Knitting, houses, and dinner, oh my

Not ONLY do I get to knit all the way to Milwaukee and back this weekend, AND look at what might be THE house, Mr. Beth has revealed his secret plans to take me out to dinner tonight.

Unfortunately I couldn’t find any jeans that fit me, and I suspect they snuck back to Ohio in Mom’s suitcase. But then I had a flash of inspiration, and cracked the lid on the Enormous Blue Bucket of clothes I had hauled up from the basement a few days ago.

Non-Maternity Clothes. Including three pairs of size 12 jeans. Which I now fit into.

I won’t go modeling again anytime soon, but I am happy. Now to select the knitting projects for the van ride. Oh yes, and change diapers and pack overnight bags for the kids. That kind of stuff.

Stash Swap is at Melanie’s, 6pm Eastern tonight. And you won’t believe what the lucky winning bidder could get, so good luck Ann K and Stephanie, have your keyboards ready!

Oh yeah…I wasn’t planning to see Harlot at St. Paul. I am husbandless during the week, and I would have to take all four kids on a three-hour drive each way just to see her….on a school night. Let’s just say this would not make the best impression. Instead I am trying to convince her to attend the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival in September, by which time I hope to be living within 30 minutes of said festival. I hope to lure her with New Glarus Spotted Cow and piles of fresh squeaky cheese. Maybe I should start sending samples of these items to Jayme-the-wonder-publicist. Will the Wisconsin knitters who go to St. Paul and get to talk to her help me plead my case? I think I’ve hijacked her comments about it as many times as I dare.

Welcome to Knitsville, population us

Yes, I just blasted through the Harlot’s new book last night. (Thanks, kids, for being happy to have cold leftover pizza for dinner.) I’m starting again today so I can etch it deeper in my brain.

It’s not a book for Muggles, and maybe not for new knitters. But it’s a wonderful book for Knitters, those of us who are already entrenched, addicted, and loving it all. It’s funny and clever and makes you laugh out loud for a variety of reasons. The illustrations are inspired, and the travel quotes are so apt. The whole package is so well put together it makes me think, Gee, maybe I should just send my ideas to these people instead of being a small publisher myself.

The only thing I miss is an index so I can look up all my favorite parts again and again. But I’m always missing an index when I read knitting or craft books. So it’s quite possible that it could just be me. And maybe the Tsarina, too. And Ruth. But other than that.

With that and the new Vogue Knitting in my wooly hands, I feel all wrapped up in the knitting world. Mr. Beth has volunteered to do all the driving this weekend so that I can knit in the van. I got some supplies this morning to start putting together the working copy of my craft store directory. I’m within sight of the fourth skein for the Moebius. I’m full of ideas for experimenting with my own designs. I’m reading the second Maggie Sefton knitting murder mystery. And I’m hoping to visit a new yarn store this weekend.

And, I made cherry chocolate chip cookies yesterday. Give me a Coke in a glass bottle and all’s right with the world. Wait a minute….

Ahh.

(Oh yeah, props to the first person who gets the reference in the title.)

Look! Look! Looky look look!

The new book is in. The cashier remarked upon how quickly I made it to the bookstore to pick it up. My goodness, I was thinking it took forever to get the kids in the van, drive to school, wait for JC to come out (knitting four rows on the Moebius — fastest knitting I’ve ever done without a mistake), then make it through traffic to the other end of town.

Even then, I had to gild the lily with the new Vogue Knitting.

I am already on page 34, even though I am trying desperately to read slowly and savor every word. But what can I say? She is right on, she is dead funny, the illustrations are fantastic. (I want the passport from page 20, and I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before someone makes them.)

And my throat is sore and I am losing my voice. From shrieking with glee, from singing 80’s songs in the car, and from laughing with what I identify as recognition with the knitting community. Two years ago I read KnitLit and longed to be one of you. Now here I am, in the very Land of Knitting that Steph describes.

I love my new home.

I can write with string, sort of

Remember what the Harlot said in Knitting Rules! about being so dim as to be fascinated by self-patterning sock yarn? Well, try it with separate solid colors and see how dim you feel.

Unfortunately, with this kind of knitting it’s the back of the work which exposes how truly dim you are.

It’s a lousy photo that, if it weren’t lousy, would show why you’re not supposed to carry color for a billion stitches. The front says LEGO because I made it say LEGO. No matter how the back is weeping. (The needle is pointing at a strand of yarn that must cross ten stitches.)

