Fiber Friday: Sara need not read this post

No really S, I won't be upset if you just navigate away from this page right now. I'm sure you've got more important things to do. Seriously, all that's going on around here is normal, everyday, humdrum stuff. That's right, go read a good book or something. And if that's not enough for you, here's a couple of cute pictures of the girls on Christmas day.

OK, that's it. Get out of here. Scat!




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Is she gone? Good.

OK, let me tell you something about Sara. Sara is one of my bestest friends ever since (my) junior year in college. She is a (semi)new knitter - she messed about with it a bit years ago I believe, but has been wanting to get back into it recently in a more serious fashion. She braved a weekend Chez Porpoise back in November and we made a trip to Yarntopia to get her set up. She walked away with several gorgeous skeins of yarn to make some hats. Given that she lives in Chicago, hats are a necessity.

Needless to say, despite many protestations of "I don't really know what I'm doing!", in short order she was zooming along on a beautiful alpaca hat for someone for Christmas. Disgusting I tell you. In any event, she seemed well on her way to getting sucked in by the Massive Fiber Black Hole that seems to be invading the world as we know it.

Now that she's out of the way, I can show you my most recent spinning project:

This is handpainted Targhee roving in the colorway Wild Raspberry from Woodland Woolworks. I split the entire length of top into four pieces and spun them end to end at 12:1, using a short draw and smoothing the single as the twist went into the fiber (my standard "worsted" technique).

I managed to get all 4 oz on to one bobbin, which I then chain plied at 7:1. I ended up with 274 yds of approximately DK weight yarn (14 wpi), soft, squishy, beautiful yarn. Yarn it was hard to part with (it all but killed me to wrap it up in tissue and stick it in a box), but yesterday was Sara's birthday. So the yarn is sitting here, along with some other goodies to further bring her over to the dark side, waiting to be shipped out tomorrow. If it does actually get mailed tomorrow, it will be the most timely birthday package either one of us has ever sent each other (case in point: when I was home with Boo on maternity leave, Sara allowed as how she had a package of goodies to send me. Boo is now almost walking, and said package is still somewhere in either Illinois or Wisconsin freezing it's poor little butt off, when it could be down here in Houston enjoying the loverly winter weather. But I digress...). Enjoy it sweetness!

PS - Devil wants you to know this is from her too - she helped.

Eleven long haired friends of Jesus in a chartreuse microbus

When I got married, Ironman and I were living in a wee pink stucco house in Tucson, and we decided to drive back east for the wedding. Which meant a lot of time driving through some pretty open countryside, with only occasional truck stops along the way. In a 1997 Ford pickup with a tape deck. In addition to developing a sixth sense for when the next Flying J was going to appear on the horizon, we amassed a somewhat disturbingly large collection of driving music. Not just music to drive to, but driving music. Songs about truckers and the open road and billboards and so on*. So we have a bit of a soft spot for the trucking industry as a whole.

Which is why this is so hysterically awesome. Go, and vote for the entry made up almost entirely of country song cliches - just brilliant.

* The sheer number of versions of this song that came up with a one word search is one of the reasons I love YouTube. This is why Devil loves YouTube.

Christmas FOs, Part I

Now that Christmas is past, I can actually show off the things I knitted for presents. This installment will include three items, and I'm waiting on photos of the others for the second installment. So without further ado, I present:

1) Endpaper Mitts

Pattern: Endpaper Mitts by Eunny Jang, knit for my lovely knitting sister-in-law
Yarn: fingering weight 100% wool recycled from two Goodwill sweaters
Needles: US size 0/1
Comments: this was a really fun pattern to knit. I had to go down a needle size for both the ribbing and the mitt itself - my first mitt knit on size 1/2s was big enough for my somewhat large hands, but would have swum on the intended recipient (my rather petite sister-in-law). The pattern knit up quite quickly for all the colorwork. This was the first time I'd knit colorwork since I learned how to knit Continental style a year and a half ago, so I got to hold one color in each hand. That certainly made things go faster! I kept the grey in my left hand throughout to maintain color dominance. The only modification I made was to work fewer rounds of the bottom ribbing on each mitt.

2) Dashing

Bottom picture is true to color

Pattern: Dashing from Knitty.com - made for my brother-in-law
Yarn: more recycled yarn from Goodwill - this one was nice and soft and cushy. Probably not 100% wool, but pretty darn soft.
Needles: ummmm...size 7? Whatever was called for by the pattern.
Comments/mods: Quick knit, yummy yarn, what's not to love? The directions for the cables as written in the pattern were completely confusing to me, so I just winged it. I liked these alot, and will probably do some for myself someday.

3) Everlasting Bagstopper

Pattern: Everlasting Bagstopper from Knitty.com for Brother's girlfriend (girlfriend-in-law?)
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fine in Berry, 2 skeins held doubled
Needles: US size 5 and 10
Comments/mods: nice, quick knit. I wasn't sure how the gauge would work out since I used cotton/mohair instead of Hempathy, but it seemed to work out fine. Hopefully it won't stretch out too much! I didn't put in the elastic at the bottom because, well, it didn't get done before we left and then I kind of forgot about it. Oh well!

I'm working on a list of goals (I hate to call them resolutions) for the year, both fibery and non. Plus a return to Fiber Friday this week, provided I can get my photo taking butt in gear and figure out how to get good photos when I leave the house at 7:10 (dark out) and get home at 6:00 (even darker out).

Why commuting rocks

It's the wildlife you see. I love commuting because I get to overhear exchanges like this:

Young man bearing a striking resemblance to Bill Gates only not so much with the money. And with very little awareness of how loudly he is speaking: (to the large man who has just sat down next to him on the train) Excuse me sir. Can I ask you a question?

Innocent man minding his own business: OK.

Bill Gates Jr: I just moved down here from Montreal and I'm trying to get some sense of the culture down here you see. And what I want to know is this: how do I keep the Christians from coming around and ringing my doorbell at the crack of noon on a Sunday?

Innocent bystander: ???!!!!

Porpoise: (silently to herself from her seat across the aisle) What the F$%^&* kind of question is that to ask in a city that is home to this? With a congregation of a mere 23,000+ people? Dude, you're not as smart as the guy you look like...

The conversation continued on in this vein for a while, with my Canadian friend (who quite honestly seemed like he just wanted someone to talk to) got more and more heated about "the Christians". Finally his seatmate more or less told him to shut up, and things got much less entertaining from there on. The topper was when I caught the eye of the guy sitting across from me, and we shared a grin at the antics across the aisle. He then leaned forward:

Seatmate: Are you in college?

Porpoise: (clutching orange backpack and thinking hunh?) No!

I choose to believe he asked because he was convinced I was a hot young thing on her way to class at UH. And not because of the potentially high number of "non-traditional" students they might or might not have. Because we all know I don't look 35, and married with two terrors, I mean kids.

The crowning glory of the commuting entertainment was the next morning, I was sitting at the bus stop, reading and being enlightened by Steve Inskeep, when a small Asian woman approached me.

SAW: Excuse me...

Porpoise: (removing headphones and looking quizzical)?

SAW: I know you're reading but...(proffers pamphlet)

P: (looks at cover, notices "The Watchtower" in large letters) No thank you, I'm not interested.

SAW: Thank you (scurries away with her compatriot).

One day it's the Canadian atheist offending 99% (an estimate only) of the passengers on the train, then next it's the Jehovah's Witnesses. Never a dull moment I tell you.

Thwump!

That's the sound of my ass hitting the ground as I gleefully fall off the wagon. Yes, the great Yarn Diet of 2007 is now over, long live the yarn diet-less 2008. I celebrated by rushing around the corner to Windsor Button and dropping a fairly substantial chunk of change in about 15 minutes. Although this was my first opportunity to buy yarn in 365+ days, I did not go for the bags of Cascade 220 or 1824 Wool. Instead, I was looking for (of course) sock yarn and also for some special laceweight for the Bee Stole. Here's what I came away with:

Lang Jawoll Color Aktion, colorway 132.0209, 75% new wool, 25% nylon, 420 meters, for the Rainbow Socks from Magknits

Araucania Ranco, colorway 101, 75% wool/25% polyamide, 376 yds. Gorgeous kettle dyed purples and greys (the pictures do not do it justice). This is the only thing I don't have immediate plans for, but I think it will make gorgeous thick socks or something washable for a kidlet somewhere along the line.

Plymouth Yarn Co Happy Feet, color 5, 90% superwash merino, 10% nylon, 384 yds for the Tiger Eye socks (Ravelry link) from Socks, Socks, Socks. Soft squishy red, maroon, magenta and black, and not as bright as this photo.

J. Knits laceweight in Pueblo, 100% extra superfine alpaca, 4 oz/1200 yds for the Bee Stole (maybe). A beautiful greeny grey color. I swatched for the Bee Stole in the fingering weight alpaca I got from Peru this summer, but I'd like to try this too - that many black stitches might do in my already poor eyesight. I loved the Tupelo Gold colorway on Anne's blog, but not for me - I'm not really a yellow kind of girl. We'll have to see if this will work out.

We're still up in the frozen north, so regular posting will return next week with a list of goals for the year and final pictures of Christmas FOs. Happy New Year to you all!