Take this pencil roving and…

By Lisa | June 30, 2008

So I owe you all a post that isn’t all like “blah blah blah etsy blah blah tired blah blah can’t think” right?

Right!

The news

I started my new-ish job today. And so far, I haven’t done anything new! This is probably because it is a) Monday and b) Monday before a statutory holiday. Downtown Ottawa is a wasteland (no, moi in Vancouver, I did NOT write cultural wasteland…stop that!) today. Tomorrow it will be dangerous to walk around here unless you have a Canadian flag tattooed on your face! I have no idea who that guy is, but he sure looks happy doesn’t he?

Yesterday we celebrated Alex’s ninth birthday. We went to the ballpark to watch a Can-Am League game – less talent that Triple A, slightly more than Little League. We had a suite overlooking home plate – it was absolutely amazing and since my kids are used to running around the stadium, we only saw kids at important moments – like when they were hungry.

I can’t believe my baby is nine. I also can’t believe I am old enough to have a nine year old. As a result of my disbelief I did my best to behave as childishly as possible without endangering anyone and had two big pieces of birthday cake. So there upcoming 39th birthday!

Stuff I am dyeing

I think I lost two whole days of my life trying to untangle this holy mess:

That’s a pound of merino-seacell pencil roving. It was like untangling yarn, but yarn that would just drift apart if I tugged too hard. It was totally worth it though…it is so soft!!

The first step in dyeing is to soak the wool – with this stuff I couldn’t wind it up into a ball like a I do with thicker rovings because the water would not penetrate to the middle. So out came the swift and some very gentle skein winding happened. Worked like a charm! This bit got dyed strong blues, reds and greens. I really need to dye up some for me and spin it.

Stuff in the mail

Supplies! Can you believe the number of postage stamps on this? Mail ordered from Copper Moose in the US – there is a pound each of BFL and Merino, and half a pound each of Merino-silk and merino-tencel. Lookie here! Bags’o’wool!

Stuff I’m knitting

Susie Hoodie continues – it looks the same as last time so no boring pictures of blue stockinette for you! Don’t bother to complain about that either as I am not wasting valuable computer space on a picture.

Susie Hoodie might have been chucked aside for some warm weather knitting. Having firmly committed to copying a couple of people who are smarter than I am, I am knitting up the Print’o’the Wave in Handmaiden SeaSilk. Frogged once in favour of smaller needles but so far so good. Isn’t it pretty? This one is definitely for me!

And I guess today is Handmaiden day – because I cast on a sock in Casbah. The yardage on the skein is a bit short (around 325 yards) so I decided to bite the bullet and learn how to do a toe up sock. Now I am sold!!! I did Judy Becker’s Magic Cast-on with the help of Cat Bordhi’s YouTube video (thanks for telling me about it Nancy! Hint: click the link and check out the divine sea silk stole Nancy just finished – awesome!). I am using a rib-whose-name-I-have-forgotten out of one of the Vogue Stitchionaries and last night I did my firstest ever short row heel with instructions out of an Interweave Knits from last year. As I am knitting on 3.75s these are going very quickly!

Places I’ve been

I mentioned ages ago that I would tell you about Kniterary – just about the cutest little yarn shop in Whitby – and I think the ONLY yarn shop in Whitby. That’s beside the point.

The very first time I went there the woman who owned the shop had just bought it from the previous owner that week. Sales stock was…well…unimaginative and more than a little acrylic-y. I don’t go there everytime I go to Toronto but I do try to drop in occasionally to see what’s new.

Huge improvement! A super comfortable couch. Lovely woman who totally left me alone and talked to Alex who was nicely tolerating the yarn store visit (he actually likes knitting but doesn’t have the attention span to do it for long). They had some really lovely sock yarn from The Sweet Sheep and Celestial Merino (yummy). Decent selection of Berroco, Fleece Artist and lots of Mission Falls.

I didn’t buy much as I had just spent a fortune for three hellish hours at Canada’s Wonderland the day before. I did pick up Cat Bordhi’s new sock book – it is pretty cool although beyond the cast on and looking at the pretty pictures and marvelling at Cat Bordhi’s brain (I’m surprised her head isn’t three times bigger than it is), I haven’t tried any of the sockitectures…

That’s it!

Happy Canada Day to everyone!

Posted in books, dyeing, etsy, kids, knitting, socks | 6 Comments

How you know you’ve dyed too much and my HHHH Questionnaire

By Lisa | June 25, 2008

Dream dyes or dye dreaming?

