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While I'm at it…..

Thanks for all the encouragement friends, I’m working on getting organized at work…hoping maybe that will help. Found out that some of the stuff I was stressing out about not getting done isn’t actually my job, so I’m getting that sorted out. And mostly trying to get into a routine. At least I get paid for overtime here, unlike my last job. But… onward.

The lovely Imbrium asked us what our dream fiber spaces would be and since I’d already been thinking about it, I thought I’d share mine. When next we move, we need either a 3 bedroom place or a place with a LARGER second bedroom so that we’ve got room enough for both of us in it. And I would like hardwood floors. I love them because I hate vacuuming. Something about the noise just bothers me. I will gladly swiffer until the cows come home, but don’t make me vacuum. As you can imagine, our carpet is not in too good of shape because of this. Oh well.

So here are the things that are required in my fiber space.

1. A corner for Mimiquin (my dress form, named by the lovely Carole, miss you! come back!). Right now she sits right by my desk and I feel claustrophobic about it.

2. A big wall (or two small ones) where I can hang my inspiration pictures. I’ve got a small one right now, but I’ve got a lot more pictures.

3. A window that lets in enough light to grow a plant.

4. A big comfy armchair with lots of pillows. I’m sort of leaning towards something like this. A bit modern, but easy to sit sideways in or fill with throw pillows.

5. Lots and lots of storage! I love my yarn, but if I’m going to focus, I have to have the stuff I’m not working with out of sight. On recommendation from Kate, I’m going to buy some of these. That will make my yarn and fiber easily accessible, but still stored away from dust and sunlight. Also I can get shelves for this system and put my books in there too.

6. Space for my drafting table (which I can put my sewing machine on) and my spinning wheel.

7. Space and a piece of furniture to house my printer and all the paper that I need for wholesale patterns.

Then there are the things that I just WANT

1. A super-fast color laser printer that does it’s own duplexing.

2. A separate thermostat for that room so I can keep it the temp I like it instead of the perpetually arctic state that C would keep the house in. My hands are actually really cold right now.

3. A library of historical fashion and textile books.

4. An 8-shaft loom and a wall of coned yarn for use with it.

5. A book press and a commercial grade board shear.

Hey, a girl can dream, can’t she?

M

Posted 23 October 2007 † Mim § Bookmaking § Knitting § Misc. Crafting § Spinning ‡ Comments (8) °

Reaching

I feel so out of touch. It’s been a couple of really shitty and crazy months. I got depressed and realized that it was my job and a few of the people I worked with driving me batshit, and then looked for another job only to discover that I had some really crazy un-packed emotional baggage tied to job hunting and employment. Then I went through THREE interviews for the new job, started it and am currently overwhelmed trying to catch up with what was stacking up while they went through the hiring process, learning completely new terminology and the whole medical billing system (!!!). Then our car window was smashed and we blew out a tire.

And in and among that I’ve been teaching knitting classes on the weekends and attempting to keep up with my designing schedule. Frankly, I’m exhausted. I’ve been waking up at 6 am, going to sleep at 9 pm and still yawning through every day. Every muscle in my body aches and I can’t even rub my own shoulders because they’re so rock solid I can’t get a grip on the muscle. I’m sure the IP contract negotiations I’ve got going on isn’t helping with the tension either.

My house is a disaster and I expect any moment for some mutated giant spider to crawl out from under the piles of crap and eat my face off. The dishes are not done, but I found enough energy yesterday to stack them on the counter instead of leaving them strewn about the living room. What makes this so pathetic is that I have a dishwasher. I just haven’t had the mental capacity to empty it and reload.

I realized today that I forgot my blogiversary which was October 4. 3 years. After 3 years, and I end up blogging once a week, if I’m lucky? Clearly something had to give, and it’s been the blog and I’m sorry about that. I have all sorts of good intentions to blog, but not the wherewithall to carry them through. I’m still reading every comment and responding to e-mail, but my creative brain power has been sapped by learning the new job. I’m feeling overwhelmed, but not inadequate, so I’m sure it will just take some time for me to get caught up and brought up to speed. But I can do it. I can get through this tough patch. And then I’ll be back, I promise. “Knit on through all crises”, right?

I finished the Cinnabar Pullover, and last night I finished the Trekking Latvian socks, and now I’m just about finished with the mini Icarus demo piece (today is the last class in the series), and I’m sort of floating. I want to design something… I’m just…. stuck. I’ve got some swatches done for a top, but the one I need isn’t blocked yet. Maybe I should start there. And while it’s drying I guess I’ll load the dishwasher.

M

Posted 21 October 2007 † Mim § Designing § Knitting § Navel Gazing ‡ Comments (33) °

Pattern: Cinnibar Pullover by Kate Gilbert, published in Interweave Knits Fall 2007 issue. 40.5″ size

Yarn: Elann.com Peruvian Silk (10.5 balls)

Needles: US Size 10.5 clover bamboo circulars for the linen stitch and size 6 Addi Turbo circulars for the stockinette.