For a couple of rows, there, though, I think I was actually using the proper technique. Then I got to where I had to add blue in for the top of the O and the G and the E, and I just kind of shoved it in there. I bossed my knitting around too much, and I really should figure out how to do it properly. For this project, I think I’ll put the live stitches on scrap yarn, then start another scarf end. Whenever I have two good ends, I can keep knitting and graft them together in the middle. But this isn’t one of those ends.

Stash Swap Week continues today at Lauren’s place, where I’ll be hanging out at swap time just for the hell of it, since I can’t bid. But I am curious to see which of the two lots will be chosen. It’s kind of like being in junior high school again, picking sides in gym class. Which unwanted specimen will be next to last, and which will be last? I’ve done my time as the unwanted specimen, so of course I want them both.

I must be secretly stressed…I find myself snacking constantly even when I’m not hungry, and planning on baking chocolate chip cookies. My week as a Flylady has me confident that I can take the small steps to clean things up, but two weeks off the Flylady wagon has robbed me of any sense of urgency about getting back on. Plus, I probably have about 100 of her e-mails clogging things up. I really should unsubscribe, after I make those cookies.

Next on the list

Okay, so I’m going to get to see a house this weekend. Mr. Beth thinks it might be the house, our house.

In order to get to it, of course, I will have to travel from Point to Tosa on Saturday and I would very much like to check another Wisconsin LYS off my list. It would help if it were close to either I-43 or I-39 (or, I guess, I-94 between Madison and Milwaukee). Verona is too far out of the way, so sorry, Sow’s Ear. But I will get there eventually, oh yes I will.

Any suggestions? Oh, and if Mr. Beth is doing the driving, I will probably be working on the Moebius or the Irish Hiking Scarf.

See you at Lauren’s place tomorrow for the next round of Stash Swap.

What does this look like to you?

And the quickest swapper is….

Post your swap bid here…let me know which lot you want, and what you have to offer. First bid after noon Eastern is the winner, who then needs to host the next swap at her blog.

Good luck!

LYS listings

Oh, in case you didn’t notice, I added a list of Wisconsin LYSs I’ve been to, just under the Knitalongs. Note that this does not list every LYS in Wisconsin. Just the ones I’ve been to, that have web sites. I am working on it becoming a list of every LYS in Wisconsin. So if you know some that I don’t, remember (or know, now) that I am compiling a statewide directory of craft stores, and would like to include them all. And please please please tell me about them! (This also goes for beading, quilting, scrapbooking, and rubberstamping.)

The directory itself was to be published this year but I have pushed that back to next June to make it extra wonderful. If you’d like to contribute information about stores, or verify existing information, let me know. If you’d like to preorder, let me know that too. More information will be provided when my commercial website is updated.

Thanks! We now return you to the regularly scheduled stash swap.

Stash swap roll call!

It’s Stash Swap Week! Sound off today if you want to be included! I have the following people already signed up:

• Lauren
• Melanie
• Michele
• Ann K.
• Stephanie

I’m going to list my stash lots now, give everyone time to mull over what they want and what they’re willing to give for it, then tomorrow take bids. How is noon Eastern for a common bid time, since we can all figure out when that is?

Lot 1: DMC Senso

This is a 70 percent cotton, 30 percent wool blend crochet thread in grey heather. Worked with, but frogged and carefully rewound onto the ball. Color Number 1305, Lot Number 72392. 100 yards, 29 grams.

Lot 2: Red Heart Grey Heather

This is 5 ounces (141 grams), or 278 yards (254 m) of worsted weight acrylic in grey heather. Never used. Dye Lot is number 106 0528 2.

Lot 3: Red Heart Blue Camo

This is another 5 oz (141 g) skein of Red Heart acrylic, in the blue camo multicolor. Never used. I bought it for a camo hoodie pullover for Jack, but it doesn’t match my other skeins’ dye lots. This Dye Lot number is 5505 4 6 2.

Lot 4: Reynolds Lite-Lopi

I have two skeins of this 100 percent wool. One skein was knitted up into a partial sock, then frogged and rewound (the one that looks like a sweet potato). The other skein is untouched. Each skein is 50 grams and about 109 yards. Color is 0422, Lot is 7438. It’s a lovely evergreen color.

Lot 5: Fun Fur Free-For-All!

This lot contains a variety of fun fur yarns leftover from my chemo cap period. Two 50g skeins Moda Dei Dream (3705 pink, lot 612; 3503 plum, lot 978). About 25 g Lion Brand Fun Fur, black. About 30g (???) Lion Brand Microspun, electric turquoise blue. Two partial skeins of teal and lavender fun fur, ball bands hiding. You might be able to knit 4-6 hats out of this lot.

