CKSW - Ball Winder

Welcome to the second edition of Cool Knitting Stuff Wednesdays, in which I extol the virtues of knitting things that I use and like.

DISCLAIMER: My mother used to make the neatest, loveliest little hand-wound balls of yarn, so I'm aware that it can be done.

Alas that is not one of my many talents, so don't judge me.

I've seen a lot of blog posts and forum posts letting all the neophytes out in the Internets know that, if you can only afford a ball winder or a swift, get the swift. Well, I'm here to tell everyone that this is, in my humble experience, crap.

First of all, if you can only afford one of the two, the ball winder is the less inexpensive of the duo, which means that the "extra" money can be put towards more yarn with which to use your new toy. I bought mine from JoAnn.com with one of those 40% off coupons for not terribly much a while back (if there's not a coupon, wait. One will show up in no time). Of course, there are lots of different options and different price ranges on eBay, Etsy, and all over the web if you want to go less commercial or lower-tech. There are some gorgeous nostepinnes out there if that's what you're after.

Secondly, one can always wind hanks of yarn around chair backs, lamp shades, or the unsuspecting feet of sleeping loved ones. Not all of us have the fortitude to wind a usable ball of lace weight by hand.


Thirdly, the ball winder makes your yarn into cakes. Anyone reading this blog not like cake? I dinna think so.


Of course, if you can swing both the winder and the swift, I highly suggest it. Nothing in this world is more fun that watching the colors of the yarn flashing as your swift and ball winder whirr in sync. Too bad that's not how we make real cake.

1000 Words, No Pictures

Wow, I was surprised to see so many people respond to the last post, thanks for you comments and support for our crafting brothers. It seems that many of us don't want to support rude behavior by spending our money where anyone is mistreated, yay us! This is how I see it - if it's unacceptable for the menfolk to make fun of me when I go to the hardware store for earthquake putty (or plumbers tape or staple-gun staples), then it's not cool to pick on a guy in a yarn shop. I'm all for good-natured ribbing, don't get me wrong, but it's one thing to make a joke with someone with whom you've developed a relationship of some sort with and quite another to yell something across the shop at a total stranger.


Okay, rant over, moving on. I have to apologize for the recent lack of pictures (including this post apparently). I was totally going to wow you all with a bunch of my collected jpegs, but the HusBoy must have the camera in his bag tonight, so no dice.


The new Red-Hot Jaywalkers are coming along swimmingly; they are being knit out of the now-discontinued Knit Picks Sock Garden Zinnia, which is a shame because the colorway is gorgeous. I'd show them off, but, uhm, the HusBoy has the aforementioned camera. I reduced the stitch count to 64 stitches on this pair in an attempt to avoid the hugeness of the Daffodil Jaywalkers. They're nice and snug around the foot and ankle, but now it's a bitch to get them around my heel. Luckily, these are destined for my cousin who has much daintier feet than I, so they will hopefully be perfect for her. I'm also hoping that she brings me back yarn from Argentina, but the two events are totally unrelated.


Her mum, Aunt Quilty, will be getting the Reptilian Lace socks eventually; I don't think I can wait until next winter to hand those beauties over. They were originally going to be for me, but over the months and months of knitting them, the socks are just, well, not mine anymore. So much has gone into them, they have to be for someone else. Of course, not just anyone gets a sweater; figure that one out...


Cool Knitting Stuff Wednesday may be a little late this week; I have an appointment tomorrow morning, then have to rush off to work straight afterwards. The HusBoy is staying the night with me, so I may have him guest-post about how I want him to pick up spinning and he's still resisting. Hey, if he would spin it I wouldn't have to expose him to possible yarn-shop abuse...

Yarn Shop Sexism

Tip for knitting shop folk: do not mock people who come into your store. If a couple walk into the store, do not single out the lone man in the establishment and loudly proclaim that the only reason he is there is because there's no football on that day. Sure, you made the gals in your class laugh, but you also embarrassed the hell out of the very nice and already uncomfortable man.

It's quite possible that he was just starting out in knitting and has been turned off of the experience because of your thoughtlessness. It could be that the man was just trying to spend time with his yarn-hungry wife who was about to drop a money-bomb while on vacation. It could have been that the knitter (man or woman) was so pissed off by the whole thing that they will never make the trek out to the shop again.

