BeverlyArmyWilliams – Page 103 – Beverly Army Williams

125

That’s the number of participants at last count for KSKS. I’ve sent "welcome e-mails" to 106 folks, and I’ll do more when I get back from the post office to mail a package to my Dye-o-Rama pal. She’s had to wait to the bitter end to get her yarn, and I hope she thinks it was worth it!

You might have read about Scout’s rough day over the weekend. My heart goes out to her, and I hope you’ll send some happy thoughts her way. I adore her kids–they are so much fun. And Chulo’s an awfully nice boy–if I were in NM still, I’d have adopted him. I know how her kids love him; I can just imagine what a hard weekend it’s been. So lots of love to Scout and her gang.

While I dyed the yarn the other day, I took a bunch of pictures of blue things in the house. Here’s my favorite one. Neal bought this last winter at a local antique store and put it up in the bathroom. It’s adorable in a strange kind of way. I’ll save the other blue pictures for the rest of the month.

There’s more Project Spectrum around here though. Mama-E’s June Bug arrived on Saturday. I love the tone of the blue she used for this yarn…if you don’t have some already, be sure to go visit her. And Kitters, she’s offered a 10% discount on your kit yarn!

Less than 20 hours to sign up for KSKS. Remember: Do not fear the bag. Do not fear the pattern.

Meet Blue Shutter Beach

My cousin and I take a few trips each summer to the beach she used to live down the block from, Blue Shutter Beach. This yarn reminds me of the New England shore, lots of shades of blue with a little bit of sand among the rocks and sun peeking through the clouds. I’m going to have a hard time sending it to my pal on Monday, and I hope she likes it as much as I do. Thank you to all the Dye-o-Rama Mamas, especially Noelle (and Dye-O-Rama Papa Cody, too!) and Scout. Scout gave me my first dyeing lesson and answered my questions as I got busy on Thursday, and I owe a big thanks to Mona, who showed me how to dye variegated yarn.

There are lots of tutorials online about dyeing, but I’m going to put up the pictures from my experience for my reference…I didn’t take notes, so I’ll have to come back here when I want to remember what I did!

First I soaked the two skeins (370 yards total) of Gems Pearl in Pure White in warm water and a dash of white vinegar. Then I made a peanut butter sandwich and slowly ate it. I don’t think this is a critical step (the sandwich, not the soak), but it helped me to be patient while the yarn "wetted."

Then I decided on the order of the colors of the Landscape dye.

I mixed the dye with boiling water after I did some research about how many teaspoons are in a tablespoon and cups in a pint. I do not know these things off the top of my head. Every time I look them up, I tell myself I’ll remember, but I don’t. Hey, wasn’t it Albert Einstein who said "Never memorize what you can look up"?

I painted on the colors. The yarn was pretty dry, so I felt comfortable bringing the colors close to each other. In a few of the white spaces I dabbed the lightest blue, which seems to have worked well.

Then I wrapped the yarn really well with Reynolds Wrap. I adore the person who invented the EZ Slide Cutter. Pre-EZSC, I had too many plastic wrap disasters to count. Really. Now I’m a plastic wrap guru. Scout advised the extra good wrapping since I was going to use a small microwave and wouldn’t be able to spread the yarn out in a big dish.

I nuked the yarn for about 12 minutes and painted the second skein. There was some cooling off time, removal of the plastic wrap, a warm rinse, a rinse in my favorite Aveda conditioner.

Then began the looong drying process. First I hung the skeins in the shower. When they were fairly dry, I hung them off the light fixture in the dining room. This morning I was able to re-skein them in order to see how the variegation looked. I’ll make a label tomorrow, add a few goodies to the mix, then I’ll send the package off. Really I will. I promise.

KSKS sign ups start tomorrow at 8 a.m. EST. I hope you’ll join us for the fun!

Thank You, OSP!

A great big thank you to my One Skein Secret Pal from the West Coast. My package arrived today with a lovely note, two skeins of of SWTC Phoenix in black and a pattern for a lovely stole that is knit with different sized needles. I can’t wait to cast on for it!

While planning for KSKS, I dyed my pal’s Dye-o-Rama yarn yesterday. It’s hanging off the dining room chandelier, almost dry. About every hour I fondle it to see if I can reskein it yet. I think I should be able to this evening. I’ll post pictures of the process over the weekend. Let me drop a hint…it’s quite Project Spectrum-y!

Knitters, Wanna be a Kitter?

Thanks to Scout, the Knit Socks Kit Swap website is up, with lots of information for you to read and dream over until Sunday, when sign ups start. I’ll post information about how to sign up sometime on Saturday night. I’m really ~~nuts~~ excited to be undertaking this, but I know it will be lots of fun, and hey, it will get me to try my hand at sock design! I sort of pieced together my Sockapaloooza socks, but they weren’t too creative…I was concentrating on other new skills (ah, two socks on two circs, my love, my darling).