Modifications: The increases on the placket pieces were being worked in increments of 6 rows, and the button holes were being worked in 10. So I just worked the button holes in increments of 12 rows. That way I didn’t have to count as much. As a result I have one less button, but I think it worked out fine.

Verdict: I love it! It’s comfy and fabulous. I made it a little bigger than it needed to be, but as I wanted a nice comfy hang-around-in-it sweater, that worked for me. Margene tried it on at SnB and it was more form-fitting, but still looked great on her as well. The linen stitch is pretty cool, but make sure you check your washed gauge for both linen stitch AND stockinette to be sure they match. The linen stitch softened up a LOT when I washed it. The pattern was well-written and clear like all of Kate’s patterns and I really enjoyed knitting it. It would have been done sooner had I not run out of yarn, and then completely ignored the blocking, but the delay gave me plenty of time to find the perfect buttons.

Posted 19 October 2007 † Mim § Knitting § My FO's ‡ Comments (23) °

Book Meme from Anne.

1. Hardcover or paperback, and why?

If I’m collecting the series, then hardcover because I only collect stuff I’d read over and over. Or if I plan to read it while knitting, then it should be a hardcover. Mostly I will only buy a paperback if I’m less than enthusiastic about the book or if it only comes in paperback.

2. If I were to own a book shop, I would call it…

The Tattered Cover

3. My favorite quote from a book (mention the title) is…

“The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don’t.” From one of the Hitchhiker’s Guide series… don’t remember which one.

4. The author (alive or deceased) I would love to have lunch with would be…

Patrick Rothfuss. I’m making him socks and he’s excited about it. Needless to say I’m excited too.

5. If I was going to a deserted island and could only bring one book, except for the SAS survival guide, it would be…

“How To Build A Seaworthy Boat and Navigate It Off Your Deserted Island” ? hehe… first of all, if I were CHOOSING to go to a deserted island, then I could take as many damn books as I want! And secondly, if I were stranded unawares on said island, I wouldn’t have thought to bring one specific book… therefore this is a very roundabout way of saying I don’t know 🙂

6. I would love someone to invent a bookish gadget that…

I’m with Anne. Something that holds the book AND turns the pages in response to a voice command? That would be awesome.

7. The smell of an old book reminds me of…

Working in Special Collections. Carts and carts of old books and the mine-shaft smell of the stacks and the old OTIS elevator. Too bad the whole thing was torn down after I worked there. *sniff*

8. If I could be the lead character in a book (mention the title), it would be…

I don’t know… someone confident and witty.

9. The most overestimated book of all times is…

The DaVinci Code. Seriously… it was a good novel, but not earth shattering or controversial or supposed to shake anyone’s faith. If your faith was shaken by the DaVinci code, then I think you just weren’t paying attention before that.

10. I hate it when a book…

The author dies SO close to the end of a series and I’m left freaking out about if the Dragon Reborn ever kills the Dark One and if Moiraine was ever really dead and if Matt becomes the Emperor of the Seanchan….. DAMMIT! Someone had better finish that series or I might just go postal.

I don’t like to tag people, so if you want it, snag it and let me know you’ve done it.

Posted 15 October 2007 † Mim § Memes § Reading ‡ Comments (15) °

Serpentine Mitts Pattern Available

Hello all,

The Serpentine Mitts pattern is available for free download.

Yarn: For all sizes – 1 50 gram skein of Louet Gems fingering weight.
Needles: Set of 5, 2.25 mm (US Size 1) double pointed needles.
Gauge: 8 stitches per inch measured over stockinette.
Finished Sizes: to fit up to 7(8,9)” hand circumference. 7” long.
Notions: stitch markers to mark gusset

Click here for more information and to download the pattern.

M

Posted 12 October 2007 † Mim § Designing § Knitting ‡ Comments (18) °

Knitting Guild or How I didn't make an arse of myself.

So I spoke last night at the knitting guild meeting and it went really well! There were probably… 60 people there and it was standing room only in the back. I started out with a bit of my design philosophy and a slide show presentation showing some of the inspiration for designs. Then they started asking questions. Salt Lake Knitters ask good questions, be forewarned if you come to teach something here. Anyway, it went really well and I hope those of you who came enjoyed it. I was a bit nervous, but I shouldn’t have been.

Oh, and my site has been redesigned (again), but it should actually be up and running now with only minimal tweaks. Take a look and tell me if anything doesn’t work properly.

And I’m not sure I mentioned this (too lazy to look back and see if I did), but I’m working on a project with The Other Miriam to take pictures every day. I’ve had a hard time remembering to upload them every day, and some days I’ve cheated and taken multiple pictures to make up for the days I missed, but it’s fun so far. If you want to see the pictures, I’m putting them in their own flickr set. I’m trying to determine if I can make a badge that will cycle through ONLY that set, but I haven’t found one yet.

