Category: Stuff

I am teh suck at taking pictures clearly…

Posted by zyllah – September 9, 2007

So I get to start picking the house that makes me weep least on Monday. At least the pre-approval came in for the mortgage, god that was like the most nerve wracking two minutes of my life. Then immediately I had to take a Valerian when I saw just how much our cost of housing is going to jump.  It depends of course on the final price but maaaaannn I think it will be a yarn pronless blog if we do it. Nah it won’t be quite that bad, at least I hope not. I actually found a bunch more I want to see that are a bit less than my original selections. They are also smaller but one has the oh so important wood floors. I’m not asking for much just one aspect of the house that is something I actually like. It’s funny but I’m actually way more picky about these new construction monstrosities than I would be anything I was looking at in St. Louis. I grew up in older homes and that’s just what I prefer. I’ll put up with a lot to have wood work and charm.  I am so over obsessed with this since its our first home we’re buying. I know we’re not buying the house we’ll stay in. My Dad was getting on my case about it since ‘its a starter home blah blah blah” totally missing the point that I have no objections to the size of the places or the luxuries. In fact if you’re going strictly by that they are bigger and probably more luxurious than many of the homes I was looking at in St. Louis. Also I never wanted to live in a mcmansion, all I want is a bungalow of my very own. Anyway this is a knitting blog not a jen whines about her house hunt blog.  So Thermal plods along, yeah that really is all I have for you on that front. I’m almost to 11 inches. I thought I would get way more knitting down this week but stuff came up. I still love the pattern,  although in some respects I agree with yarn abuse on it. She made a demotivator that said “Monotony why bore only myself when an audience is available?” I’m totally not sick of it yet. I still enjoy the stitch pattern enough that it’s fun. So today I spent a good chunk of the day trying to get my camera to give me that oh so sexy shallow depth of field blur. This is my attempt to not buy a DSLR strictly to take yarn pron shots. Cause that would be oh so ridiculous. When I bought my camera in ’04 it was a well reviewed advanced point and shoot. It has full manual control in its range. Now I am such a photog noob that I wasn’t sure all what I wanted. Justin actually majored in photography in college. So I wanted something he might want to use but a dslr was way out of my range. So I got an Olympus C5000. Anyway I’ve been working through the online course in the ravelry group yarnographers in an attempt to sex up the photos. After MANY attempts that were so awful I just deleted them I got some that had some blur and aren’t the worst offenses to the eye ever. I so totally need WAY more light in some of these but it’s been rain-y and grey all week so…

These are supposed to have teh sexy blur:

No Sexy Blur:

Yeah I don’t see much of a sexy blur either.

Just say NO…to Trekking

Posted by zyllah – September 1, 2007

So sorry for the lack of blogging its been a craptastic week here at chez zyllah. Found out we are not able to move to STL this fall and will in fact be stuck here for the next two years or so. Anyway so I’ve been knitting a way on the trekking socks. I hate them. I hate the yarn…I hate how the striping is working up so frogging will commence and the yarn will go into the box of stuff to get rid of at some point. My friend claire also hated both opal and trekking.  So its not just me! I guess I’ve been spoiled. I’m getting much better at giving away yarn I loathe which is a good thing I guess. So now I will have to pick another sock yarn to torture. Thermal is plugging away. I still think it’s a fun knit but it’s a bit slow going since well you know sz 2 needles.  I must say the best part of thermal really is the fact that at a glance I can tell what row I’m on cause of that nifty row counter. So I’m almost done with ball two and I begin to fear I will run out of yarn. I suppose I’ll be going with 3/4 or shorter sleeves if that happens.  Anyway time to knit…

Stuff and Things!

Posted by zyllah – May 30, 2007

So my spinning has improved oh believe its still craptastic but it has improved.  I know its an overtwisted mess but its *my* overtwisted mess. Also I did improve so thats something. I’m not sure what but it’s something. I so very much want a wheel but true to form I want some superfragiliexpenso wheel. Well they’re all expensive but I don’t think I can convince Gamerboy of the necessity of said implement.  Anyway behold the crap!

My amazon order came today. I saw Knit two together for like 8 bucks and went sure why not and then for free shipping I threw in More SKS. I like more SKS so far. I need to look at them more throughly but today was sort of busy.

However my favoritest piece of mail that came were the stitchmarkers I ordered from sarkasmo. I saw them in her shop and I just wanted them. I’ve never quite gotten into jewelery for my knitting before but they were pretty. I also asked her to make some larger ones custom so I had a matched set. They arrived yesterday and I loved the note card they came in. Anyway everyone should go order from her since she rocks. I took so many pics and this was the best I could do.  Crappy lighting but its night time!