The whole etsy thing has my brain feeling like I’m on uppers ALL the time. Its new for me so I think I just have to figure out how to fit it into the rest of my life.

Its the only explanation I have for waking up on Sunday morning thinking Pink! With olive green and a grey blue! That would be interesting.

Must. stop. thinking.

And my questionnaire for the hush-hush handspun hootenany

1. How long have you been spinning? What skill level do you consider yourself?

On and off over 2 years – I’m not a beginner but I wouldn’t say I’m intermediate either.

2. What kinds of yarn do you create (singles/2-ply/3-ply/art yarn)?

Mostly two ply, but I just learned to navajo ply so I am hoping to be able to work on maintaining colour repeats using that technique.

3. What do you spin with (spindle/wheel/both)?

I occasionally spindle but I prefer my wheel.

4. What are your favorite fibers to spin with? Anything you don’t like?

I like fine fibres with lots of luster. Looove silk! I am not so thrilled with soysilk for some reason – too slippery I think. I’m not particularly keen on 100% plant fibres – i.e. cotton, flax or linen

5. Who are your favorite crack dealers fiber sources (etsy or otherwise)?

I love Fleece Artists rovings which I buy wherever I can find them. I tend to buy mostly undyed rovings from my LCD (local crack dealer).

6. What kind of fiber do you want to try?

Milk, shetland, merino-linen blend, cormo, cvm (these last two are not available to me in Canada and I would love to try them), polworth

7. Is there any techniques you would like to learn?

As mentioned – how to maintain colour repeats by navajo plying. I would like to get better control over the thickness I am spinning. Spin lace!

8. Do you dye fiber? If not, would you like to learn?

I do a bit of dyeing ;-) – okay that was a total understatement.

9. Do you have fiber prep tools (and like to use them) or would you prefer ready to spin fiber?

I have handcards I don’t mind using but I also have a short attention span and like instant gratification so I am more of a ready to spin person.

10. What do you do with your handspun? What projects have you completed?

A bunch of hats and a poncho. I’d like to get a decent sock yarn as well as make some thrummed mittens.

11. Are you in need of any spinning gadgets (WPI Gauge, threading hook, etc)?

Nope – I am the gadget queen – unless you count a drum carder as a gadget? Is my pal very very rich by any chance? Kidding!

12. What colors “fall into your shopping basket”? Any colors you just can’t stand?

Blues, greens and reds. I like bright saturated colours and tend to avoid greyed out colours. I’m not fond of the olive, brown, blacks although they can be amazing on the right fiber (like a merino linen blend where the linen is left natural for example). Certain colour combinations turn me right off – I don’t like how complementary colours spin up (i.e. I tried purple and yellow and hated it), black and blue (bruise) or black and yellow (bumble bee) or red and green (christmas) are not favourites.

13. What is on your wheel/spindle right now?

On my wheel some awesome merino-bamboo from Funky Carolina. On my spindle – SWTC Karaoke in Rainbow.

14. What other crafts/hobbies do you have?

Obviously I knit but right now the business start up is taking a lot of my time. I used to quilt and create altered art pieces (artist trading cards, altered books, multi-media) but lost interest when fiber took over my life.

15. Other than crafts, what are you passionate about?

My kids mostly. My cats. My work some of the time.

16. Do you have an online wishlist?

I have a list at amazon.ca – I really should update it!

17. Is there anything that you collect?

Besides books, magazine and fiber? I have a collection of apples (stone, wood etc) and blue glassware. I haven’t really collected as much since having children.

18. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What magazine subscriptions do you have?

I would love Intertwined by Lexi Boeger. I would love any of Anne Hanson’s shawl patterns – particularly Bee Fields. I don’t subscribe but pick up at the news stand if I am impressed enough!

19. When is your birthday?

Never – I’ve decided to quit having them.
Oh fine. November 11

20. What book or movie character do you most resemble in personality?

I never know how to answer these questions! If I had to be a Jane Austen inspired characted, I’d qualify as the older, calmer sister (the Elinors and Janes) as opposed to spirited younger ones.

21. What is the climate like where you live around this time (need to know for careful shipments of anything meltable)?

Hot and humid!

22. Tell us one weird fact about yourself!

When I was a kid I could cover my eyes with my feet arching backwards (lying on my stomach). This is not something I can do anymore!

Favorites

Favorite painting/picture(link): I’ve always loved David Hockney’s Nichols Canyon Road (http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/hockney/hockney.nichols-canyon.jpg) , any Kandinsky for colour more than the paintings themselves and most Impressionism.

