something sparkly this way comes… » yarn

Tenterhooks. I am on them.

bipolarbear — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 02:56:29 +0000

The last piece of information has been submitted, and it looks like Monday is the day I’ll find out. I have done everything that I can have done to grease the way, and must now wait.

I’m off work tomorrow, and will spend a portion of it at the fourth birthday party of my delectable niece. Upon arriving home, I imagine that I will attack my office with high abandon and perhaps even make room for all of the beads that are currently ensconced on our otherwise lovely dining room table. Most of my stash is living in the sturdy and quite lovely fabric-covered storage boxes from The Container Store. At present, I have seven different colors/patterns and am trying to keep some semblance of control over the stash by keeping all the purple in one box, all the red in another, neutrals, etc. However, after installing ten feet of birch and white elfa shelving on the far wall of my office (all by my ownself!), I deposited *quite* a lot of sock yarn into the sliding drawers, dk weight into another, bulky, yet another. WIPs found a home in another drawer. I added these Colibri sachets to fend off Der Stinkin Moths. I’d prefer something fragrance-free in deference to the asthma-stricken Princess Pyewacket, but the fragrance is what keeps the moths at bay, so I may as well have a scent that pleases me. They contain “100% pure natural botanical essences from tea tree, vetiver, peppermint, lemongrass, neem, and others in a fine sandalwood powder base.” Neem? I lined up my knitting books and pamphletted patterns above the leather dresser shelf workspace, am thinking about a binder for my page-protected patterns, notions found a one-runner drawer to call home.

I’m feeling manic, more than a little. If I sound so to you, please don’t hesitate to let me know.

On turning forty

bipolarbear — Tue, 06 May 2008 17:15:15 +0000

I am having a hard time reconciling the fact that Friday, May 2d, I turned 40. Where has the time gone? I’m not where I thought I’d be.

To that end, I signed up for a jewelry design class at the Westchester Arts Workshop, which is affiliated with Westchester Community College. It is a for-credit class, so it will add to my paltry and widespread transcript. Jewelry design is something I’ve always been interested in, more consistently that any other field in my life. I began at age eight in summer camp, making crude (at first) copper jewelry with Red, the scary (to everyone but me) and ancient Silver Shop teacher. She resembled quite closely the shrunken apple head dolls she made with other kids. With her permission (and that of my parents), I quickly progressed on to working in sterling silver, setting stones (in particular a large picture jasper for Nanny, my father’s jewelry-loving mother), forging a linked bracelet (which I summarily lost playing soccer), each link by hand, never fusing two links together but soldering each one individually. I was Red’s pet, and I worked in the shop a huge lot of the time I was there. Each summer I returned, for six years, to work under the wing of the ever-more wizened, sharp-minded old woman. I continued on in high school, taking Advanced Jewelry Design with Diana, the eccentric art teacher. It escapes me what I produced in high school. Damned Wellbutrin.

To celebrate my fortieth, my father and stepmother provided G and I with a weekend of decadence. A weekend at the Waldorf=Astoria (don’t ask me why they put in an equals sign instead of a hyphen), including the horrifically expensive room service (see photo to see what a $100 breakfast looks like. There are four tea bags there). An amazing dinner with them Friday night at Daniel. “Passing Strange” at the Belasco Theater Saturday night. “Walking-around money” to do with what I would. I had some plans for us in the in-between time; Bodies…The Exhibition down at the South Street Seaport with maybe an excursion to Seaport Yarn, more yarn shopping, perhaps at Purl (we didn’t get there, only Stitches East). My allergies were totally kicking my ass and G’s were as well, so we moseyed down to Battery Park after the Seaport to relax on the green. I conked out for an hour and a half while G read. An exhausting, but fun weekend.

Edited to add: This is what G gave me for my fortieth; the most amazing stop sign ever. 5/8 carat total weight in brilliant, baguette, and radiant-cut diamonds in 14k white gold. No one else is wearing one of these!

Yarn, a job, and Ravelry Knitters for Obama

bipolarbear — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 20:51:47 +0000

Step, step, step, step, THUD! Sounds of the postman bringing knitterly joy to my porch. My package arrived from The Loopy Ewe with the half skein of Blue Parrot. Now I can ﬁnish my father’s socks! I had apprised him of the status (unﬁnished, waiting on yarn) and he said he’d forgotten about them! Bad Daddy.