Here’s my picture from 7-October.

M

Posted 11 October 2007 † Mim § Designing § Knitting § Photography § Teaching ‡ Comments (12) °

Ahh Trekking, how do I love thee….

A while back I bought a skein of Trekking in a gorgeous array of burgandy and wine colors. My notes in Ravelry tell me that I got it at the Needlepoint Joint in Ogden, and now I recall carrying it around and petting it on our last SnB knitters outing to Ogden.

So when the Cinnibar Pullover stalled, I was left twiddling my thumbs wondering what to do. I started spinning some laceweight alpaca for the November exotic fiber club offering, but then we were going to see a movie and as much as I’d be willing, I didn’t think the movie theater would appreciate me toting my spinning wheel and a headlamp in 😉

What to do?! Well… look over the ample sock yarn stash is what! This skein jumped out at me and although C said he wanted socks for himself out of it, I didn’t want to spend an eternity knitting boring ribbing with this beautiful yarn. So I was flipping through my sock books trying to pick a pattern that would compliment the yarn when I remembered that I had knit the Latvian Socks from Folk Socks in Trekking YEARS ago for my sister and loved every minute of it. She also loved them enough to wear them while giving birth to her second son. So I cast on.

There is something soothing about a perfectly turned picot hem. I do mine with a provisional cast on and then knit the live stitches together. This first sock has a couple of repeats now and the second one is just past the joining of the picot hem facing. I’m already in love 🙂

And really, it’s just in time for Socktoberfest too, as I cast on for these on October 1.

M

Posted 04 October 2007 † Mim § Knitting § Socktober Fest ‡ Comments (12) °

Cinnibar is lonely.

This strange and highly photoshopped* image was meant to show you that I’ve knit the front, back and both sleeves for my Cinnibar pullover, and yet, it’s been sitting in that state for too many days. Why, you may ask. Well… because I’m a dumbass. When I bought the yarn, I was so excited about it I neglected to check the yardage. *headdesk* As the kind people at elann.com reminded me,

The original yarn used for the Cinnabar Pullover had 154 yards per 50-gram ball, but Highland Silk has 122 yards per 50-gram ball. This might be why you ran short of yarn. For example, 9 balls of the pattern’s original yarn equal 1386 yards. When I divide 1386 by 122, it shows me that I should have 11.36 balls of Highland Silk for this pattern – which I would round up to 12 balls.

yeah… dumbass. But thanks FSM elann had more in the same dyelot! So 2 more balls are on their way to me so I can finish it up.

M

*I keep forgetting until I am ready to take pictures inside my house that my flash doesn’t work. I really ought to just take it in to have it fixed, but that would mean I’d have to remember during business hours and the likelihood of that happening is very slim.

Posted 03 October 2007 † Mim § Acquisitions § Knitting ‡ Comments (7) °

Blankets for Veterans

A friend of mine who’s husband is in the Army (and being deployed again) sent me this e-mail and I thought maybe some of you would be interested in helping out.

Introducing Soldiers’ Angels Operation Hug-A-Hero – “Honoring Our Veterans One Stitch At A Time”

Patti has asked our crochet team to help provide holiday cheer to TWENTY THOUSAND Veterans nationwide this holiday season. These blankets can be crocheted – knitted – quilted or fleece tie blankets. Once you have your blanket completed please wrap them individually in Christmas wrapping and place a tag or card with them letting our Heroes know who made the item and that you are a member of Soldiers’ Angels Organization. We ask that you please hold your blankets and mail them out on or near December 1st. Once you get a package ready please email Terri Hansen CONTACT ME for the contact e-mail and she will provide you with the address of the nearest VA facility. In the email please include the number of blankets and the sizing. If you have a creation for a female please indicate on the outside of the package that it is intended for a female recipient.

The sizes requested are – 36 x 45 for lap afghans and 45 x 60 for blankets. Please remember that when crocheting/knitting and looming sometimes the measurements are not exact…that is fine!! Our Heroes will love them even if they are not the exact size requested!!

We thank you so much for considering this project! We feel like this is a wonderful way to wrap our veterans with love and show them how much we appreciate the sacrifices they have made on our and our country’s behalf!

On behalf of the VA Team we want to thank each of you for your continuing support of our honorable veterans!

Posted 30 September 2007 † Mim § Totally Random ‡ Comments (2) °

holding in the sighs of relief

I finished the layout and formatting for the Aspen Grove Shawl, but then in talking to my Mom on the phone, I realized that I’m teaching an intro to lace class on Saturday and I haven’t even put together the handouts yet. *headdesk*

Clearly, I know what I’ll be doing the rest of the week.

M

Posted 26 September 2007 † Mim § Designing § Teaching ‡ Comments (4) °