Dickson Fiber Festival

Posted by zyllah – May 27, 2007

Yesterday I went to the 1st annual Middle Tennessee Sheep, Wool, and Fiber Festival. Judie and Phil were nice enough to pick my ass up since Justin had to work so he had our car. Yes it is the hugest big suck only having one. We used to work at the same place and had the same schedule so it wasn’t a big deal then. Now it kinda is. However now is so not the time to get a 2nd vehicle. We’re moving soonish and we need to be thinking of buying a house not a car. Anyway after that so totally pointless digression the festival! We drove up and it was cool since we hadn’t seen each other in a while.  So we got there and it was a bit small. That’s to be expected since it is the first year that they are having it. There is a bigger one in the fall down in Murfreesboro but I was glad to go and help make sure there is a second one.  So like I said it was small but fun. I picked up some gorgeous alpaca and cashmere for pretty inexpensively but what the hell do I know about fiber pricing.

The alpaca is on the right. Here are some sheep and more photos are available in my flickr if you’re that interested.

So after we left the festival we headed back up to Boobies Diner. Yes we had to go back they have good food! Anyway this time I did get the boobie burger. I just had to. The menu description which you can see below reads: 1lb burger served with cheese, mushroom and onions.

I did not eat the whole thing but it really wasn’t that huge. It was however quite tasty.

In knitting news I got off my ass and finished that sock while Justin and I played Arkham Horror on friday night. That game rocks if you’re a board game/lovecraft fan. Anyway I’m about a third of the way done on the 2nd sock so I hope to blog them in the next few days.

A Meme since I have nothing earth shaking to report

Posted by zyllah – May 19, 2007

So nothing earthshaking going on here. Its all entrelac this week and thus I spam you with the meme:
Bold for stuff you’ve done, italics for stuff you plan to do one day, and normal for stuff you’re not planning on doing.

Afghan

I-cord

Garter stitch

Knitting with metal wire

Shawl

Stockinette stitch

Socks: top-down

Socks: toe-up

Knitting with camel yarn

Mittens: Cuff-up

Mittens: Tip-down

Hat

Knitting with silk

Moebius band knitting

Participating in a KAL

Sweater

Drop stitch patterns

Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn

Slip stitch patterns

Knitting with banana fiber yarn

Domino knitting (=modular knitting)

Twisted stitch patterns

Knitting with bamboo yarn

Two end knitting

Charity knitting

Knitting with soy yarn

Cardigan

Toy/doll clothing

Knitting with circular needles

Baby items

Knitting with your own handspun yarn

Slippers

Graffitti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)

Continental knitting

Designing knitted garments

Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)

Lace patterns

Publishing a knitting book

Scarf

Teaching a child to knit

American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)

Knitting to make money

Button holes

Knitting with alpaca

Fair Isle knitting

Norwegian knitting

Dying with plant colours

Knitting items for a wedding

Household items (dishcloths, washcloths,tea cosies…)

Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars

Olympic knitting

Knitting with someone elses handspun yarn

Knitting with dpns

Holiday related knitting

Teaching a male how to knit

Bobbles

Knitting for a living

Knitting with cotton

Knitting smocking

Dying yarn

Steeks

Knitting art

Knitting two socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars simultaneously

Fulling/felting

Knitting with wool

Textured knitting

Kitchener BO

Purses/bags

Knitting with beads

Swatching

LongTail CO

Entrelac Knitting and purling backwards

Machine knitting

Knitting with selfpatterning/selfstriping/variegating yarn

Stuffed toys

Knitting with cashmere

Darning

Jewelry

Knitting with synthetic yarn

Writing a pattern

Gloves

Intarsia

Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies

Tubular CO

Freeform knitting

Short rows

Cuffs/fingerlessmitts/armwarmers

Pillows

Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine

Rug

Knitting on a loom

Thrummed knitting

Knitting a gift

Knitting for pets

Shrug/bolero/poncho

Knitting with dog/cat hair

Hair accessories

Knitting in public

Only Slightly related knitting content ahead

Posted by zyllah – May 11, 2007

So for some reason in the past year or so I went from having one bag at a time because well I was utterly practical that way to being a total bag collector ( I was going to use some euphemism for well shall we say a loose woman but I didn’t want that to turn up on a google search string) Anyway…I have long lusted after a lexie barnes lady b bag in ‘little miss perfect’.

