ribbed hats, yarn markers, & my steller soup

I'm obsessed now with not only cabled knits, but ribbing too. This hat's ribbing pattern is K1, P1, K2, P1 around over 90 sts. I can't decide yet if I'm going to try and sell it or donate it, but I think it turned out awesomely, if I dare toot my own horn.
These yarn markers are made mostly with glass beads ~ you can't tell much detail but I've spent a week putting these 10 sets together. Some of these may go in a stitch marker swap, the rest will be posted next month for sale in my ebay store.
I've recycled these plastic beads to also be stitch markers, which may be swapped in some cases but the balance will also be put up for sale.
And last but not least, I love Campbell's Hearty Noodle Oriental Hot & Sour soup. I hate to plug brand names of anything, but I'm making an exception in this case. I absolutely adore this soup, and I'm not a big soup person! I'd eat a zillion of these if the fat and sodium content weren't so high. Then again, I am a salt junkie...

I finally found someone organizing a swap!

I've heard of a few people doing craft-themed swaps, and saw a few blog postings of people who've received great care packages, and I so desperately wanted to get involved! Well, wouldn't my luck have it, that all the swaps have already been signed up for and aren't taking any new people!

But, I finally found someone organizing one here, and I was extatic! Woo hoo! So I've signed up ... and who knows, maybe I'll organize one of my own for later this year!

my first pair of thick knit socks

Much fidgiting went into this pattern, and these turned out to be just a teeny bit too big - my next pair I'll have to trim down the number of stitches I cast on by around 5 or so to make a more fitted sock. But these have been knit with a worsted weight, and are awesomely warm and cozy for my constantly cold feet!

small steps to major league publishing

I'm getting published! Well, not a whole book or anything, but a pattern I created is getting published in a book. Other people have submitted all sorts of crafting projects as well which will be published. My pattern, of course, is a knit one! The wonderful folks at www.theanticraft.com have had the opportunity to put together a book a while back, and a pattern I submitted has been included! The book is expected to be released November 30th, 2007. I just got an email yesterday letting me know that the book's on amazon.com available for pre-order! The link to the book on amazon is here, so feel free to check it out!

all felt up...

I love felting, although because it's a bit more time consuming than regular knitting, I don't do it as often as I'd like.

I've a stash of Patons Classic Wool, and ofcourse, it's varigated. So, I had to put it to good use.

The three squares I knit up, I originally intented to give to my hubby after felting so he can use to wash his car with, but think that it may be too abbrasive, so they'll be around-the-house cloths for me :)

And, of course, my experiments-with-felting were a minor flop with the bowl, which was originally supposed to be felted into a pretty knitting-needle vase. It shrunk a lot shorter than what I had hoped, but nonetheless, it's a nifty little felted bowl! So, it's all good.

yarn weights & tensions

I've been meaning to write this up for a while in my blog, both as a personal note and for anyone who may need the info ~ although 99% of the time I know what I'm knitting with, we all have those brain-fart days where we forget even the most common-knowledge bits of knitting trivia that should be locked in our brains.

Here's a basic guideline of yarn weights and tensions:

1 - super fine - these are also called sock, baby, and fingering yarns. Tension is usually 27–32 sts, using 2.25-3.25mm (US size 1 to 3) needles.

2 - fine - also known as baby or sport weight yarns. Tension is around 23-26 sts, using 3.25-3.75mm (US 3 to 5) needles.

3 - light - a.k.a. DK or Light Worsted weight yarn. Tension is around 21-24 sts, using 3.75-4.5mm (US 5 to 7) needles.

4 - medium - Worsted, Afghan, Aran weight. Tension is generally 16-20sts, with 4.5-5.5mm (US 7 to 9) needles.

5 - bulky - these are Chunky, Craft, and Rug yarns. Tension's approx 12-15 sts, with 5.5-8mm (US 9 to 11) needles

6 - super bulky - better known as Bulky or Roving weight yarns. The tension is 6-11 sts using 8 mm (US 11) or larger knitting needles.

So now we know. :)

the rhubarb in my garden

My husband and I have been fortunate enough to move into a house that actually has a back yard ~ and for the 2 summers that we've so far had it, this coming summer being our third, there's been a bush of rhubarb that keeps coming up. It's been untouched, uneaten, and heaven only knows how it keeps growing because I haven't paid much attention to it, other than my constantly saying how I ought to make something with it.

So, this year I'm getting my butt in gear and I'm actually doing something about this rhubarb. (This is largely inspired by the fact that we're renovating our kitchen, and installing a brand new oven! whoot!)

I like the idea of making preserves. I grew up with my mother and grandmother making tons of preserves with fruit that grew in their gardens, and figure I ought to get myself taught on doing preserves too. And, garden-grown preserves always make awesome December-holiday gifts, right?

I've found already 4 different rhubarb-preserves recipes online. If anyone out there in blogland has a tried-and-true-favourite-family-rhubarb-preserve recipe, I'd love it if you could share it in the comments. :)

I'll be sure to post pictures of my progress when I get around to making a few jars!

out with the old, and trying something new!