Wednesday I called W. to follow up on the job interview, the one where we had talked salary and they told me that they “don’t see any reason not to hire you.” They just had to do the background check, and then they’d get right back to me. Wednesday made it six days. There’s nothing in my past that would ever come back to haunt me on a background check, but even still, that long a wait had me worried. Did they talk to people who didn’t like me? Was there anything in my “permanent record” that I didn’t realize was there? The time when I was four and took an extra cracker in preschool, was that in there? Holy shit, I was getting more and more wound up. When I ﬁnally called, I was really on edge. Not to worry, I was told, there was just “one more piece of checking they had to do” and that would be it (they are a jewelry store, they have to be thorough), and they’d call me the next day, but they were “deﬁnitely going to bring me on board.” I squee’d very loudly, scared the cats, and ran into G’s ofﬁce for a hug.

The next day, the manager called, and we made an appointment for 3:30 for me to come in and sign paperwork. Then came the job of ﬁnding clothes to wear. The three months I’ve been out of work I’ve been sitting on my ever-spreading ass, and it showed. The outﬁt I picked wasn’t ideal, but I’d have my coat on. “Where’s the flood?” G asked of my nearly capri-length pants. “They’re supposed to look like that!” Problem is, they never used to look like that when I was thinner. Oy. I stuck with the pants anyway, and went.

An hour after I arrived, all the paperwork was ﬁnished and signed, and I’d read the dress code and code of conduct. The dress code was going to (again) be a sticky wicket. It is more professional than what I had to wear at C., and I am heavier anyway. I drove to the nearest Dress Barn Woman for some help. They’re having a suit sale, and while I was initially against the idea of a suit (too restricting), the saleswoman quickly showed me how versatile it could be. I picked out a stylish black pantsuit, several tops, a black skirt with pink embroidery, some black and some brown socks, and three jackets. They gave me a 20% off coupon for one item, the suit was on sale for $40 off, the socks were 4 for $10, and they cajoled me into signing up for a Dress Barn charge. “Even if you don’t get approved, you get an additional 10% off.” I capitulated. There’s a check coming in the mail this week and I’ll pay off the charge right away. I saved $117.84 all told, and I’ll be able to mix and match with what I already have that still ﬁts.

I joined the Knitters for Obama group on Ravelry, since I’ve ﬁnally made my decision on whom to support. I’ve had a “Barack Obama – President 2008″ bumper sticker on my little Jetta since W got reëlected back in ‘04 (it covers up the “Defend America – Defeat Bush” sticker that no longer applied), and I’ve been explaining his attraction for a long time. I think what confuddled me was that I felt slightly traitorous in wanting to support him versus Hillary, she’s a woman, it would go against my gender, I have a slight crush on her husband, you know, important reasons. Watching the L.A. debate, I ﬁnally made up my mind. Their policy differences are so slight (except that he’s been against the war from the very beginning), and he’s so fucking inspiring, is what did it. Maybe he’ll ask her to be his Vice President? They’re both championing my main cause, health care. You couldn’t ﬁnd a better pair to run this country.

There’s a Ravelry Knitters for Obama group donation thingie where we’re raffling off some pretty neat prizes. One is a wicked cool group afghan that Jenean started a KAL for, it should be awesome! If you’re not yet on Ravelry (my god, man, get to it!) email me and I’ll send you a list of the prizes. Meanwhile, you can click on the link above to donate to the cause, tickets are $5 each (but the minimum donation is $10). I’ve made a set of eight stitch markers to donate, I think I’ll make more. Hopefully someone will want to win them!

Mmm…baby alpaca…

bipolarbear — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 15:05:59 +0000

And from Plymouth Yarns of all places! I bought two skeins of their Bristol Yarn Gallery Buckingham 80% baby alpaca, 20% silk. A total bargain for $7.99 for approximately 218 yards (50g). I bought one skein in a soft chartreuse and one in a lovely cream. I’m going to knit myself the shortest of the stocking caps in the Whimsical Hats pattern from Blue Sky that I bought yesterday at Flying Fingers. Stripey for me, solid blue for G. I looove alpaca. It’s soft and yummy. From the BSA ball band: “Alpaca is a rare, small, curious, and intelligent ﬁber-producing camelid sheared once a year for the most luxurious ﬁber in the world. Alpaca ﬁber is warmer, stronger, softer, and lighter-weight than wool!” (grammatical errors and typos ﬁxed by yours truly). Looking at the yardages though, I’m thinking I can get away with maybe even the medium stocking cap (218 x 2 = 436 yds vs. 120 x 2 = 240 yds), I’ll just keep knitting until I run out.