Dave’s got a new challenge for any takers, too. And he gave me one: to knit a bag sans pattern. I was all impressed because he doesn’t read patterns–and have you seen his knitting?? He pointed out that our ancestors did not have publishers, yet they managed to knit garments. So, yeah, my KSKS pal may get an original PoMo bag. If it turns out looking spiffy, of course!

Guess what my horoscope said this morning? "Knit ideas and people together. Go ahead and act when a light bulb goes off in your head." KSKS is in the stars, baby!

One last thing. If you haven’t already, head over to Carole’s site to donate to her friend doing the 3-Day walk. I participated in 2000, 2001, and 2002. It’s amazing. And the money is well used, with as much as possible going straight to researchers.

KSKS is Gonna Happen

I just hopped over to see the poll at Scout’s, and 56 57 people said that they would be interested in participating in my little idea: Knit Sock Kit Swap, or KSKS. I’m just thrilled. Scout and I were IM-ing about it last night, and I optimistically said, well, if 25 people want to do it, I guess it’s a go–and 57 are interested! Yay! As Ann said, it’s nice when you have a party and people come to it!

Scout’s working like crazy to get the blog up and running, and I’m putting together the "rules" for the swap and gathering useful links. (Carole, I promise I won’t let our girly take on too much!) MeanGirl has offered to put together a tutorial on doing the math for customizing a pattern, but for those who are JUST TOO SCARED of the math (um, I’d fall in that category if this hadn’t been my bright idea!!), we may add an "Eff the Math" category, sort of like the "WTF" group for Dye-o-Rama.

As far as the project bags, I’m playing the mean teacher (in my classroom, I always start the first day with my teaching background so I can let the students know that I taught in a prison for a year. My fellow TAs mock me…"oh, Beverly’s bringing out her prison experience," but it helps!) and saying NO! The bag cannot be purchased. Participants MUST make a bag. Remember, this is about trying out new things. It can be sewn, felted, constructed from old sweaters…the possibilities are endless, and we’ll provide lots of good resources on the blog for you. I promise.

Those of you who participate in Sew? I Knit! have had fun making bags already, and for the Refashionistas, this could be a way to recycle something in your wardrobe.

Sign ups will be June 16-18, and I’ll have more information before then. This is going to be fun!

Whaddya Think? Knit Sock Kit Swap? Yea or Nay?

This morning Dave asked what the next fun swap was going to be, and I slyly let him know that I, PoMo Golightly, had an idea. I’ve been thinking about this since Sockapaloooza and while I’ve been learning to dye for Dye-o-Rama. Both of my pals sent great stuff to go along with the socks and yarn, and I thought What about an exchange in which participants make a little (sock-size) project bag out of whatever materials they chose (felt a bag, sew a bag, reconstruct a bag from recycled sweaters…you get the picture)?

Then I thought about how I get nervous and edgy and, you know, avoidy about adjusting patterns, how I pretend that I just can’t do the math necessary to adjust a pattern to fit as needed (what do you always say, Noelle? Math-impaired Barbie?). So what if the exchange included a requirement to take one of the gazillion wonderful sock patterns available, give full credit to its author (of course, of course!), and customize the pattern for a perfect fit for your pal. So many swaps I’ve done have helped me improve my skills, and this is an area where I need improving. Maybe a few of you fellow knitters do, too?

I passed the idea by my pal Scout, who thought a poll was in order. So head on over to visit her, send your friends over, and let us know if you’re interested, or if this is just a dorky idea, and I should just plan on doing my algebra homework alone! If enough people are into it, Scout’s promised to help me out, and we all know that means a fabu time for everyone involved! G’on, let us know what you think!

ETA: For anyone interested in dates and a timeline: sign ups June 16-18, matches by June 26, final mail date August 11 (my mom’s b’day!).

Feeling Better

Opened and unpacked one box and found my hairpin lace loom. Opened the other one that’s been cluttering up the dining room and found my needles. Phew. Once the unpacking is done, I’m going to show my gratitude to the knitting higher powers and organize the needles. And keep track of what I have. And move along duplicates to needy knitters. Now. Where is all that cotton that I packed?

