ever since the spinout this weekend, the thought of fibers and spindles (and maybe wheels) have been floating through my head. with all the new fiber I was gifted, I decided to quickly finish spinning the merino I was working on so I can try out some of my new goodies. it's hard to tell, but there's really some improvement in the second skein compared with my first time around. I'm probably partially lying to myself, but whatever! I'm happy with my little baby skeins (I probably have a total of 50 yards). I still don't know what I'll do with this yarn, steph suggested a crazy scarf with all of our handspun...so I better get spinning.

this green silk/merino jumped out of my little fiber stashette last night. it begs to be spun! this blend is so soft and it's beautifully carded and dyed by marie (I can't wait till she starts selling her fibers!). pre-drafting has become more intuitive and I think my spinning is even better (if I say so myself). for some reason it's so much easier to keep everything somewhat even and thin (marie told me it's the silk that makes it think, I think it's my spinning powers...you decide). I have no idea why I'm obsessed with spinning thin, maybe that's how you're allowed into the spinning club. damnit, I want in!

before you think I totally gave up on my knitting, I did start a little something that I hope I get to finished this weekend.

anna has mentioned the healing powers of lace before, and I have to agree. I started the diamond fanstasy shawl because I needed something to sink into, something that would keep my mind busy. it seems to be working. I just pick it up whenever I feel like and work on a row or two. unfortunately the knitting gods have punished me for not sharing and threw in some silly mistake a few rows back. it'll be easy to tink back, but umm it's on time out till then. stupid knitting gods.

Posted by bitter purl at 12:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (35)

first off, thanks cara for organizing this whole thing! yesterday was just what I needed, a whole day away from the norm, hanging out with friends and meeting some new fiber addicts. cara has the patience of a saint, first I scared her by not calling and being an hour or so late and then I probably stressed her out by not being able to spin a thing on her wheel. actually, I did spin....it was just overspun as all get out. I had coils on top of coils! it looks so easy, yet my hands and feet weren't cooperating. I wanted to get up and run away but cara kept me there trying. by the end I was feeling ok, thinking that at least I'm trying right? that ended when I saw a little boy spinning like a natural on someone else's wheel. sigh.

most of my day was spent hanging out with marie, whom without I would still be in the middle of chinatown. it was so fun to chat with her about fibers, yarns, and general life stuff...in person. I talk to her almost every day, so it was about time we finally chatted in person! I was in awe of her spinning skills, let's just say the tiniest laceweight on a spindle while talking and walking. she's insane but I love her for it. why wouldn't I when she gifts me with silk/merino, cashmere, and optim wool rovings (the batts on the left are from steph, the pink and brown is alpaca/merino she gifted me and the mini blue one is merino she did up for the spinout)? yes, I know, I'm very lucky...and I need to become a better spinner stat so I don't feel bad ruining all that fiber.

towards the end of the day we headed down to the point, where we met with carrie, I can't believe it took me this long to meet carrie! we've known eachother for a year and you could tell, because after hugging we were talking and knitting as if this were our regular meetup. I love her so much that I even forgave her for working on a crochet project instead of knitting (and it's a gift for her mom so I couldn't say too much). we hung out for a few hours with the nicest, cutests knitters at our table. unfortunately, I didn't catch their names but one of them was knitting a sleeve our ella rae wool and her best friend was knitting lily chin's reversible rib shawl from a vogue knitting book. why am I giving so many details? because I know they read this blog so I'm trying to out them out of lurkdom so I can email them. so say hello won't you?!

I headed back to philly before dinner time and carrie was sweet enough to drive me down to chinatown...so I got to see the car! you know, THE car. what can I say, I still find it funny and weird when things from blogs 'come to life'.

Posted by bitter purl at 10:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (21)

every day I think I'm going to come here and blog, but I've been too busy, too tired, or too apathetic. that's all true and a lie at the same time. I feel like I have so much to tell you. too much really. I'm just not sure yet how to gather all my thoughts together. then there's the stuff I can't tell you, both good and bad. of course, that's all I can think about!

but let's pretend none of that is happening (and maybe I'll stop clenching my jaw) and that I just came back from TNNA with some fun stuff to tell you, shall we? I'll just slowly get everything out there without you even knowing it. here are just some quick thoughts on the convention and the knitting scene:

the whole thing can be overwhelming and you do need days to cover all grounds.

needlework seems to be 20-30 years back in time, not to say knitting is any more fashion forward. the knit patterns that stick out in my mind still seem to be from 10 or 20 years ago (dropshoulders for everybody!). crochet? for some reason you get the feeling it's ignored all together. thankfully there's quiet a few crocheters that are trying to change that.