First, let me tell you that I'm quite into the idea of trying something new as often as possible. I would like to brag about my beginning a pair of socks:

yay! I've attempted knitting socks before, but have struggled, but this particular yarn has some awesome colour, and I am quite eager to sport this particular pair of socks!

:)

This will be my good news, before I vent about the bad.

:(

Now, I don't believe in naming names because it's just not necessary, but I do feel the need to get this off my chest.

I often find myself relying to websites for new knitting inspiration, and lately have decided to pop into a few of these awesome sites and check out their posting forums and chatrooms. I found myself in a chatroom where I was surrounded by a quite aggrivated and mildly b****y group of women ~ I have obviously invaded the Mean Girls Knitting Snob Click. Within a week of hanging around in this particular chat room, I went from (what I thought was) positive knitters to chat with, to the cattiest of the most unfriendly and unwelcoming group of people.

Part of my Fiber Snob post a few days ago was inspired by a couple of these women in this chat room, but that negativity spread from one or two people through to the better part of the group. It went from joking sarcasm to harsh accusations, name calling, people ignoring then mocking, and finally a couple of them falsely accusing me of things like copyright infringement and bad business practice.

Now, granted, it's nothing more than the gross misinformed judgement of a handfull of people, and just out of a chat room, but considering that this is (from what I understand) a particularly popular site and seemingly a high-traffic chat room linked to it, I would hate to think that not only they would treat other new chatters the same way, but also, who knows how far false accusations travel once you've left? And who else also gets this negative attitude? For I'm sure I'm not the first, and likely won't be the last.

I do think that this sort of thing is unfortunate. To be honest, I was so happy to find what I thought to be a great place to hang out and chat in, considering that I'd be surrounded by knitters, as well as I have a lack of knitters in my personal life to stitch with. Who would've thought that such an immature, elitist attitude would transcent teenage immaturity and high school playgrounds into a chat filled with adults?

It's silly of me, I suppose, to expect anything more than extreme superficiallity when it comes to people's attitudes online. It was naive of me to think that a group of people, however small, with such a 'calming' ;) hobby as knitting would welcome me in their circle, irrigardless of what items I knit or which yarns I use, rather than make it a point to snub me out.

Who would've thought that knitters were so mean?

;) ah, live and learn.

just finished crocheting this shawl today

should I add fringe to it or no?

My Rant Regarding Fiber Snobs

Yes, I knit with acrylic and acrylic blends.

And guess what: I like it!

I'm not always particular about wool. I absolutely will steer away from the yarn that the pattern calls for, if it means that I'll save a couple dollars, the colour is pretty, and as long as the tension is right or close-enough.

Close enough is good enough. You know what? Close enough is even fantastic.

For the last month or so I've bounced myself into a couple of knitting-themed posting boards and chat rooms, and more often than not I get quite the reaction when I dare mention the letters a-c-r-y-l-i-c in that order as a word. Why would you use that stuff? What were you thinking? How dare you, even?

And don't even get me started on using feathery looking yarns like Bernat Boa or any sort of eyelash yarn. Yes, I love knitting with those too. If I can incorporate a row or two of this funky swag into my knits and knots, you better be for damned sure I'm going to.

For those elitists who look down on me from their bamboo-needle-and-mohair-knits towers, I say bah to all of you. The only person who truly cares whether your scarf is wool or an acrylic-wool blend is you.

Now, don't get me wrong, I have my own couple pairs of wooden needles, I've spent the extra couple dollars on a beautiful ball of handspun, hand-dyed alpaca wool. I've knit my share of hat + scarf + glove winter sets out of some beautiful mohair wool. I've scoured my LYS's and throughout online for that one very hard to find brand of yarn and knit a beautiful shawl or two. I've even put the effort into spinning and dying my own yarn and knitting a hat-and-scarf-set of my own from it, and gained a few compliments on it.

But despite that, despite how much I loved knitting with those beautiful yarns and beautiful needles and crocheting with designer crochet hooks, at the end of the day, I still love my tried-and-true aluminum needles and acrylic-wool blends to knit another brightly coloured scarf in a basic stockinette stitch. I'll even knit a few rows of eyelash yarn stripes. It's still warm, it's still unique, it's still handknit, and it even gets compliments.

Do I care, then, if my yarn is bought from Walmart instead of my LYS? Of course not.

...Does it matter that I've picked up a few balls of yarn from the discount bin? No way!

.....Do I care if my yarn is some sort of Himalayan Handspun Organic Mountain Grown Free Range Grande Mocha No-Fat Soy Latte Sheep-Who-Can-Floss-Their-Own-Teeth-And-Can-Read-Aramaic Wool? Naturally, no. Do the Fiber Snobs? Most certainly! And goddess knows I'm going to be condemned for using anything less than that!

So, I guess my point is this: no matter what your level of experience in knitting or crocheting is, enjoy your craft to its full potential, and no matter what you knit with or what tools you use to put it all together, take pride in what you've made.