Either way, it is bad business and I doubt very much that I will spend any money in a shop that made the HusBoy so uncomfortable that he opted to go sit in the car. Men are knitters and the supportive partners of knitters; demeaning them and their role is sexist and behind the times. I'm going to go listen to It's A Purl Man now.

Cool Knitting Stuff Wednesdays

In another feeble attempt to make a regular feature on the blog, may I present Cool Knitting Stuff Wednesdays. Each Wednesday I will try to feature a knitting accessory that I'm having particular fun with at the moment. It's like yarn pr0n, except that it is knitting stuff pr0n instead. This also gives me an excuse to buy more stuff, but that's beside the point...

First up, the Keychain Sock Blocker from Knitcellaneous. This one is from the Loopy Ewe, where I bought the ones I added into the recent prize packages and holiday boxes, but you can probably pick them up other places as well. I had so much fun knitting up the little socks that went along with the blockers that I sent out (kit comes with instructions on knitting your own little socks). A neat idea that struck me this morning too; if you knit a tiny sock to go with your full-grown beauties, not only do you have a neat little sock on your keychain, if you wash the little sock with it's big sisters, you have extra yarn with the same fading in case you need to mend them up at some point.

Any recommendations for Cool Knitting Stuff is always appreciated! Just leave me a comment or email me or something (no carrier pigeons have arrived yet...).

Ill-Equipped

I forgot my power cord for the laptop, so I'll be briefly checking in this week. The sock got wet going down the first drop on Pirates of the Caribbean (yes, I was knitting on the ride) and you should all join Hat Attack so I can kill your hat-wearing cabooses.

That is all.

The Knitting Spoilt

A while back, in sudden fit of involvement, I popped back onto the fabulous Knitter's Review just in time to sign up for the winter swap. I sent out a box last week, which was warmly received, and just look what Luann sent me!





One of the funniest things about this swap, many similar items went both ways, though I did not send her any moose-horn buttons... I have been thoroughly and completely spoilt! Thank You Luann!

Naughty Needle

I got up from the knitting the sock to make some tea, then spent a good fifteen minutes looking for the loose dpn...

It was between my boobs. The day is looking up.

It Ain't Enough

If there is one thing I can point to as the cause of my little bit of success in this world, it would be that enthusiasm can get you pretty damn far. I should have flunked typing in high school, but I (barely) passed because I tried really hard. I made the softball team in high school because I was excited and, once again, tried really hard. I faked my way through my first few jobs by smiling and saying, "Sure, I can do that," then turning around and muttering, "Great, how the hell do I do this?"

Now, some may say that this is incompetence more than enthusiasm, but I would not have learnt as much as I have if I didn't want to do it. If I didn't take an interest in what I'm doing and doing it better, I'd still be making the Red Heart scarves for my now-ex that made him "itchy and bitchy" instead of making fabulous beaded lace socks that aren't itchy at all.

But, enthusiasm will not get you everywhere. No matter how much you want to move 1200 miles away and try something brand-new, no matter how successful you know you will be, no matter how enthusiastic you are, if you say, "I have no idea what you're talking about" to half of your interview questions, you're fuct.

I'm going to go eat chocolate now.

Hoping for the Worst (Sorta)

I got some interesting news yesterday afternoon; we're going to be moving soon. Not because our apartment is too small and the bathroom is slowly returning to the Earth (though it totally is). Not because parking is a drag downtown (though it is). Not even because a change might be good for the soul (though it probably would be). Nope, we're going to be moving because, as it turns out, my job at home may not be there by the time I'm done with this protracted assault on the workers of the desert.

Before anyone panics, it's going to be okay. The chances of me being RIF'ed (Reduction In Force) are comparitively small. I do great work, I've only been with the company a short while so I work hella-cheap, and my boss likes me. I know that a boss' love will not always save you, but it doesn't hurt that she's selling me like (insert tasteless prostitute joke here). I even have an interview set up for tomorrow afternoon. For a job in Washington State. Yep, 1200 miles North of my current stash by highway if I stop and see my aunt on the way. And don't worry that I'll jinx the interview. I've had an untold number of interviewing flops in the last several months; this may jinx me into getting the job.

