Camnesia I’m sad to say. Thanks for a fun time ladies!!

I leave you with the obligatory kitty and bunny photos:

Cooling off.

Trying to figure out what that other weird cat with the big ears is doing.