Feeling Ill

This weekend Neal fixed up "my" closet in the office. I bought a couple of bins for fiber and yesterday was happy to fill them. One of the two fiber-only boxes had a big tear in it, though. And now I’m panicky that I may have packed all of my needles in THAT box, and that they managed to slip through the tear somewhere in transit. I must have $500 worth of needles (I’ve been knitting since ’98, and only recently have I realized that I don’t need to buy needles everytime I start a project…), and I can’t find them. I still have three large boxes to unpack, and all of the book boxes (shh…don’t tell the post office; I stuffed some fiber in one of the media-rate boxes. There’s lots of media in the box, just a bit of fiber padding). Please send good needles-are-in-the-unpacked-boxes thoughts to me. Otherwise look for me in bed. Feeling sick about this. Also lost: the cone of Kona sock yarn purchased just before the move. Here’s hoping it’s in one of those boxes, too.

So I don’t end on a sad note, go look at what Scout’s been doing. Other good news. The sun is out for the first time in days. Oh, New Mexico sky, how blue you are!!

Reviews, Sorta

They’ve been reviewed endlessly, so I’m not going to spend too much energy on them, but let me say that I adore my purchases from Threaded Bliss Yarns:

Mason-Dixon Knitting : The Curious Knitters' Guide: Stories, Patterns, Advice, Opinions, Questions, Answers, Jokes, and Pictures

and

Knitting Rules! : The Yarn Harlot's Bag of Knitting Tricks

I’m a dork about signed books, and both of these are, indeed, signed by the lovely authors, which makes them even more special to me. Mason Dixon Knitting, as has been written elsewhere, is more than just a pattern book; it is a delight to read, to flip through, to distract a girl from miles and miles of flat road. I’m a fan of Hatch posters, and the Hatch work in the book is just fabu. I’ll be picking up some Peaches and Creme to make a kimono and a few bibs for a late-June baby shower. One of these days, after our bathroom renovation is complete, I’ll knit up some linen towels, too. Beautiful patterns.

Now, about the Yarn Harlot’s book. Her writing is a lot of fun to read, and I think what I like best about the book is that she gives sort of master plan patterns for hats, scarves, and my favorite, socks. Nothing ground breaking here, and a dearth of attractive pictures, but a good read nonetheless.

The new MagKnits is up today. I’m not too nuts about most of the patterns, although I might make the Saturday Market bag and the Tropicana socks. I’ve got quite a stash of sock yarn, and I need to start using it! Anyone planning on making any of the other patterns?

Purl’s Delight and Other Goodness

My Dye-O-Rama swap partner was none other than Heide, who won a contest for naming the stuffed beaver I received from Sooz "Purl." She put together a heck of a package for me, including 500 yards of this lovely blue and brown 2-ply Kona 100% Merino Superwash. Also in the package were a Dagoba chai chocolate bar and a packet of crystallized ginger (love me some ginger!), a box of fruit sampler tea, lovely stitch markers, a box of green apple candles, a sample of lavender Euclalan (my yarn smells fabu, by the way!), and a bar of apple dumpling soap made in Washington. Thank you so much, Heide! The yarn is delish, and I can’t wait to knit with it!

There’s other goodness to show you, too. Before I moved I won a contest over at JessaLu’s, and look what was also waiting when I arrived on Friday. Not only did she send me a skein of beautiful hand-dyed sock yarn, but she also sent reflexology gloves and bath salts. Ahhh…I’ll have a relaxing night soon!

And last, but as they say, not least, is the skein of "Bev’s Nouveau Army" that my girly Carole dyed for me as a going away gift. I adore this yarn. I adore her so much, I was unable to put her in a box to be shipped. She took the 3,500 mile journey in my knitting bag, right where I could see her.

MWAH to each of you generous ladies.

In my Dye-O-Rama news, the yarn I ordered arrived just before the move, and yesterday I ordered some Landscape dyes. The ones I used at Mona’s gave such great results that I picked out five to try a monochromatic variegated scheme for my pal. They’re being shipped Priority Mail, which means I should be able to dye over the weekend. Yeah!

So, I now have two local yarn stores. One, Marji’s Yarn Crafts, is just down the road. I mean, if I tuned up my bike (which I will. I want to be a good environmentalist and save gas when I can), I’d be able to hop on it and pedal over there in a jiffy. Marji has expanded her store since the first time I was there, and it is pretty pleasant. The other is Creative Fibers, about a 20 minute drive away. Debbie Bliss will be there on June 14, which I’m pretty excited about. This is a much larger shop than Marji’s, with a bigger class selection. Of course, there are plenty of other yarn stores nearby, but these are the two closest to me. Webs in Northampton is a quick jaunt away, and I’ll have to get my girlies here to take a trip there with me sometime.

Ok, time for me to get back to putting the house in order. Once everything is settled I’ll do Scout’s knitting spot meme again. And, hey, have you taken a look at Barry’s adventures? If you don’t know who Barry is, go look. He’s adorable.

Tomorrow: My Threaded Bliss Yarns loot!

Author: BeverlyArmyWilliams

125