Worst case scenario, I move us into the desert on a full-time basis (no way I'm doing that commute without getting my mileage reimbursed). There's a yarn shop here and I can get air conditioning put into the car, I might just survive. Washington is looking much more liveable long-term though... Any Washington knitters out there who can give me the real scoop on life near the wilds of Sea-Tac?

What Y'All Missed at TNNA

TNNA spent last weekend in my hometown putting on their Winter Show, an extravaganza of needle arts supplies and professionals as is not seen in this neck of the woods very often. Oh, the colors and the new project bags and the workshops and...

What? You didn't go? Well, neither did I. Honestly, I walked right past the convention center a few times and didn't even think about it (I was busy obsessing about Disney Princesses on Ice, held in the same complex). The sudden increase of women walking around with hanks of yarn in their bags didn't make it click for me (if you were the two women sitting outside in Shoreline Village when some crazy brunette walked by, turned to her male companion, and yelled "Hey! They have yarn!", you damn near met me. Close call). The big, lighted sign saying "TNNA Parking Left" didn't make my light bulb brighten. Nope, it was a woman in a jean jacket with a cross-stitched zebra on the back that made me realize what I was missing.

So, instead of going on and on about what you missed in TNNA, I'm going to extrapolate on what the folks in TNNA missed out on:

It was a gorgeous day Sunday, nice enough that the walk to breakfast grew into a walk to the bookstore, which grew into a walk to the lighthouse, which further grew into a whole day of walking around downtown and even renting one of those stoopid paddle boats, which sole purpose is to prove how old and out of shape you are. Now, the participants enjoyed the weather, probably went out to the same bookstore and restaurants we went to, maybe even rented a paddle boat of self-esteem-blowing. But there is something that they did not get to enjoy.

Long Beach has some of the groadiest water quality in the state due to our heavy shipping traffic and the breakwater put into place to protect said shipping and defunct naval base. Now, I don't want to start a debate on whether or not they should sink the breakwater; I'm just trying to illustrate how icky the water in our area is. There have been times when patches of the little harbor near the convention center have looked like old coffee where the cream has gone south.

So imagine my surprise when, sitting at the lighthouse, enjoying the lovely weather, my little eye spied someone swimming in said filth. Swimming at the beaches around here is bad enough, but this was a harbor, a boat traffic area where you're not supposed to swim anyway. The HusBoy and I discussed how gross this was and went onto other topics, when, suddenly...

"Naked Man!!! Naked Man!!!"

The earlier ill-advised swimmer decided to change and dropped trou' behind a little shed on the pier, either not realizing or not caring that his rear end was exposed to not only us folks at the lighthouse, but also most of Shoreline Village. The man had enough decency to keep his junk covered up in front of the children, but there was a buck-naked dude reaaaaaly close to TNNA and they missed it.

So, thanks Naked Man, for making my TNNA-free weekend. Here's hoping nothing falls off.

The Last of the 2007 Yarn

I had the great joy of being able to come home in the middle of the week (meeting in the home office), and the triple-joy of coming home to my Husboy, my Stinker, and lovely packages.

Brown Sheep Wildfoote Luxury Sock

Colorway SY-02 / Dye lot 006

Trek was kind enough to trade me some of her sock yarn for some of my knitting-related goodies. I'm thinking these might be good for a pair of male relative socks, probably my dad.

Rowan RYC Soft Tweed
Colorway Slate Blue / Dye lot 616009

My last true order of 2007 consisted of enough Webs clearance yarn to make my very own Cherie Amour. I'm honestly not so sure now; I opened the box and said, "Did I order this?" I know I'm not the only knitter that has suffered from Buyer's Amnesia, but it's the first time it has hit me. Unless, of course, it HAS happened before and I forgot. Anyone wanting to scour the blog for signs of incoming senility, be my guest. I'm also reconsidering whether or not the finished product will actually look good on me; my bum is a bit bigger than the rest of me.

The third order, current crown jewel of the Stash Empire, is, of course, Becka...

Ruby Sapphire Sock Yarns Luster Sock Yarn

Colorway Becka

This yarn is even more squee-worthy in person; my shriek frightened poor Stinker into a four-foot leap.

