Category: Goofy Stuff

Free Yarn, Part 2

You guys rock. I got way over 100 comments on my last post. It’s amazing how “Free Yarn!” brings people out of lurkdom. Thanks for all the lovely Blogiversary good wishes!

You all have some great gadget ideas, though admittedly, I’ve used many of them already. I’m mostly impressed that knitters are so accomplished at MacGyvering ordinary objects into knitting gadgets.

Ok, I know what you all want. You want to know who won, and what they won. I’ll stop yammering. Here’s the way it works. The random number generator chose the first winner, and I picked the second one because she was the first commenter to make me laugh out loud. And what are the odds, they’re both from Minnesota.

Miss T won the random number spot, with her comment about her very special stitch markers. If she hadn’t won the random number award, she’d have been a contender for the “make me laugh” award. Her favorite stitch markers say “Oops” and “Crap”.

The funny award goes to Chris. She listed several of her favorite tools and gadgets, one of which is her treasured drug dealer’s scale. Her second comment was the one that made me laugh out loud.

“Oh! I got my drug dealer’s scale via amazon.com. You know how they have those “people who purchased what you are looking at also bought” links? There was only one such link, and it was to a book of marijuana horticulture. I shoulda taken a screen shot.”

What do they win? Here are the photos. Miss T will choose first, then Chris gets to pick from what’s left. They each get to pick one thing. I had a hard time picking stuff from all my favorite yarn, let me tell you.

First up is a pile of sock yarn. Each of these choices has enough yardage for a pair of socks.

From left to right:
Socks That Rock mediumweight, in Fairgrounds
Schaefer Heather, in Gertrude Ederle, one of the Memorable Women colors
More STR, in Lenore, one of the Raven series
Dream In Color Smooshy sock, in Deep Seaflower
STR again, this time in Silkie, a merino/silk blend. The color is Walking on the Wild Tide
Last but not least, Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn, in Dusk

Here are the non-sock options.

Blue Sky Alpaca & Silk, in a very pale pink. There are three skeins, each 146 yards.

On the left, one lonely little skein of Alchemy Haiku, in the color Mediterranean, 325 yards. On the right is Lorna’s Laces Helen’s Lace, a silk/wool blend, in the color Sage, just ever so slightly not-solid, 1250 yards.

Knit Picks Shimmer, in the color Grape Hyacinth. This is a total of 1760 yards.


This is more alpaca, this time from Hood Canal Yarns. The color name is “Ocean Collection 1”. This is approximately a sport weight, and is a total of 300 yards.

Last but not least, from Blue Moon Fiber Arts again, this time some real cobwebby stuff. This is Silk Thread II, in the color Grawk. It’s 1125 yards, and would make a lovely shawl, if you are inclined to knit an entire shawl out of nearly black thread.

Let the games begin! If either of you have any other questions about the choices, let me know. They’ve all been lovingly stored in closed containers, and are unused, though all have been occasionally fondled.

Free Yarn!

No this isn’t an April Fool’s Joke. Once again, I’ve missed my Blogiversary by several days. March 26th, 2004 was my first blog entry. It’s been a crazy fun five years, and I’ve learned a lot about knitting and blogging. I’ve also met a lot of really wonderful people by starting a blog. Who’d have thought?

In honor of the five-year anniversary, I’m having a contest. All you need to do is leave a comment, telling me about your favorite knitting gadget or tool. You know how I love gadgets. Your gadget can be something that’s made especially for knitters, or it could be something from the Muggle world that you’ve adapted to knitting. It doesn’t have to be something that I don’t already have, though that would delight me to no end and give me something new for which to shop. My definition of “gadget” is rather broad: it means anything that you use in your knitting that is not actually the yarn.

Prizes? Of course there will be prizes. I just haven’t picked them out yet. I’ll choose two winners. The first will be by the random number generator, the second will be for the gadget comment that amuses me the most. The two winners will each get their choice of something from my vast stash. It will be a choice of sock yarn or something lacy with enough yardage to make a scarf. (No, you can’t have my Wollmeise. I’m not totally nuts.) Once we have winners, I’ll post photos of a couple of fine yarn selections and let each of them choose. The random number winner will get to pick first, then the amusing winner, just to avoid fights.

I’ll post a photo of my favorite gadget just to get things started. You’ve all seen this before. It’s my treasured drug-dealer’s scale. Every time I post a photo of this I get questions about where I got it. You can buy it here if you want one of your very own. You can’t have mine, it’s not one of the contest prizes.

You have through the weekend to leave me a comment. I’ll close the contest Sunday night, April 5th, at midnight Pacific time. May the best gadget win!

The P Vacations

I started to post some photos of our Portland trip this morning and realized that I completely skipped over the Phoenix trip earlier this month.

Here’s Phoenix in photos:

This is one reason I love my sweetie. He makes me drinks on airplanes. He packed his own Grey Goose vodka for me.

First stop on the way from the airport:

The family Mexican Train competition.

I got to meet Lee Ann, who was in town for a conference. Here are two knitting doctors:

I’m pretty sure that the centerpiece on that table was inspired by yarn balls. Yes, there were martinis involved.

I finished John’s socks.

The girls all got pedicures.

We went to our favorite fast food restaurant.

We also went to the Desert Botanical Garden to see the Dale Chihuly exhibit. If you have any opportunity to get to Phoenix before this leaves, go see this. It is just breathtaking.

We went to see a couple spring training baseball games also, but for some reason there is no photographic evidence of this.

OK, that’s enough photos for one day. I’ll leave Portland for another post!

Wintergrass, Day 1

As usual, the first evening of Wintergrass brought some great entertainment. The festival starts Thursday night, then continues Friday evening, most of the day and evening on Saturday, and all day on Sunday. Thursday is sort of the “warmup” session, but there are always a couple of “sleeper” groups that turn out to be great. Last night the Tallboys, a string band from Seattle, were my favorite. It’s an old time string band, and as they point out, are neither all boys, nor all tall. They have fiddle, banjo, bass, and a clogger girl. What more could you want in a group?

The other hit of the evening was Mike Marshall and one of the many group iterations that he plays in. This particular group was the Big Trio, playing acoustic string music that is difficult to pigeonhole into one genre. Mike is also playing with a Brazilian acoustic group tomorrow, and that should be terrific as well.

As to knitting, I worked on True Blue last night. I’ve finished the back piece, and cast on the front so I was ready for the evening. I managed to just finish the bottom ribbing and the increases last night, so now I’m ready to just knit mindlessly back and forth on the body without having to pay much attention. The ribbing is a twisted rib (P1, K1tbl on the front, K1, P1tbl on the back), so I had a bit of trouble with it in the dark, but from here on it should be easy. Here are photos.

The back, done.

Those little clips holding the extra yarn on the shoulders? They are from a set of bag clips that we got at Ikea. The smaller ones are just a little too small to work well on food bags, but are perfect for this application!

Ribbing done:

What? You don’t have a pirate pencil case??

I suppose you want to see inside, too.

Well, of course it came with the pirate pencil sharpener and the pirate eraser.

Arrrgggh, matey. I’m ready for the weekend.

The Tribe Has Spoken

I guess I’ll fix those damned socks after all. As of right now, the vote is 64 to 48 in favor of darning the holes in the Ugliest Socks Of All Time. Interestingly, the vote in the comments was overwhelmingly in favor of tossing them out. There are some lurkers out there who want these things mended, apparently.

Of course, now that I’ve gone through all this angst over the holey socks, John now thinks new socks would be better after all. Maybe I’ll do both. I need to find some kind of ugly yarn that “matches” the ugly brown Wool-ease. I am so not buying new yarn for this, so it’s going to be non-matchy, thus making them even uglier, if possible.

If anybody pays attention to my sidebar, there was a little “whoops” this month. The Great Stash Knit-Down has apparently turned into the Great Stash Buy-Up. The net number went into a negative this morning after I added a little bag of yarn that I had added to the stash this past month. I’m blaming it on Kris. Sonny & Shear had that blasted end-of-the-year inventory sale, and some of the bargains were too good to pass up. Do you want to see some of it? Of course you do!


This is one of my favorites. It’s Imperial Stock Ranch Sock Yarn, in Wild Iris. This is just the loveliest “wooly” wool, the kind you want to just bury your nose in. Kris still has some of this stuff left, though not in this color. Go buy some, so I don’t feel so guilty.


This is Dream In Color Baby, in the color In Vino Veritas. It’s a heavier weight lace yarn, almost fingering. Who knows what this will be, but I couldn’t resist the name. I already have some of the Smooshy sock yarn in this exact same color, so I can have a matching shawl and socks. Cool!

Last but not least is more shawl yarn. This isn’t from Kris, but from Sharon from Three Irish Girls. I’m a member of the Sock Yarnista sock club, and this was the December offering. Sharon solicitated color names from members on Ravelry, then dyed yarn to match the most popular name. It’s called Mulled Wine. Of course, only one skein of this was included in the sock club, but I bought a couple extra so I could have enough to make a shawl. I’m thinking Cluaranach, by Anne Hanson of Knitspot.

Of course there was more, but I’m not showing it just now. I need to go knit like a banshee* to get that net number back into the positive range.

*Do banshees really knit? If so, can I get one to help out around here?

RIP

No, I’m not frogging anything, and nobody died. It is however, a sad day around here. John’s favorite hand-knit socks have bit the dust for the last time.

When I first learned to knit, I waded right into a sweater after I had done about six interminable inches on a garter stitch scarf.* Then I decided to knit socks. Knowing nothing about sock yarn, much less sock knitting, I went to Hobby Lobby and bought not only Wool-Ease yarn, but the absolute ugliest skein of brown Wool-Ease yarn they made. It was brown, and John claimed it for his own. I had a generic sock pattern from somewhere, and ended up with these.

As you can see, we have a little problem here. Here’s another photo with both socks.

The heel of one went at exactly the same time as the toe of the other one. I’ve already darned these once. The last time he wore holes in them, I tried to toss them out, but he convinced me that they were the best socks ever and that I should fix them. Fortunately, this time I have no more of the ugly brown Wool-Ease left to repair them**, and they’re headed for the trash. I had to do a little bargaining, and promised him that I’d make another pair, better than the first. They’ll be brown, but they won’t be Wool-Ease.

*The sweater eventually was finished, the scarf wasn’t.

**If any of you have brown Wool-Ease in your stash, just keep it to yourselves, OK? He does not need any encouragement.

Behinder and Behinder…

That’s what I usually am. I am always about 6 or 8 projects behind, whether it’s knitting, blogging, or cleaning my office. Oh well. You’d think I’d get used to it. If you’re in my family, you know me as the relative that buys “belated” cards on purpose, knowing that they will never get out on time.

Memes and internet games are no different. This will be a dual post, to do two different ones that I’ve been saving up (that’s the ticket, I was saving them up for a special post).

First is a very nice “I Love Your Blog” award, given to me by Miss T quite some time back. That was very sweet of her, and I’ve been remiss in thanking her publicly, and in posting my own choices. I of course love Miss T’s blog, and especially her lovely cooking posts with gorgeous photos. Here are the rules, and a few of my faves:

The rules:

1. Please mention the award on your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you.
3. You must nominate at least 4 fellow bloggers for this award.
4. Add links to the recipients.
5. Leave a comment so the recipients know they have received an award.

Here are my four. Oh my, how to pick just four from all the talented bloggers that I regularly read?

Part Two: The 6 Random things meme; I was blackmailed challenged to do this one by Jocele of Knitting on Call. Here are the rules for this one:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Randomness, in no particular order:

1. I am sort of a procrastinator. Can’t you tell? 🙂

2. I still wear my high school class ring sometimes. The town I grew up in is small, and has only one high school. The ring design is the same that it’s been for decades. Oh OK, here’s a photo.

3. I also still know all the words to my high school “fight” song. Prove it, you say?

Edgeley High School, hats off to thee!

To our colors, true we will ever be

Firm and strong, united are we!

Rah! Rah! To Edgeley High

You Rah Rah Rah!

Hats off to Edgeley High!

4. I sleep with a teddy bear, you’ve all met her, Sweetpea. What you might not know is that this isn’t a lifelong thing. She joined the family only about fifteen years ago. She’s my first ever teddy.

5. My current hair color isn’t natural. (Shhhhh!) Though it’s actually pretty close to the color I was born with, my hair turned a plain very dark brown as a child. Then the grey started creeping in. I’m not ready for that, so now I’m back to a warm dark brown with a little red in it.

6. The last random thing is that parts of this post got eaten by Typepad, where my blog usually lived. I’m not going to try to fix it. There you go.

Ten On Tuesday

I know, I know. To my knowledge, I’ve never done one of these TOT things. By the time I get around to doing them, it would be Ten on Thursday, which I suppose would work. I couldn’t resist an opportunity to list my ten favorite Christmas songs, though.

We have a subscription to Rhapsody, which allows us to listen to all the music we want for a flat monthly fee. Believe me, this is cheaper by far than when I was into buying albums. And this way, they have to put the albums away, not me. My holiday playlist currently has over 3500 songs on it. How to choose just ten?

1. Gesu Bambino, my current favorite version is by Ying Huang, who has just a heavenly voice.

2. Sleigh Ride, the Mitch Miller version, from the album Holiday Sing Along With Mitch. Corny, but very singable.

3. Jing A Ling Jing A Long, by the Andrews Sisters, on the album Sing & Swing. Very catchy tune, as only the sisters can do it. Ha ha! Ho ho!

4. In Dulci Jubilo, by just about anybody who sings it.

5. Blue Christmas, only the Elvis version. Anybody else is just an imposter.

6. Merry Christmas From The Family, by Robert Earl Keen. The version on his “Live” album is the best.

7. The Hallelujah Chorus from the Messiah, the Mormon Tabernacle version is my favorite.

8. Santa Baby, by Eartha Kitt. Again, anybody else singing this is just not doing it right.

9. Away In A Manger, currently I’m listening to a version by Richard Proulx and the Cathedral Singers.

10. O Holy Night, by the Irish Tenors. Or Il Divo. I’ll take either one. Now that I think about it, pretty much anything by Il Divo would do. They could just stand there and I’d be happy. 🙂

No links, you’re on your own finding these!

The Mutts Are Winning

Go vote. Yes, I know the election is over. This is a different one. Go give your opinion as to what dog the Obamas should take with them to the White House in January.

Riley is voting for the Mutt category. Lewey is really disappointed that his breed is not even in the running.

Also, I forgot to show a photo of our Halloween pumpkin this year. John’s kids brought this when they came to visit the week before the election.

Well, There You Go


You Should Be a Doctor


You are practical, sharp, and very intuitive.
Optimistic and energetic, you are a problem solver who doesn't get discouraged easily.
You are also quite compassionate and caring. You make people feel hopeful.
You're highly adaptable and capable. You do well with almost any curve ball life throws at you.

You do best when you:

– Are always learning new subjects
– Use your knowledge to solve problems

You would also be a good therapist or detective.

I'm off to write. I'm doing NaNoWriMo again this year, and I'm only 2215 words into the thing. At least this time I have a plot.

The Great Stash Knit-Down

I have a new item over there on the sidebar. Now that the economy is in the toilet, I’m very excited that I have boxes and boxes of stash to knit from. My sister-in-law Ena is visiting, as I mentioned in my last post. After she got settled in to our guest room, she came upstairs laughing. First she had to move a bunch of stash boxes around in the closet so she could have room to hang up clothes. Then she noticed Lewey talking to something he imagined was under the bed, so she got down to look. Yup, more yarn. I didn’t take her upstairs to see the 2 huge boxes of sock yarn, and the huge box of lace yarn in my office.

Anyway, I’m not committing to not buying any more yarn. You all know me better than that, and that plan has never gone well. I am simply committing to publicly keeping track of all the forward (or backward!) movement in my stash yardage. If I use a skein of yarn, the yards get added. If I buy a skein of yarn, the yards get subtracted from the total. Let’s hope it stays out of the minus numbers. I’m starting out with adding all the yarn I’ve used so far for the not-Cobblestone sweater. After this I’ll update it as each ball of yarn is used/added. My blog, my rules.

Ena is also a beginning knitter. She is knitting dishcloths as practice, and brought her knitting with her. Here is her first fine effort, and a photo of her knitting. Will you all please welcome the newest member of our fold, and encourage her on her progress?


She finished the first dishcloth in less than two evenings, so I’m pretty sure she’s hooked. I actually heard her say “just let me finish one more row” a couple of times. We went to the LYS today so she could stock up on her very own needles and more yarn (and stitch markers, tapestry needles, etc!).

Last but not least, here’s my hippie car, just to let you know who I’m voting for this fall.**

We vote by absentee ballot every year, and finished our voting this morning over coffee.

Whoever you are planning on voting for this year, get out there and get it done!

**Yes, I have a license plate, I’m blocking it out for safety reasons!

Knitting Hunks, 2008

Just a quick post to let you all know that the Knitting Hunk contest is going on over here at Kim’s place. We’re already into round 2, and last year’s winner, Alan Rickman, really needs your vote. While you’re there, vote for Patrick Stewart in the second contest for today. I didn’t nominate him, but I wish I’d have thought of it after seeing today’s photo. This should provide entertainment for the next few weeks, so even if you don’t care, go check out the eye candy.

A real knitting update tomorrow, I promise!