Saturday, August 25, 2007

My Bat Shawl is finished!

Almost Complete: My Bat Shawl!
I finished it! With almost a week to spare!

Okay, I didn't exactly finish it, because the finishing isn't done, or the choker and wrist bands. But...I finished knitting it in the car today, five minutes after leaving the Peachtree Handspinners Guild meeting today!

The yarnovers down the center are a bit uneven, (because I shifted it by one stitch at one point), and there's a dropped stitch I need to tack, but I'm still very happy with the results. It's not quite as wide as I expected, probably because it's only one strand instead of two, so I'm not going to slip my fingers through the yarnovers along the top. Besides, it looks like it would quickly stretch out, and I suspect it would get in the way when gaming or even eating.

Instead, I'm going to make bracelets to match the choker, and attach them at the ends. I really hope it works!

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Bat Shawl Update

I have finished twenty-eight out of forty-eight rows on my bat shawl. It looks like I really will have it ready for Dragon Con! (Yay!)

I've had a great time working on it, even if it took eight or ten rows for me to understand how the pattern works! I've made a rough sketch of the shawl, to try to convey the style. I'm excited...


Saturday, August 18, 2007

Gothy Scribbling Shawl is finished!

I finished my Scribbling Shawl from Mason-Dixon knitting about a week and a half ago. I love the colors: dark red and black.

Then again, I always love those colors. But it was fun. I did drop a stitch about halfway through, so I have to figure out what to do about that. I also snagged it, but that will be a very straightforward fix, if a bit time-consuming.

I used Lang Venezia for the red and Doucier et Soie for the black. Both behaved themselves very well. :)

Friday, August 17, 2007

Ravelry Addict

I've been on Ravelry eight days. EIGHT DAYS. And I have fifteen projects entered, twenty projects queued...and forty-one stashed yarns.

That's not even all of it; I have a big bin of stuff (about half of it cheap, actually) in my basement that isn't entered yet. And yet I feel a great desire to pull it all out, catalog it, and photograph it. Yes, I want to spend an hour or two or three taking photos of yarn! I have LOST MY MIND!

It has cemented my burgeoning Flickr addiction, which, believe me, needed zero help. And I think discovering Moo Cards is going to be very bad for me. Way, way bad.

Maybe I should make Moo Cards of some funky yarn photos. You know, cropped in close...



www.flickr.com





Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Knitting gone gothy...

Believe it or not, I was goth in high school. Yes, really. Perky me. Where did you think my predominantly black wardrobe came from?

Anyway, I have tons of cool jewelry, tons of black clothes, and naturally pale fair skin. And I need another costume for Dragon*Con. What to do?

Enter Not Another Teen Knitting Book by Vickie Howell. I had seen it in the stores, but..."teen knitting?" Hello! I'm over thirty! Sure, I look younger, but not by that much!

Let's just say I've learned an important lesson...Never judge a book by its title! My friend Jenlar actually bought the book, and brought it to church to show me...the Goths Bat Shawl. Yes, a bat shawl! Eureka!

I bought the book the same day, and ordered the yarn the next. Now, with two weeks to go until Dragon*Con, I'm hard at work on my shawl. It will be finished. Oh yes.

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Almost there...

So, I signed up for the Ravelry Beta after hearing some podcasters gush over it. I signed up on June 11, and have been eagerly anticipating my turn. Well, look at this:



Nine people ahead of me. Oh yeah. I can't wait.

Monday, August 6, 2007

Main Street Yarns and Fibers, Watkinsville, Georgia

Wonder why I write so often about yarn stores I've visited? Because I wish more people wrote about the yarn stores they have visited!

Seriously, if I'm going to go out of my way to visit a place, I want to know if it's worth it! So far, I have reviewed every yarn store I've visited (few as that is)...except the one near my church! Hmm...guess I should do that, huh?

On to the review!

Saturday, my husband had to take the first of two tests to get his non-renewable provisional certification as a school library media center specialist. Since my brother-in-law and his wife live there, with my three month old nephew, we turned it into a family thing.

After lunch at the State Botanical Garden, we decided to visit the local yarn store, which I just "happened" to have directions to. My mother-in-law is learning to knit right now, so she had never been to a real yarn store.

And this was a great first visit! Main Street Yarns is such a pleasant place to visit. It's in a renovated barn, with a wonderful side porch, and has plenty of space to sit and relax. It's spacious, and everything is very well organized. Even my brother-in-law and father-in-law didn't mind the visit.

The wall to both sides of the door is full of needles and hooks of all sorts, from the plain to the fancy. By the register, they have a small display of needles with beautiful polymer clay tops. I believe they are locally made.

The yarn selection, too, is great. They had a wide variety of nice yarns; the site lists Alchemy, Art Yarns, Blue Sky Alpacas, Cascade, Debbie Bliss, Elsebeth Lavold, Ironstone, Jade Sapphire, Jo Sharp, Laines Du Nord, Lorna's Laces, Mango Moon, Manos del Uruguay, Noro, O-Wool, Opal Yarn, Plymouth, Rowan, RY Classic, Skacel, and Southwest Trading.

My mother-in-law bought two balls of Jo Sharp Infusion Kid Mohair in Twilight, to make a scarf similar to the sample in the store. I bought two balls of RYC Soft Tweed in a slate blue color, on clearance; it's been discontinued by the Rowan. (I limited myself to the clearance wall intentionally!)

The two women who were there were so nice! They chatted with the guys and offered them Cokes. The website mentions their commitment to Southern Hospitality, and I believe it! One spins, one weaves, and they both knit. We had fun talking about what we're working on, and one woman, Stephanie, is a fellow devotee of book arts, too. Who would have thought it? We exchanged links and blogs, which was fun. (Stephanie, if you read this, HEY!)

All in all, it's a definite must-visit if you're in the Athens area. It's so close (ten minutes from the Botanical Garden), and there's a wonderful orchard store nearby with delicious homemade ice cream. (I recommend the lemon custard. Yum!)