I cannot praise Ruby Sapphire Yarns enough. I originally contacted them to get the Becca colorway from a few years ago. It was not my favorite colors, but it did have my name on it. Lauri asked if I'd rather have my own, customized Becka colorway instead. After a lot of "no way" and a lot of thinking, I asked for two skeins with peacock blues and greens with burgundy thrown in for fun, on either Sapphire or Luster yarn, whatever they thought best. There was a lot of communication and they were enthusiastic about the order; Lauri even said that it sounded fun.

When the dying was completed, there were 4 skeins dyed and ready for me to pick out. I honestly wanted to snatch up the whole batch, but showed restraint and only picked up the two skeins of Luster (one for me, one for you). I opened up the envelope, squealed over the two skeins of Becka, then realized there was something still in the package:

Ruby Sapphire Sock Yarns Sapphire Sock Yarn
Colorway Becka

Hi Becka -

It just didn't seem right for anyone but you to have the other "Becka's", so please enjoy them with our compliments! Enjoy your yarn!

Thank you for your custom order -

Lauri

That being said, whoever wins the What Will You Do To Your Becka? contest will now have a choice of Tencel or Nylon with their woolen goodness, but I'm still only giving out one, because two of these skeins are presents, and I want to hoard them madly.

Of course, if you just can't wait, I hear that they do custom orders...

Anyone Want A Button?

Not terrible, eh?

Random Gah!

Sorry guys! I don't mean to keep disappearing off the face of the blogoverse. I have a big, faboo post for y'all too, but flickr is "having a massage", and I kinda need the pictures for this one. So, in an attempt to not completely jip my reading public, here's a random post:

• I've returned to the Reptilian Lace socks since the hustle and the bustle of the holidays.
• Speaking of the holidays, the HusBoy and I are considering making the Handmade Pledge for the holidays this year. I knit, he bakes, we should have it covered, right? We're thinking we might bend the rules and buy mugs and bowls at thrift stores to hold cookies, unless we can find a handmade supplier that we can afford in large batches.
• I used to do all my xmas shopping in thrift stores and curio shops. Anyone else do that?
• I may have grand jury duty coming up. According to the paper the United States District Court, this means that I'll be taking the train up and down from Los Angeles once a week for the next six months to a year. That's about 2 hours a day of hands-free commuting that I will not be able to knit in, because you can't take knitting needles into a courthouse.
• It guess I'll spend all that time studying; I start my bachelor's degree the same week I start jury duty.
• HusBoy's going to college too. His first class in ten years; can I get a woot-woot?
• One of my knitting friends has been working on a hat forever and ever. I offered to get her started on it again (or knit it myself under cover of darkness). She asked me if I was a Beanie Genie. Damn, I already have a name...
• I got an iPod for Christmas, and I love the damn thing. Going up and down the Cajon Pass is much more entertaining now that I can listen to Lime 'n' Violet, SSK, & Knitters Uncensored pod casts on the over 100 miles each way. I'm currently downloading It's a Purl Man, Sweaters for Dragons, and Knit Science.
• Everything else on the iPod is a musical or musical movie soundtrack.

If I put out any more random I won't have anything to post later on. Next time: The last yarn of 2007, with extra squee!

An Audible Squee

I would like to apologize to any of you who have dogs in the Western Hemisphere (cats and birds and pot-bellied pigs too), for I may have deafened the poor creatures this afternoon.

You see, the Becka colorway, created by the lovely folks at Ruby Sapphire Yarns, is ready.

It is truly squee-worthy, if I do say so myself. And so I did let out a mighty squee, which may have well spread across the land in a happy wave. So mighty that I would not blame the ASPCA if they came here and gave me laryngitis to prevent any more ear-splitting squeals of yipee-ness.

To celebrate the coming of me as a colorway, I'm buying two skeins. One for me (of course) and one for.... hmm. How about another contest?!? Introducing the...

What Would You Do to Your Becka? Contest

Rules are simple. Leave a comment/email me (lastinsite AT verizon DOT net)/send a carrier pigeon to me before my birthday. First thing on February 26, I will choose a winning entry, the one which amuses me the most. Be creative, this is all art after all. Enter as often as you like, invite your friends (unless your friends want to enlarge my ding-dong, then I'm not interested).