I was afraid of falling into the sock yarn while I was up at Cornwall and fall I did, if only a little ways. Here is Sakura from Bluestocking Yarns, inspired by Memoirs of a Geisha: “I thought of the petals I’d thrown into the Kamo River shallows…imagining they might ﬁnd their way to the Chairman. It seemed to me that, somehow, perhaps they had.” I ﬁnd myself actually not just stash-enhancing now, but buying for speciﬁc projects. Does this mean I’m becoming a more responsible knitter? Is that such a bad thing?

After watching the Repugnican debate (most of which I slept through), I decided to cast on for G’s hat. Imagine my surprise when I realized that I had forgotten how to cast on any other way than the simple loop method! I quickly checked out YouTube and found some fuzzy, stuttery videos looking like they’d been shot using Skype. No help there. I went upstairs to tell G that I was having troubles and could he help. “But I don’t know anything about knitting!” he protested. “Yeah, but you’re really smart.” No dice. I ended up hunting up the Lucy Neatby DVDs I’d bought after her sock class last summer. Was I thoughtful enough to buy the Knitting Essentials DVD with basics on it? Yes I was! Minutes later I had two versions to play with, plus the bonus tip of doubling my tail to eight times’ length to create a super-strong and stretchy edge. Just perfect for a hat. The pattern calls for 144 co sts, but I may increase that to 168 (24″ circumference x 7 sts per inch). I could listen to Lucy all day. I’m going to go put the DVD in the player downstairs and watch her on the big screen.

—–

On this day: pms 2006

Half skeins?!?

bipolarbear — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 02:58:11 +0000

You have GOT to check out The Loopy Ewe. Not only do they have like a zillion colors of Colinette Jitterbug, but they also sell HALF SKEINS. That’s right, because one skein isn’t quite enough and two is just overkill. So I got myself a half skein of Blue Parrot to ﬁnish off my dad’s Chanukah socks (about two inches to go). They bill themselves as “your online source for sock yarns, patterns, and fun accessories.” I restrained myself and only bought what I needed at this moment (I have a Blue Sky Alpacas Whimsical Cap for G that needs knitting up, not even on the needles yet, but there’s the yarn at right, and I’m busy with Crazy4Dyeing’s “You Look Wonderful Tonight” socks, my toe-up recipe). I have it on good authority that they ship Priority Mail, so I’m looking at gratiﬁcation within the week. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the size Addis that I need (Flying Fingers only had one size zero in the 24″ length. I bought it.), so it looks like I’m calling Cornwall again tomorrow. Not that I dislike that shop, I likes it fine, and they’ve moved into new quarters, I just end up falling into the sock yarn whenever I’m there.

I ran into Earthtones Girl today and we caught up some. I’ve missed her so much! I added her to my blogroll so you can see what she’s been up to as well. I’m busy reading back through her archives. We added each other on Ravelry and have tentative plans for playdates and dinner. I foresee time spent spinning by the ﬁre…Hi ETG!

I’m calling W. tomorrow to follow up on the interview, I’ll rehash here when I get more information. Fingers crossed…

I’m a little afraid

bipolarbear — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 05:08:23 +0000

as I always am when reading a really good book; that soon the book will draw to a close and there will be no more story, no more involvement with the characters and their universe(s). We went to see The Golden Compass a few weeks ago and I have been fairly obsessed with reading the books. I’m through The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife; The Amber Spyglass waits for me by the bed. There’s also Lyra’s Oxford to be read, and others by Philip Pullman, but no more of the His Dark Materials series. Amazon has a really nice boxed set of trade paperbacks just like the ones I bought separately at Barnes & Noble (I couldn’t wait even for overnight shipping). I held off reading this evening so far by wasting (?) some time preparing the Chocolate Butter Cookie recipe for tomorrow’s baking, I have knitting to do (although not much, since I fear I’ll run out of yarn right before the last row. Damnit.), and I also have god is not great (How Religion Poisons Everything) to read (courtesy of my rather religious SIL by way of my Amazon wish list. Amazon makes for strange bedfellows.), as well as Stumbling On Happiness. So there’s much to do, but I’m itching to get my eyes on The Amber Spyglass. What to do, what to do?