Candy: I firmly believe that Kit Kat is the perfect food.

Food: See above. But really – anything with flour, sugar and fat is good.

Drink: Not a big alcohol drinker (probably the jump straight to the hangover without the fun of the drunk beforehand) – so iced teas or lemonades in summer. Milkshakes too! I drink my fair share of coffee and love tea in the evenings when its cool outside.

Movie(s): I have a film degree – I just don’t watch movies anymore!

TV Show(s): I love the good reality dance shows like So You Think You Can Dance and documentaries – particularly science and technology. I used to be a huge sci fi fan but I don’t watch much TV these days.

Book(s): I also have an English degree so now I tend to prefer light reading (Jennifer Weiner and other chick lit), mysteries, supernatural mysteries (I went through a huge Lauren K. Hamilton phase last year), love the Dexter novels.

Guilty Pleasure(s): Ravelry at work, knitting silk, ice cream cones where I stuff the ice cream into the sugar cone and only have a little bit on top, the 6 pillows I sleep with, playing chase with my cat and having 14 different soaps in my shower from independent soapies.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Is that a bandwagon I see in the distance?

By Lisa | June 24, 2008

It’s 1:35 a.m. and I am awake because I have cats – and these cats decided that midnight was the BEST TIME EVER to play in my room.

And I was going to post my mosaic of the meme with the twelve items you search on flickr and then choose photos and stick them in a mosaic just like Stacey and I totally did and then I didn’t save it cause I am a dumb…well never mind.

So instead, here is a wall o fiber.

1:40 now and I shouldn’t be allowed to blog after midnight. I did save it – just not in the usual spot…

So I give you the rulez:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

Damn it…I’m going back to bed.

Posted in cats, kids, life, random | 3 Comments

A poem…

By Lisa | June 22, 2008

I gave it a try

To Navajo ply

Yeah, all right, I’m no poet. I can navajo ply however! At least NOW I can.

At first I got off to a rough start. This was not due to the singles I was plying which was lovely copper coloured superwash merino. It was not due to the teaching at all. It was due to my not being able to set up my wheel properly and so I tried to ply about 50 feet in the same direction that my singles was spun in…which meant I got crap.

Which of course I took a picture of because I wouldn’t want to miss an opportunity to humiliate myself…

Once the wheel and I started to get along a bit better (mostly because I stopped being a dumbass and it forgave me) I got a reasonable facsimile of a skein and the beginnings of an idea of how to do this. Here it is…

And last of all – the afternoon was spent in a group silk scarf dyeing activity where the entire group (about 80 or so) split into different groups to try different techniques. Chriss and I ended up in the pole wrapping (no, not dancing…) group.

Basically you wind string around your scarf on a piece of PVC pipe with string, push it up tight and then stick it in dye for a bit.

Chriss’ ended up better than mine (yes, I have pole wrapping technique regret) but I don’t have a picture so mine will have to do…

Purple isn’t really my colour and this design feels “old” to me – I was thinking of overdyeing it – ideas are welcome! Just remember that the colour will interact with the purple.

All in all it was a fun day but I am still tired out! I spent the afternoon back with my hands in the dyepot. I also culled some sock yarn that I dyed in the winter and posted it to the shop. I picked up some absolutely amazing mohair from Diane the spinning teacher that is what is left of her own angora goats – about 1600 meters worth so I’ll have to figure out what to do with it – its to much for one project but not quite enough for two.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Posted in dyeing, life, socks, spinning | 6 Comments

Mail!…what I spun…Q&A

By Lisa | June 20, 2008

Hi everyone – I have so much in my head I can’t possibly get it all down in one post or a) I’ll be here forever and b) it will make no sense.

So I’m going to curb my enthusiasm a bit and focus on one thing at a time.

The stuff that’s hit my mailbox this week!

As stuff has sold in the shop, it has given me a bit of virtual cash (seriously – with PayPal it doesn’t seem like real money at all) to play with and I wanted to find some interesting Canadian sellers on etsy to support.

I got super lucky when Uli hearted me on etsy (I love that…hearted…and the little hearts pulse too!) cause she has some super cool stuff in her shop. I held out in the resistance department until I got to these and then I was hitting “add to cart” and the rest is history. There have been two great side effects of this – I got a terrific sock pattern and a new friend in the process!

I was also after some removeable stitch markers and stumbled onto Crimson Orchid and bought these (I might have a thing for silver and blue).