the 'fashion show' was interesting to say the least. what's in style for fall? cables, lots and lots of cables. colorwork, drop shoulders, boleros (when will they die?), huge pom poms (they're very flattering right on your shoulders), using 20 different yarns or colors in one outfit, and knitting your own mohair/silk evening gown (thanks rowan!). it's funny how a show like this, with over 100 different entries, can really skew your tastes. the most boring sweaters become your instant favorites just for the sensory relief.

the actual yarn and accessories I went to on this trip for varied from underwhelming, to mind-numbing, to classic. like I said, the convention is huge and spread out. you really have to do some walking to find 'the perfect' yarn (whatever that may be for your tastes). I think Stef and I walked the 'market' over 100 times, each time finding something new. there was still a lot of the novelty yarns, though now they're called 'specialty yarns'. I did see some of them finally moving towards luxury, a sect that is exploding I'm happy to say. I saw quite a few artisan yarns,hand dyers, or companies focused on finding the best fibers to create classic yarns. there was quite a bit of new alpaca and alpaca blend yarns, all with their own unique charecteristics. I think this finally means that alpaca is moving from 'new cool fiber' to a stash staple. the 'new fiber' at this show was apparently corn. I saw at least two companies with corn yarns. they felt soft, but a little too heavy for me. I have no idea how they'll knit, it'll be interesting to see once they're finally released. in all of this I did find some gems that I deemed 'pure knits worthy' and I'm excited for them to show up here. some you'll have to wait to see till fall, but there are others that I have samples from, and I even have samples from companies I didn't order from. they wanted me to try out the yarns and give them some feedback (is my pickyness that obvious?). you'll see some of the ones that gave me 'blogging rights' in the coming weeks.

that's all for now since I need to go to sleep and then head out for the spin out tomorrow morning. I hope to meet a ton of bloggers there!

for the skimmers here are some pics of the loot (don't hate me!):

my new books, mostly all signed

and a fun guessing game! do any of these patterns look familiar?

Posted by bitter purl at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (20)

just a quick post to say I'm home from Indiana and that I had a blast! I'll go into more details later, but it was so great to finally meet stef (best roomate ever!),andrea, lauren, amy, the kpixie girls, knitty's amy, melanie falick, lucy neatby, debbie stoller, suss cousins, vickie howell, wenlan chia (twinkle!!), amy swenson, shannon okey, and a ton of crocheters that have blogs but I don't know them! I'm sure there were more people but I'm still so tired and excited at the same time. there's a ton of stuff going on at this end and I'll try to blog about some of it tomorrow....but right now I have 400 feeds to read...

Posted by bitter purl at 07:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (21)

for some reason the theme in this house seems to be 'stalemate', we're still waiting for the a/c to get fixed, no one is giving in and cleaning up around here, I'm waiting on some news that seems to be taking forever, and then there's this jacket business:

we keep getting this grey, ugly weather that is perfect for knitting with some wool. I would be further along with this (the sunrise circle jacket) if I hadn't stopped to think. that little voice in my head started shouting so loud that I couldn't ignore it. I've checked my gauge, the schematics, and the knitted measurements and everything seems fine BUT I still feel like this jacket is going to turn out huge. maybe I'm just not used to knitting a jacket, but the raglan seems way too deep, the sleeves are too long, and that half circle is way too 'something' compared to some of the jackets I've seen finished. the length of the sleeves I can deal with, but that circle and raglan worry the hell out of me. unfortunately this design isn't the easiest to just try on as you go. I've tried, but every time the jacket lays differently. I really wish there was some measurement for the half circles so I could feel a bit better. I'm at that point where I can't tell if it's that the styling of this pattern is not for my body or if I'm just doing something wrong I can remedy.

what am I going to do? here are my choices:

a. trust the pattern and keep knitting....could lead to major fug, much hilarity, and perhaps some tears.
b. trust the pattern, keep knitting, and give it away....can let someone else deal with it, but there's still the issue of my time.
c. finish knitting the second front and mess with the back to get it to fit right.....there's still the issue of the raglan depths and sleeve-surgery.
d. start over, knit the sleeves shorter, and decrease for the raglan quicker.....involves math and I don't really have time for math right now.
e. jump ship and start something else with this yarn....say the urban aran a la jared? can you tell I want some sort of sweater or jacket? I'll have to check the gauge and yarn req's, but I think this rowanspun aran could work.

thoughts? ideas?

in the meantime I need to find a project to take with me on the flight to indiana for tnna. actually I still need to pack and do some homework for a lily chin class I'm in. I'm scared she's going to hit me with a ruler if I show up without my swatches and yarn. but packing a project seems more important right now. do I take a sock in progress, a new sock, or how about some lace? yeah, lace on a plane sounds like a winner to me! I'm pretty excited about this weekend, finally meeting stef after years of emailing, getting to see all the 'big shots' in the biz, hanging out with some bloggers, and meeting one of my favorite designers. oh yeah, and the yarn! all the glorious yarn that's coming out for fall and winter. I'll try to post from the hotel, but if not I'll let you in on the gossip sometime tuesday.

now some random stuff:

check out the pattern I tech edited for stef! you can see another pic here.

thanks for all the compliments on the baby sweater, I felt so much more confident on my choice! as for how to knit it top down....really I just 'reversed' the directions, measured a lot, and dug deep into my knowledge of top down raglans...I'll try to explain better when I come back.

I'm way behind on emails, I'll try to catch up soon! pinky swear!

try not to post too much this weekend, or at least don't let anything too exciting happen! please?!

now I'm off to wind some yarn and to teach the boyfriend how to pack yarn and to show him what yarn is what....god help us all!

Posted by bitter purl at 06:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (24)

and know that I may be knitting something for you then do NOT read this post! you've been warned.

I finally got around to mailing this gift off this week and I remembered to take a few pictures before packaging it up. apparently the baby keeps pretending she's going to show up and then psychs everyone out, my theory is that she was waiting for me to finish knitting. she's scheduled to be delivered in a couple of days, perfect timing!

pattern: child's placket neck pullover from lmkg
yarn: rowan designer dk wool (2 skeins)
needles: 4 mm addi turbos

this is my first baby knit ever so I stuck with a simple pattern that I had on hand, partially because I know nothing about babies and because I was scared of finishing too late. I chose to knit the 6-12 month size since I can't imagine a baby wearing a wool sweater right now, but she'll be just the right size come winter.

I was worried that the styling mixed with the yarn color weren't girly enough and I don't want to transfer my severe styling to an innocent child, so I went to a little lux with my choice in beads. baby's going to be sporting some cute, green swarovski crystals. they're probably too big to 'button' but take it as proof that I'm a style over function girl at heart. I like the sparkle they add to the dark sweater and I snuck in some pink thread when I sewed them on.

this was a pretty simple knit, though I made one big change. I knit it top down instead of bottom up. I can't stand knitting raglans from the bottom and then having to put the body on hold as I knit a sleeve, attach it, and knit another sleeve. I just find knitting it from the top a cleaner and less fiddly process with the same end-result.

I hope the mom likes it and that the baby wears it out this winter. I'm just happy I finally found a pattern to use this yarn for. it's been languishing in my stash for over a year or so, since I didn't have enough for a sweater and I couldn't buy more since it's been discontinued forever (why rowan!? why?!). it's the perfect 'plain' pure wool yarn with great stitch definition and it softens up after washing. I loved knitting with it and I still have one or two more skeins in the stash. I just need to find a worthy pattern.

ps. I wrote this last night and uhhh didn't hit publish apparently...oops

Posted by bitter purl at 06:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (43)

I've been pampered this week, lucky me has been going to a sauna every day this week. for free! don't be jealous though. this damn sauna is my apartment, the freaking a/c unit died right after my last post. you know, the one I proclaim how much I loooove the summer. it shouldn't be humid and sticky INSIDE my aparment. luckily they gave us a window unit for our bedroom until they fix the main unit, I only have the pleasure of experiencing the mugginess once I'm anywhere but my room. there's nothing like taking a shower and immediately being hot. my hair is HUGE. it must grow by the hour something fierce. sexy I know.

in the last couple of days all cooking has ceased and we've either been out or right next to the window unit. I've done a little bit of knitting, which I'll show later, but I've mostly been spinning. people! why didn't anyone warn me how addicting this is?!

I'm so proud of my first little hank! all 20 yards of it. so much so that I think I'll just be carrying it in my purse from now on. I still have the other half of the batt to spin up this weekend, but I'm already dreaming about wheels and spinning up lace and sock yarn.....stephanie's batts are so soft and airy. I had no idea that I had to work my way up to merino. I just kinda did my thing. I love the way the colors flow and change throughout the yarn, it gives it a plied look without me having to do anything. I like it when other factors make me look good. and the firestar makes the whole thing shine. I'm so happy I finally started spinning this batt up, this whole time I was worried about "ruining" the fiber or spinning some horribly overspun thing. thankfully it was smooth sailing, though I'll admit there are some sections that are pretty thin in there that are strategically hidden in the pic. I don't like to look bad and all.

Posted by bitter purl at 06:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (32)