E2A: An Etsy package came today with some gorgeous yarn inside (“You Look Wonderful Tonight” by Ellie at Crazy4Dyeing). I’ve been watching her blog for some time now (last May she tagged me for the “8 Random Things” meme) and she’s really come a long way, both in her knitting and her dyeing. Would that I were so adventurous! To the yarn: The colorway is inspired by the Michael Bublé she was listening to and I must say, it is soft, subtle, beautiful. Just like his music. So I put up the swift and ballwinder and made myself a nice fat centerpull cake out of the yarn. I’ll start it on two pairs of size 1 circs when I run out of the Jitterbug. I’ll call Flying Fingers tomorrow to see if they’ve got any left (their website says no), or I’ll order from ThreadBear.

Fiber for a cause

bipolarbear — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 15:33:54 +0000

All right everyone! Get out your needles and hooks and that spare acrylic or cotton yarn and start creating some six inch squares! They’re for a very good cause, “they will be sewn together into small blankets and donated to The Animal Orphanage and the Bangor Humane Society to serve as bedding for cats,” says Ardeana Hamlin of the Bangor Daily News. You can win a book for your endeavor, one of the On the Go series of books — “Cables” if you are knitter, or “Felted Crochet” if you are a crocheter. Here’s the link to the website with the whole story. As I sit typing this, there is a very large Maine Coon cat sitting on my lap (it is very hard to type around a Tigger), nudging me to write the most enticing words possible to lure you into helping his fellow felines. So I tell you what, when you’ve sent in your square(s), post a comment to this blog, and I’ll put everyone’s name into a hat and the winner will receive:

One ounce of Abby Franquemont’s 80/20 wool/mohair blend roving in the Country Stream colorway! Oh wait, what if you don’t spin? Okay, here’s something else for the non-spinner:

Four ounces of Fingerlakes Soft Wool in a dark blue! When you post your comment, please tell me if you are a spinner or non. This is all on the honor system, and the more squares you create, the more entries you get. Plus, you get the satisfaction of knowing that some very sad kitties will be made happier by your act of kindness.

Send your squares to: By Hand, Bangor Daily News, PO Box 1329, Bangor ME 04402 by Tuesday, February 26.

I thank you, and the pussycats thank you.
Knit (or crochet) on!

So I went to Rhinebeck.

bipolarbear — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 04:16:34 +0000

with hubby in tow, credit cards akimbo. My overall feeling? Meh. Underwhelming. I know, I know. Maybe it was the last dregs of PMS, or the feeling of being watched, or that it was the Sunday and not the Saturday so there was less choice, or the fact that we didn’t get there until one pm, or that I couldn’t pay attention to the festival map, or I don’t know what all else, but I didn’t get all squee’d out like I did last year, breathless and dizzy. I also didn’t come home with a fraction of the loot, but I did purchase some nice things. I didn’t take enough pictures, there’s my mood again, but I did capture a bit. We arrived in time to hear half of Stephanie Pearl-McPhee’s talk, I think all of which she covers in her books and at the last two talks I’ve heard, but she is The Yarn Harlot and I was thrilled to breathe the same air. She admired the basketweave scarf that I had on (I made it for my dad for last winter’s holiday season but didn’t ﬁnish it in time so it will be gifted this year.) and when someone asked during the questions part about her shirt, she deftly spotted me standing in back, wearing its twin and pointed me out. Everyone turned to look! (I AGAIN forgot the stitch markers. Didn’t even think about them until I was about to get Casts Off signed. Idiot girl.) and get bookbookbookbook signed (I’ve got them all done now), but missed completely the Ravelry/blogger meetup. I saw some Blogger Bingo Squares, but no one on my card.

What we did see were some beautiful horses, Belgian Brabants, tended to by this guy in black Spandex. Ew. The horses are a bit smaller than Clydesdales, but just as furry. They remind me of giant Maine Coon cats that can pull a sleigh. Yum!

We stopped by Journey Wheel and talked with Jonathan Bosworth awhile about the charkha wheel. It felt very, very strange to use, I’m not so sure that I liked it. I know that it’s what Gandhi spun with, but it felt counterintuitive. I think maybe it was that my right hand had to really concentrate on what it was doing, and I’m a lefty. G intimated that maybe I’d like one for Christmas. I really don’t know. Jonathan said that it usually takes about four years for someone to go from trying a charkha to buying one.