I also heavily covet the shawl pins in Chris’ shop – I have some gorgeous stitch markers by her that Jeanne sent me that are so pretty that if I use them I tend to pause a bit every time I have to slip one from one needle to the next.

And last, but certainly not least…I’ve got cool labels! One of my older, bestest (see, moi in Vancouver – I didn’t say oldest!) friends – who may be familiar to all as wanna-baa in the comments – is my friend Jenna and I wouldn’t out her on the blog if I didn’t have a fabulous reason. I got these awesome iron-in labels in the mail today – I kind of knew they were coming when I got an email that said “If I was going to buy you labels, what would they say? Not that I’m going to do that or anything!” Anyway – this fantastic “surprise” showed up in the mailbox this afternoon:

Jenna is selling labels for a company called Lovable Labels – if you have kids or know of someone with kids, there is way more there than iron-ons. I am particularly intrigued by shoe labels that don’t wear out inside of kids’ shoes. With summer camp season nearly here and school starting again (I know, someone had to say it) in two months, these would be terrific for everything from the child’s forehead (okay, maybe just mine) to sippy cups at daycare and so much more.

So its been a great week for my mailbox. I am expecting new dyes next week (navy!) and a huge fiber shipment from the U.S. which means a shop update will be forthcoming too.

And just so you don’t think I’ve been sitting around waiting for the postal worker…

What I spun

Back in the winter I spent an afternoon at Chriss’ house and between the hours of conversation I made up about 6 batts with my pile of dye experiments on her drum carder…I finally had a chance to spin up some of the red yesterday. This is merino – bright red with flecks of purple. I didn’t realize how much of a difference there is spinning from a batt vs a roving. With the batt there was more friction in the fiber and I was able to control out the amount being drafted and managed a pretty effective bulky weight – there’s 1.8 ozs and about 72 yards in there.

Next up was some tussah silk I received as part of the Funky Carolina fiber club last year. I hadn’t spun pure silk in a long long time – like two years and then it was only small amounts. I predrafted the top and man, was it static-y! And me without a water bottle. Not annoying-to-the-point-of-not-being-able-to-spin but definitely a bit more difficult to control. It is absolutely gorgeous. There’s two ounces there – probably a fingering weight or light sport weight. I need to run it through the meter to get the right count at some point…but for now I am just petting it and calling it George. Not really, but you get the point.

And speaking of Funky Carolina roving – I just undid a braid from her that I got last year too (merino bamboo – awesome!) and it isn’t braided! Its a crochet chain! I have got to try that!!!

Answering Qs

moi in vancouver asked if I was going to have yarn too…I actually just posted two handpainted soysilk laceweights and my plan is to offer handspun and handdyed yarns when I have them. I have some fingering weight yarn I have never knit myself that I will probably post when I have a chance to photograph them and figure out my pricing.

Take care and have a great weekend! Tomorrow, Chriss and I and the Hilltop Fibreworker are heading off to Almonte for Saint Distaff Day where I am hoping to learn to navaho ply.
Posted in dyeing, etsy, knitting, life, spinning | 3 Comments

No pretty pictures

By Lisa | June 18, 2008

Yep – no pictures today – mostly because it hasn’t stopped raining since the weekend. So instead I will answer a meme I kind of self-tagged myself with by reading indigodragonfly’s blog (go visit but consider yourself duly warned)…

1) What was I doing ten years ago?
Nursing a 6 month old…staggering through my life in a state of exhaustion.

2) What are five (non-work) things on my to-do list for today:
Go to knit night – post one thing on etsy – have lunch with Nancy - shower – go to bed early

3) Snacks I enjoy:
Anything with that delightful fat-sugar-flour combination. And chocolate.

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

Bigger house with a nice studio equipped with housekeeper and cook. I’d open a knitting-spinning-dyeing shop in the country and who cares if I make money as long as I have fun. I’d make sure my parents could live comfortably for the rest of their lives, buy my sister and house and then start paying down the mortgages of my friends. And I’d want to support programs that provide birth, labour and postpartum support to women in need.

5) Places I have lived:
Ottawa, Montreal, Washington D.C., Calgary , Syracuse NY

6) Jobs I have had:
Day camp counsellor
Clerk in an office that provided marriage licenses and registered births and deaths
Baskin Robbins ice cream jockey
Grocery store clerk
Chambermaid (which last an whole 3 hours – my love affair with cleaning continues to this day)
Civilian support staff in an murder investigation
Various and sundry office jobs
Freelance researcher

7) Peeps I want to know more about:

All of you but I dare not demand – if you want to play please do!