That’s all I have for now for the Stash Swap. If you are not listed above, please e-mail me at wicrafter AT charter DOT net by the end of the day. Bidders, be ready at noon Eastern tomorrow. I’ll accept the first bid posted to the blog, then that bidder will offer lots from their stash at their blog the next day, with whatever terms and times they like. After a whole round of swaps, let’s mail our packages and see where we stand.

New goodies:

No, I didn’t make that sweater with those needles. The rosewood needles I picked up from Black Purl in Wausau yesterday. They just looked cool. Mr. Beth drove me up there to get patterns for the Patrick sweater (yes, Ann K, I bought it because of you!) and the Let’s Twist Again sweater and I just had to have them. I’m thinking of buying special needles from each Wisconsin yarn store so I can remember the event (yes, visiting an LYS is an event for me) every time I knit.

The sweater is one my Mom brought with her when she visited, so I have a reference for size and style when I knit her a sweater. I don’t even have to do the Fair Isle, just find the right cranberry heather yarn. When I saw this sweater, I immediately thought, “I have to learn how to use EPS and do this EZ style.” I tried to describe it to Mom, and she was amazed that I might be able to knit a seamless sweater.

Back in the saddle

I’m finding out the hard way that if I fall off the blogging wagon, I just lie there on the dusty trail for a long time. So today it’s time to get back onto my horse (as it were) and ride.

Mom had a good visit, helped me out a ton, and is probably landing in Columbus right now. Wait until she unpacks and finds her Patons Astra, plus a pair of bamboo single-points and three books on how to knit! (You’re welcome, Mom!)

I just spent about half an hour trying to rake up more of the thatch from the front yard. I quit when I got a sharp pain in my lower back. But I filled one contractor bag with leaves and I really need to do this so we can seed and feed the yard and make the house look much better from the street.

JC is back at school. When I came back from the airport with Colleen I was momentarily surprised that only Tom and Jack were hanging out with Mr. Beth, who took today off. Oh yeah, that’s right, I’m the one who dropped him off at school. It’s been a loooong spring break, folks.

I have been trying to check in every day and find out how Represent! went for Steph. It sounds like it was really wonderful and I have been carrying my copy of Knitting Rules! around with me to give some sort of support. Or get some sort of support, I’m not sure which. I called the bookstore on Wednesday to see if the new book was in yet, and they said, “Well, did we call you to tell you it was in?” Well, no… “We’ll call you.” Muggles. They mean well, but they don’t understand yet.

I have been getting e-mails from those of you who want to sign up for a stash swap. I’ll post the list of names tomorrow. Lauren wanted to know what quantities we were talking about here. I would think we should keep the dye lots together and do the best we can to trade even amounts by quantity. I think we can agree that if you want five skeins of alpaca you should offer about five skeins total of something (or somethings) else. So when you make your lists of what you have available, indicate how many skeins are in the group.

I’ll post my list tonight so you can have a better idea of what I mean, and if you have suggestions on a better way to do it, please speak up! This should be a simple, clear swap, not something that gets bogged down in detail.

I’ll also post progress pictures tonight too, so you’ll get something to look at. Mr. Beth has promised to drive us around at lunchtime today so I can get some knitting time, and I’m hoping to make it to Skein Four for the Moebius.

Oh, and Lisa? I finished Dirk Gently. I’m going to make copies of the relevant pages (Richard’s article, and where Richard discusses his article, and the section about Anthem) so I can keep this in my head.

I have a plan

If you’re struggling with Knit From Your Stash or would just like a change of scenery in your woolly landscape, I am developing a plan for a sort of round-robin stash swap.

There is time for you to go through what you have and figure out exactly what you’re willing to part with. Go ahead and make a list of what it is, and how much you have (by weight and length).

Here’s the draft of the plan; if you have suggestions for how to improve it, please fire away.

1. Please send me an e-mail (this happens when you post a comment) telling me you want to participate in a stash swap. I’ll reply by e-mail and you can send me your mailing address off-blog.

2. On a designated day, I will post what I’m willing to swap. The first person who claims a yarn group from me will be the next person who offers swap yarn at their blog.

3. If you have received yarn, you’re done for the swap. Feel free to comment and encourage, but you must sit out on yarn-claiming.

4. I’ll get to pick my swap yarn from the last person in the circle.

5. If everyone wants to do a second round, we can!

6. I want to shoot for April 1 as the mailing day, so we can all be eagerly anticipating our yarn at the same time.

Comments? Bring them on! Let’s make this fun.