To the loot: from Shelridge Farm, the Cropped Aran kit in Green Apple (which they’re sending me next week, no more left), of which I neglected to take a photo for reference (again, idiot girl was holding the camera), from Hilcreek Fiber Studio I scored a pair of Ashford Mini Hand Cards, an oak 2-yd niddy-noddy, and an extra bobbin for my Ashford Joy, from Green Mountain Spinnery I procured two skeins each of Partridgeberry and Pink Pink Mountain Mohair (70% wool, 30% yearling mohair) with which I plan to make a scarf for myself to match the Lynn Pullman blanket coat my mother bought me for ChristmaChanuKwanzaaKah last year, and from The Good Shepherd I bought a skein each of Raspberry Dreams and Peach Dreams Shepherd’s Rainbow worsted weight, lovely, vareigated, 75% wool, 25% mohair blends. That’s it. No roving, no qiviut. A very sparse hoard, and I’m cranky about the whole damn thing.

For all pet owners and yarnies

bipolarbear — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 03:01:09 +0000

Hie your ass over to The Animal Rescue Site and spend $5.95 + $1.00 shipping for this set of two vinyl cling pet alert decals. Not only is it a brilliant idea to have on your front and back door windows in case of emergency, but The Animal Rescue Site will fund 14.0 bowls of food for animals living in sanctuaries and shelters for each each set of Save My Pet Window Clings purchased. If you’ve never visited the site, it’s an easy, free way to donate what’s needed, to whom it’s needed most. They’re aligned with The Hunger Site, where sponsors pay for cups of food for the world’s hungry, The Breast Cancer Site, where sponsors pay for mammograms for women in need, The Child Health Site, where sponsors pay for healthcare for children in need, The Literacy Site, where sponsors pay for books for those in need, and The Rainforest Site, where sponsors pay for habitat protection. You can click once per day per site. GO NOW, you won’t regret it. The attached stores have some great stuff available, too, like this yarn, recycled in Tibet and Nepal from vibrantly colored silk scraps in a rainbow of colors. Or this yarn, ﬁbers from the banana plant’s trunk are softened, dried, and spun into yarn that’s softer than wool, like a soft cotton with a texture that’s almost papery. Oh hell, just enter “yarn” into the search engine in one of the stores and check out the ﬁber overload!

Simple pleasures

bipolarbear — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 02:40:38 +0000

We went to Bed Bath and Beyond yesterday and spent a ridiculous amount of money on pale blue linen curtains (what was I thinking? I’ll have to iron them all!) to put up in the dining room, and some green and yellow striped viscose (I think) ones for the living room. So that our nosy neighbors will stop watching our tv. We also bought some accessories for the master bathroom. Every time I look at them, it makes me smile. I may turn the mat around so that it’s facing the loo.

Dropped off a pair of baby socks for MNK’s as yet unborn baby. Found out from my sister that the other pair that I’d knitted for Z. will be too small for him by the time it’s sock-wearing season, so I’ll drop them off for TH, who’s due in February. I found out today that BMM’s expecting, too. I start my new job on Tuesday at 9:30 am. Squee! G. said he’d take me to Woodbury Common Outlets tomorrow to clothes-shop; I’m in dire need of acceptable clothing. One pair of khakis to my name, and Dockers at that! Not that there’s anything wrong with that…I’ll have to try Daffy’s and Dress Barn Woman and Lane Bryant too, I think The Gap is going to be too expensive.

I’m working on Knitty’s Hallowig out of some horrible hot pink Caron Simply Soft Brites (No Dye Lot!). I’m suffering along using a pair of Clover Takumi bamboo circs, because I needed to start knitting this thing and Flying Fingers is temporarily closed while they bring in their fall yarns, and Cornwall Yarn Shop is just a little too far away to justify the gas for one pair of needles (I also can’t trust myself to only buy the Addis I need once I’m there, and not to fall into a bushel of OnLine Supersocke). The stickiness of the acrylic yarn coupled with the grabbiness of the bamboo is making for some very painstaking knitting. I’m assured, however, that the end result is going to be completely awesome. (I’ve decided that I really need to stop saying “awesome” ever since watching an episode of Eureka where most of the geniuses turned dumb and to illustrate this point, they had one of them use the word in a surfer tone of voice. Must. Stop. Saying. It.) The better part is that it’s moving quickly. And they were only eight dollars.

I’m on page 119 of Deathly Hallows, most of which was accomplished waiting for G at the dentist’s ofﬁce. It’s really good.

Saw Dr. W today and we’re reducing my dose of Wellbutrin down to 75 mg BID from 100 mg BID. We both agree that it isn’t doing me any good any more, and there is always the risk of it producing mania. He gave me another boatload of samples of Geodon. That’s another $500+ saved, thank you. I hate insurance companies.