Posted in life | 1 Comment

WWKIP – Self-employment is exhausting

By Lisa | June 14, 2008

Happy Worldwide Knit in Public Day!

If you didn’t KNOW today was WWKIP Day then I do forgive you – I understand that there are a great many people who don’t knit. This includes a bunch of folks in Major Hill’s Park today – the guys in the conservation truck that slowed right down, the folks trying not to fall off their bicycles, the ambling folks passing by trying not to stare. Here are a few of the crazy knitters now -

Apologies for the dark photo – Linda is in front, then Leanne and, if you look closely – a little bit of Nancy by Leanne’s knee. And here’s the whole gang – minus me.

For the ravelers, intrepid organizer flyfish has posted her photos.

And I got a fantastic picture of Leanne wearing her newest shawl – her own design…but I’ll let her blog it – I just wanted to share this lovely photo of her!

When the party broke up a few of us continued on at the Earl of Sussex. There was much knitting which both delighted and confused the wait staff. There was a LOT of laughing. There was definitely some wierd shenanigans involving Dino Nuggets, fries and a Thomas the Tank Engine colouring book. Shout outs to Liz, Fran, and Megot (I suspect I just butchered that spelling – if you read this please correct me!).

Me and Etsy

So as you may have gathered from my last post, I kind of opened a shop? And there’s stuff in there that I’m selling?

To be honest I had been contemplating this on and off for months. I love dyeing – so much so that I have rather quickly outstripped my ability to spin it. Things like paying rent keep getting in the way of all the fun stuff like knitting and spinning and hanging with knitting people and being on ravelry and all the good stuff that goes with it.

So rather than drown in wool, and because I’ve gotten so many lovely comments from folks who’s opinions I respect, I decided to give it a shot. At this point, it is all profit as I had purchased roving without the intention to sell. I think what had stopped me before was how wonderful so much dyed stuff already out there is…and I didn’t think I measured up (as is usual for me to some arbitrary standard whereby other dyers all have fine arts degrees, long periods of dyeing study undertaken and stupendous studios – I may have an overactive imagination).

The name Three By Hand has been in my head for a long time. I like to imagine what I would name my knitting store, my long awaited novel, my hit TV show… So it seemed like a natural fit for me. Having branded the store, and to some extent me (an odd experience to do it for myself rather than work – a lot more interesting too – what am I all about and how do I convey that) – I feel like I just got a crash course in online selling.

Stuff I didn’t know anything about until now:

1. I had NEVER used PayPal…now I have a premier account and apparently this is how I will get money in exchange for goods. I even refunded someone who ordered a second roving to combine shipping (hi Jeanne – that Dandelion is going to be awesome! send pics when spun!)

2. Costs per item add up quickly…between Etsy’s share, PayPal’s share, what I may swallow in shipping because I am going with set costs rather than per item, envelopes and little fiddly marketing things – well lets just say that learning about pricing is going to take some time and my profit margin may be crap for a while.

3. I have NO clue how to market this…but I am hoping that if I impress enough folks, in time it will work itself out.

I think there’s a lot more…in the meantime, I have changed my avatar on ravelry and here…

Promised reviews will have to wait…I need sleep!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend and if you can (and want to) don’t forget to call your dad tomorrow!

Posted in Uncategorized | 9 Comments

Climb ladder…3 steps…bounce…dive!

By Lisa | June 13, 2008

I did it…

Three By Hand

More tomorrow…right now, I’m tuckered!

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

There and back again; up to my ears in wool

By Lisa | June 9, 2008

The news

So the “dude” and I headed off into the wild blue yonder – ambled down the highway at a leisurely pace of 15 km per hour above the speed limit – to the Big City. Actually we hit surburbia and went to Whitby – about 50-odd (give or take 25 km depending on which part of the city you measure from) kilometres from Toronto.

All I can say is a) thank god for air conditioning and b) theme parks and 40+ degrees humidex don’t mix. We lasted at Wonderland a whole 3 1/2 hours before calling it quits and heading back to Wanna-baa’s house for a nap, dinner and ice cream.

More stuff I can say…10 month olds? CUTE! Ava checked out Alex thoroughly our first morning:

We also found that the absolutely best place to be on a hot day is a little tiny beach in Port Hope on Lake Ontario where it was about 10 degrees cooler than anywhere else. And the fish and chips totally rocked. No pictures as I was too busy pushing the swing and watching sandcastle making.