And, pretty please, put a thought out into the universe to keep the pass out of town clear, at least until tomorrow evening. Otherwise I may not make it home, and I didn't bring enough yarn for an extended siege.

In Which Becka Bitches

I hate buying purses. It's such a pain in the tukus finding something that will hold all my crap and not irritate me or look stupid. So I keep the same purse forever and ever, or until knitting needles start fall out the big, honking hole in the bottom of it. And not new needles, like some magic, needle-laying purse, but the needles that I put in there. A magic, needle-laying purse would be so cool... but I digress. The trick is finding a bag with a zipper (so things don't fly out of it when it gets tossed), easy-access pockets for all my electronic gizmos (so I'm not madly digging for my ringing cell phone in the middle of the library), and room for my little knitting project (how about one with room for a bigger little knitting project while I'm at it). I found a good candidate at Target (sorry, couldn't find it on the website, so no link); we'll see how it stands up to the rigors of life with a carrier of the pointy sticks.

I also have a beef with Trek, because Trek is right and has called me on my lazy behavior regarding the acrylic. It is in the stash and should be counted. This has, in turn, shamed me and made me extremely irritable. In order to rectify this situation to the happiness of both my conscience and my fat, lazy behind, I have decided not to tally up the acrylic in the stash. Instead I will just add eight more miles to my necessary mileage, which I am sure is more than adequate for my little plastic stash. This leaves me with an even 40 miles before I start accruing credits in order to once more enbiggen the stash.

Which leads me to my next rant: Michael's is having a 30% off sale on yarn and yarn accessories. I ran into the local store on my way "home" tonight to pick up a US8 circular for the HusBoy's Swell (boy, that sounds dirty). The needle was 30% off. The yarn is 30% off, and not just the Red Heart people. There was alpaca for cripes sakes. Simply Socks Yarn Company is also having a sale, up to 40% off. There's probably lots of other sales and lovely things going on out there, but I will keep the faith and stick to my stash, at least for the next 38.7 miles.

1.3 miles on the treadmill - CV workout mode.

Happy Two Thousand..... Eight?

Once again I have taken the idea of vacation to heart and, once again, I have been remiss in keeping y'all updated as to my wheelings and dealings. Well, happy New Year and oh my god is that a sweater?


Yup, that's a sweater. I am a Deep UnderCover Knitter no more (and it looks much better on him now that we spent three days blocking it). It was too warm to wear it during my week off, but it is supposed to start raining tomorrow night, so let's hope the HusBoy remembers his sweater.

Okay, back to the (not a) diet thing. After doing a thorough inventory of the stash, I have decided that acrylic doesn't count, cuz they count it by weight like the precious oil that it's made out of instead of yardage like decent yarn. Counting everything on hand that isn't attached to a WIP/UFO, including stuff I ordered before the first of the year, I have:

18571 yards of yarn in 82.75 skeins. Folks, that's over ten and a half miles, most of it fingering weight. When the hell did I think I'd be knitting over 10 miles of yarn?!? Well, now I have some time to figure it out, because there will be no stash acquisition until I have walked/ran/swam/sashayed 32 miles, approximately 3 yards for every one yard in the stash. There is a treadmill downstairs and I am going pedometer shopping tomorrow for when I'm not in the hotel. Anyone who wants to show their support can post links to great patterns and incredible yarn sales in the comments. I'm going to put on some lycra and get a head start.

Finished Projects 2007

Hand-Dyed Toddler Socks
Hand-Dyed Baby Hat
Four Pairs of Hand Warmers
Mary Poppin's Scarf #2
Deep UnderCover Knitter Project
Dad's Mitts
Shoulder Wrap
Quickie Ribbed Toddler Hat
Sara's DTWE Scarf
HusBoy's Striped Socks
Colinette Point 5 Hat
Mary Poppin's Scarf
Palm Tree Dishcloth
Koigu Harvest Socks
Italian Job Hat
Orphan's Tweed Scarf
Cable-Ready Bag
$1.50 Cardigan
Daffodil Jaywalkers
Noro Squatty Sidekick
Boy's Holiday Socks
Boy's Kippah #1
Knit.1 Heart Tank
Gingham Chuppa (Crochet)
Felted Birdhouse Purse
Fantasia F&F Wristwarmers
Fantasia F&F Socks