However they are ridiculously overpriced rather expensive so I have always managed to stop myself in time. I should have bought one when webs had the 2nds for about half price but did I, of course not. Anyway that pattern has been discontinued so when I saw the mini bag set for half off…well I’d had a hard week so I snatched it up. Now I still think they were bit pricey but I just love that retro thing. Also I figured if I got the mini bags maybe it would stop me from lusting after the big bag. I must say I was *very* pleased with Lexie B. It shipped the same day I ordered it and they wrapped it even! Last bag I ordered on line was in a plastic bag but this was just spoilage.

So I opened it up and found this.

The big one is just huge. I’m not sure I needed these but oh my god in my secret black girly heart I love them. Now in spite of the fact I got them to stave off the desire for the big one. I must have it. There is only one that I have been able to find in the US and my mom kindly offered to get it for me as a combination birthday present from this year (she’s been amazingly busy) and Christmas for next year gift. I’m pretty sure I’m going to take her up on it. If I wait till next year I’ll decide to be all practical and want something for the new house we’ll have around then and what fun is that?  I must have been feeling really girly last week since I also ordered a couple of rings off fleabay. The first one arrived yesterday and I’m not sure how I feel about it. Since I was not totally in love with my wedding rings right off the bat and I love them now this doesn’t disturb me as much as it should. I’ll take pictures when they both have arrived. I should have finished my most boring socks ever by now in fact I had planned on finishing them yesterday but it didn’t happen. I will finish today and get them mailed off to my mother.  I also have to mail off yarn to Mszzzi since I promised her I would. So yesterday I did something I have long been avoiding I took pics of the entire stash. They turned out even too craptastic for me so I’m going to try again today. I am thinking I’ll just do a drawer a day though so I can get it entered into ravelry.  I just think it might be easier to stave off the must buy yarn now thing if I can see my stash without digging through its containment system.

Updaterie II

Posted by zyllah – April 18, 2007

So Saturday I got a really nice but rather late birthday present. My birthday was in January. That’s ok though since I am so in love with my present. My favorite uncle got me a fantastic bag. Now I can never have enough bags! I even adore the colors since I am so into reds. It has been really grey and crappy so I’m just borrowing the photo from the store.

It’s a good size for purse junk and a book or a sock. Finding that size is so hard. Either it’s too tiny for a sock or its so huge it’s like carrying around a sack of potatoes all day. I also finished one of my toe up vine lace socks. It’s an easy pattern and a gorgeous sock. I’ll try and take a picture today.  So todayI did some dyeing and stuff its still wet otherwise I’d have pictures. Plus I want to wait till this batch is done. Anyway yesterday before SNB I went to Hobby Lobby. I wanted to see if notions were half off this week and I was kinda sorta hoping they would have cotton-ease or some flavor of cotton blend. I have some cotton but thats it for spring/summer yarns. Not really too enthused with making something and not wearing it for 6 months. So there I walked those long badly lit aisles. Trying to avoid the taint of fun fur and other nausea inducing ‘novelty’ yarns. Do you know that if possible their selection is worse than ever. They didn’t have even wool-ease! They had their in house brand of dead muppet pelts and red heart and some other stuff. They did have some non dishcloth cotton but I have some much better cotton stashed already. Now granted I don’t usually buy yarn there since I am a yarn snob but come on…the only stuff they had for garments was red heart!?!

Gauge is the bane of my existence…

Posted by zyllah – April 19, 2006

Yeah ok I did a swatch. No really I did several and I finally finally got stitch gauge. I’m a super tight knitter. But eventually I did get it. Now of course I didn’t make a huge swatch since I was trying to cheap out on yarn. So of course I realize now (6″) into it, that I am so totally not getting row gauge. She was getting 5.75 and I’m getting 8. Now this wouldn’t really matter except well… It’s a freaking v-neck! So husband and I did the math since I am rather math challenged. I think we did it right. I sure hope so…I’m not so worried about running out of yarn…well maybe a wee bit worried but you know worse comes to worse I’ll pick up a difference color for the sleeves. I just hope it works. Anyway I like the pattern though I must say I do wish it was going more quickly. I’m still contemplating. So we’ll see. I might ask Judy or Claire since they have actually you know made sweaters before. I can always hope that blocking will cure all but since its not wool…I think what I knit is what I’ll get. Oh well I have some time to consider and since I have a ways to go to get it wide enough. Yeah ok I will do the extra increases. Since I figured it for neg ease it will fit. And heck if I’m wrong I can always frog. I think I’ll be starting my clap tomorrow too. Might as well since well you know… Then again maybe I should do something a wee bit more um portable and mindless like socks. Yeah socks it is. Plus I’ll get to use up stash yarn. Which is always a plus. For some reason even tho the lion and lamb is in my stash since it has an assing