The reason for the trip to Port Hope was to go to The Black Lamb and pick up some fibre as I am preparing a bunch of stuff for St. Distaff’s Day. Laurie had closed the shop for the day to hawk (hauk?) her wares at the Ontario Handspinning Seminar (next year, please remind me to go to this okay?). She was there on Sunday when I drove back through on my way home and was happy to accept my credit card in exchange for a whack-load of BFL and some Shetland.

This year, St. Distaff is on June 21st and if you have never heard of St. Distaff don’t be surprised…she (I think its a she) is the made up saint of spinners and weavers. Every year one of the local guilds hosts a day of spinning, weaving and fibre arts workshops along with a small vendor show. Chriss of Daisy Chains and Buttercups is going to have a table this year and I’m going to put some stuff there to see if anyone wants to help me lighten up my shelves at home. Turns out I have a LOT of fibre.

So…I have been dyeing my heart out over the last two weeks!

Stuff I dyed

So today you get a quick review about dyeing roving. In the last two weeks, I’ve dyed a whole lot of Blue Faced Leicester (BFL), Corriedale, Merino and Merino/Tencel blend. My favourite is BFL with the Merino Tencel a close second.

As much as I love the soft merino it is hard to handle when dyeing. The fibre is so fine it tends to drift apart and requires careful handling to keep the integrity of the roving intact (now there’s a sentence I never thought I would type…integrity of roving…). The worst moment is when I go to pull the bump out of the soaking bowl while trying to avoid the others and keep the merino all in one piece. I seem to finally have my technique down, but I’ve also learned to lower my standards a bit about how perfect the roving will be when I am done with it.

The other thing about merino is that it seems to resist taking up the dye. If anyone wants to jump in with an explanation about how my technique may be faulty please do so, but it seems like the same concentration of dye yields a much more saturated colour on the same amount of BFL as merino. It seems as thought the merino sucks up the dye so quickly it doesn’t have time to spread through the fibre.

The merino/tencel mix seems to solve some of the problems with the merino including the “drifty-ness” – not to mention that the shine on it makes my heart beat a little faster.

Finally Corriedale. Alas, how I want so much to like you! I have to confess however, that I do love my fine wools and while Corriedale has its place in the wool pantheon, it will never be worshipped here. Just too rough for my taste and it seems to suck in light. What can I say…I like me some shiny stuff. I’m surprised I haven’t started with the Angelina yet.
So here’s a quick fibre fix…and if you want to see it all, go check out my flickr.

Stuff I’m Knitting

Little to report – the Susie Hoodie is proceeding well. I am 22 rows away from my off the needles, around the waist size check and then we will know for sure if all is well. Now I just have to commit absolutely to doing the waist size check thing and not pretend that this type of careful consideration is something that is good and right and not something that is only for other lesser knitters than I.

And finally – for all those who asked…

Vesper the Vibe is fantastic. Fun to drive, goes vroom and generally makes itself welcome everywhere except at the gas pump. Also, I really can’t wait to see how many hits I get off a google search for “black vibe”. Because I am really 12 years old.
Next time, I will try to tell you about Kniterary* where I got to touch some Camelspin (please don’t lick the screen – not good for monitors I hear) and after I regained cousciouness I bought a new book.
*A yarn shop where wise yarn store owner has placed Fleece Artist and Handmaiden in a locked glass cabinet. Bizarre but somehow made me want it even more…
Posted in dyeing, holidays, kids, knitting, spinning, weather | 4 Comments

I did it!

By Lisa | June 4, 2008
I bought (actually leased) a new car!

I picked up my brand spankin’ new black Vibe from the dealership last night. My fiber can now travel in air conditioned, fuel-efficient comfort!

(picture stolen from Google Images – plus mine is black)

I haven’t had time to explore the car much seeing as how work is kicking my ass from here to far away and back but I am heading to Toronto Thursday night with the lad for the weekend and that should give me plenty of time to make friends.

I’ll be back to blogging when I get back – supposing I survive Canada’s Wonderland with an 8-year-old.

A quick conversational snippet…

Madeline: If you were a superhero, what power would you have.
Alex: Super strength!!
Madeline: I would have ALL of them.
Alex: Mommy, what superpower would you have?
Me: Fast knitting.
What did we learn from this? Alex is all boy. I am obsessed. Madeline is way smarter than the rest of us.
Have a great rest of week…enjoy your weekend and I’ll see you when I get back.
Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments