Saturday, January 12, 2013

Socks, A Yarn Barf and a Furball

Socks!
First-time Tube Socks by Ann Budd knit with Knit Picks WOTA sport overspun Garnet Heather colourway
Finished my first pair of socks for 2013.

Yarn Barf
 
This is a lovely merino DK-weight yarn from Colourmart. I bought the DK Merino set when as a special offer for the Olympics knitting but the Olympics happened between travelling to meetings and I was unable to knit it up. Both skeins that I have worked with barfed badly. I'll need to work out what I'm doing wrong when it's time to knit the rest of the batch. But the yarn really is butter soft, a little splitty but nothing that can't be overcome, and knits up beautifully. Colourmart always has a wonderful selection in stock and they are amazing to deal with. Highly recommend.

I'll spare you piccys of the furball I stepped on this morning while getting out of bed.

Hot Chocolate complaint: why are hot chocolate packets designed to make 6oz cups when most people have 8oz cups?

Sunday, January 6, 2013

First Six Days of the Year

I've finished the first project of the New Year. A slouchy tam to accompany the Jared Flood Gansey Scarf I knit last January.

I've managed to get Knit Meter loaded onto the blog and my Ravelry Profile. I only have 20,638.8 more yards to knit before the current stash disappears. :) Mme DeFarge where are you?

Sorry there were no photos with the last blog post. Apparently now you can't upload from your computer in Blogger but have to upload photos first to Picassa. Big Brother Google strikes again.

Anyway, here are photos of the recently finished items and two wips (works in progress):
WIP: 5 in 1 Convertible Mitts by Marly Bird knit in KP City Tweed HW in Cobalt colourway for my sister. I'm hoping to schedule a fitting for tomorrow.

Grey Tam knit with KP Special Buy WOTA sport overspun in colourway Ash

Odessa by Grumperina knit in Rowan Felted Tweed DK colourway Treacle

Not knit. Cat watching Redkins lose to Seattle Seahawks. I've promised him three hours of Downton Abbey as consolation.

WIP: First Time Tube Socks by Ann Budd knit with KP Special Buy WOTA sport overspun in Garnet Heather colourway. This is being knit as part of the Friends Ravelry Group KAL/CAL Knit Any Sock 2013
Simple Mitts from Knit Simple Holiday 2012

 

Friday, January 4, 2013

MLK Day of Action Volunteer Opportunity for DC-Area Knitters/Crocheters

I'm passing this along:

How are you planning to honor MLK Day this year? We know that you love to knit and would like to invite you to “DC Knit-In 2013.”

We are writing to you from Meridian International Center, an international non-profit based in DC (Meridian Hill Park), whose mission supports global leadership development. Meridian programs bring people of all backgrounds together around common platforms – such as exchange, ideas and the arts or why not KNITTING! We know that knitting is universal and there are a lot of you in DC – so here is our idea.

We have been looking for volunteer opportunities for MLK Day this year and have not found our ideal match. We would like to gather a critical mass of knitters on Sunday, January 20th in the afternoon to make hats for the homeless. It is getting cold out, the city is busy preparing for the inauguration, and we want to give back - with you. We see knitting as a wonderful way to bring together people of all backgrounds, generations, and skill levels for one common goal.

We are short on time but believe that this is possible with your help. This email is going out to DC knitting groups – please feel free to pass it along and share your ideas with us.

To make this happen, we would need the following:

Venue – size TBD based on response
Materials – we know veterans would have their own needles, but we would like to recruit new knitting volunteers as well so it would be good to look for donations of needles and of course YARN – Lots of Yarn!
Publicity – we need your help to spread the word – get the knitters and volunteers there

If you are interested, please email: rtaylor@meridian.org




World Wide Weirdness

Every once in a while it pays to just google yourself or your blog.  Found this very strange, what seems to be a translation of an earlier blogpost: click

Or this about the main character in my series of mystery novels: Trevor BTW, none of those pictures remotely resembles the Trevor Littlejohn I have in my writer's head.

Year of the Water Snake

There are another 35 or so days before the Year of the Water Snake arrives, but already it feels like 2013 will be action packed.

In February I'm attending a cast-on class at Looped Yarn Works taught by the amazing Shirley Paden. I am going to continue my Way of Shambhala training with Meek and Perky in March. Spiny and Mr. Ant are coming in May for the Malice Domestic conference. And I'm laying plans to travel to Oakland to see Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh in October.

The calendar year ended with another incredible Monlam with a series of teachings by the Karmapa that I'll continue to absorb during 2013.

Toupie had to suffer through my confusion during the last days of 2012. I put a package of pecans next to the packages of treats and at least twice gave him pecans instead of treats. Puss was not a happy camper.

Among my achievements during 2012 was adhering to my resolution to knit 1 hour per day with amazing results in my productivity and for the last eleven days of the year, I only ate from my refrigerator and pantry. The one, which I thought would be an achievement, but which I've realized is a process, is a total clean-up and out and organization of my living space. More about that later.

The best fun of 2012 was visiting the Insectarium in New Orleans and the Christmas Countown in the Friends group on Ravelry where we gifted each other patterns.

If you've been a regular or occassional reader of this blog, you'll know the biggest frustration of 2012 for me and hundreds of others.

Knitting
One the needles are Ann Budd's First Time Tube Socks and Basic Tam Pattern. Next are a pair of convertible mitts for sister and the Annie Modesitt's Falkland Skirt from History on Two Needles.