Gidget Casts On

Now In Cinemascope

Panorama action in CS3.  Sweet.

Serendipity

I may always have goals when I go up to Rhinebeck — I want "this" or "this"
or "that" — but what makes Rhinebeck special is when you find the unexpected.  Vendors you'd never known about,  colorways or fibers you'd never seen before, amazingly creative and talented people that you meet for the first time, and friends that you hoped you'd run into but didn't have plans to meet.

Well yesterday was like that.

Of course, the only part with visual documentation is the fiber that followed me home.

Respectively, sportweight and lace from Briar Rose Fibers.

Cashmere lace and sportweight from Skaska Designs.

Cocoons and hankies from Shadyside Farm.

Silk and merino lace from Spirit Trail Fiberworks.

Oh, wait, it wasn't just fiber that followed me home.

More on that later.

More Spider Art

Dark Roasted Blend has posted an awesome collection of photographs showcasing spider webs.  Truly breathtaking - no lie.

Tempted By Crochet

Since I picked up knitting, I've never had the slightest interest in crochet.  It seems bulkier, clumsier - or maybe I'm just reacting against those years in high school that I spent crocheting yarmulkes out of thread.  Whatever it is, no pattern I've seen in all the time since I picked up the needles again has made me want to revisit The Hook.

Except maybe this.  Which is so many different kinds of awesome I barely know where to start. 

100 Things

From the Time Magazine story:

Excess consumption is practically an American religion. But as anyone with a filled-to-the-gills closet knows, the things we accumulate can become oppressive. With all this stuff piling up and never quite getting put away, we’re no longer huddled masses yearning to breathe free; we’re huddled masses yearning to free up space on a countertop. Which is why people are so intrigued by the 100 Thing Challenge, a grass-roots movement in which otherwise seemingly normal folks are pledging to whittle down their possessions to a mere 100 items.

A fine challenge.  And completely do-able, so long as "yarn" qualifies as one item.

Squamata

My first sock pattern!

Currently downloadable on Ravelry, will have a pdf up in one of these here sidebars as soon as I can figure out how that works.

Mended Spiderwebs

Artist Nina Katchadourian eats your lace for breakfast.

The Mended Spiderweb Series came about during a six-week period in June and July in 1998 which Californian artist Nina Katchadourian spent on Pörtö. In the forest and around the house where she was living, she searched for broken spiderwebs which she repaired using red sewing thread.

All of the patches were made by inserting segments one at a time directly into the web. Sometimes the thread was starched, which made it stiffer and easier to work with. The short threads were held in place by the stickiness of the spider web itself; longer threads were reinforced by dipping the tips into white glue (found at The Presurfer.)

So, technically not knitting, but pretty dang badass all the same.

In a completely unrelated aside, I bought a box of what I thought were Clementines last week, and am somewhat miffed to discover in the fine print of the box's label that they're actually tangerines.  I mean, tangerines are fine and all, but I'm used to thinking "Clementines" when I see that distinctive wooden box in front of the bodega.   And tangerines...they ain't them.

Petty?  Perhaps.  But I still feel like I've been had.

Neither Ball Nor Skein

For your consideration, a new approach to sock knitting. Not on 2 circs, not Magic Loop, not two-at-a-time — in fact, the glorious weirdness originates not in the needles but in the yarn.

Peoples, that's not an FO. It's Flat Feet by Conjoined Creations, purchased yesterday at Knitty City. The yarn (80% superwash merino/20% nylon) is knit into rectangles which are then hand-dyed; you knit them up directly from the rectangle.

As described on their website, "Your needles drip color as you, the artist, create socks that are solely (no pun intended) your own."

I'm kicking myself for not getting any pictures of the color selections at the store - there was one in particular that looked tie-dyed, and I can't even begin to imagine what the color distribution for the socks will be like, but there are some samples on the website's gallery that should give you an idea.

Nuts, I tell you. Should make for some interesting knitting, though.

Poetry on the Feast of Brigid

EDIE SEDGWICK (1943-1971)
by Patti Smith

I don’t know how she did it. Fire
She was shaking all over. It took
her hours to put her make-up on.
But she did it. Even the false eye-lashes.
She ordered gin with triple
limes. Then a limosine. Everyone
knew she was the real heroine of
Blonde on Blonde.
oh it isn’t fair
oh it isn’t fair
how her ermine hair
turned men around
she was white on white
so blonde on blonde
and her long long legs
how I used to beg
to dance with her
but I never had
a chance with her
oh it isn’t fair
how her ermine hair
used to swing so nice
used to cut the air
how all the men
used to dance with her
I never got a chance with her
though I really asked her
down deep
where you do
really dream
in the mind
reading love
I’d get
inside
her move
and we’d
turn around
and she’d
turn around
and turn the head
of everyone in town
her shaking shaking
glittering bones
second blonde child
after brian jones
oh it isn’t fair
how I dreamed of her
and she slept
and she slept
forever
and I’ll never dance
with her no never
she broke down
like a baby
like a baby girl
like a lady
with ermine hair
oh it isn’t fair
and I’d like to see
her rise again
her white white bones
with baby brian jones
baby brian jones
like blushing
baby dolls

Flaming Monkeys and Cowboy Kisses

No lie, there's a point for me with every project where I fall out of love with whatever I'm knitting, get bored, and just want it to be over. Never happened here. I love everything about these - the color, the texture, the fit. The yarn was a dream, and every step of the knitting was FUN. Kudos to the genius of Fleece Artist and Cookie!

Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A.
Needle: US 2 / 2.75 mm
Yarn: 1 skein Fleece Artist Merino 2/6 from the Upper West's finest, Knitty City
Color: Reddest!

Foodwise, there's been some experimenting. As in, making things that aren't stir-fry. Or soup.

One of my all-time favorite appetizers is the Rodeo Bar's Cowboy Kisses - shrimp and jalapenos wrapped in bacon. Surprisingly easy to make - I used pre-cooked shrimp, with 1/2 jalapeno and 1/2 strip of bacon apiece. I suspect the restaurant version is deep-fried, but broiling works just as well.

Is everything better with bacon? I strongly suspect that this might be true.