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4/14/2004 12:08:27 AM
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It`s snowing like crazy at my house!
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Talking to the wildlife guy must have made you feel better. It sounds true. We have lived here for just over 10 years and we get very weird weather. I think I`ve experienced some freakish snowstorm every month except July over the years. Having hummers from May to about October, I don`t recall them ever disappearing due to a snow storm. One winter we had a deer hanging out under a spruce, day in day out - it was really , really cold. I got rather concerned and phoned the wildlife guy and he said to approach it and see if it moves - ya, it took off, so it wasn`t sick. They also suggested not to feed it- as I was tempted but wasn`t sure I should. I guess deer do spend much of their day hanging out under trees (he said) and we only notice them when they`ve hit your car!!
Les
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4/14/2004 6:23:26 AM
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Ladies DH asked how the "girls are doing"
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So, what you`re saying is that you have to send your husband to Kosovo to have him admit to showing some interest in this site? I have to practically use a hook to the ankles to drag DH to look at a pic of something!! It is after all the hockey playoffs right now and I must admit my eyes usually glaze over when I hear the game click on or the banter between my DH and DS. LOL Maybe he`s memorized elann.com and will keep abreast of the "goings on" while he`s over there.
Les
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4/14/2004 10:33:54 AM
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What are you going to make with your Brilla?
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Do NOT tempt me. I am trying to be so good........with $3500.00 tax bill due at the end of the month plus just having paid prof. dues of $500.00, I`m going to have to take those Lopi ends off the spruce tree and try to make something!!!
Les
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4/15/2004 8:34:21 PM
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Urgent! Urgent!
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That was a great article wasn`t it - and the pictures - I can see why you started sobbing!! The book is one you`ll have to get.
Les
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4/15/2004 8:44:20 PM
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Ladies DH asked how the "girls are doing"
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Bets - That`s right! I had forgotten the pink scarf. Pat`s going to have to keep looking over her shoulder "so to speak".
Les
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4/16/2004 5:25:44 PM
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Gee, I go away for a day and................
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Marion is talking Abu Dabi, Eileen has speedily finished her sweater in that gorgeous turquoise which I am working with and is, in reality, an even a deeper colour than my computer shows. Mara has inspired us with the gorgeous sweaters she knit for her even more gorgeous progeny. Jean and Mara show their shawls which I can`t in my wildest dreams imagine completing! WOW!
Had a great trip to Canmore. Kids went snowboarding with cuzzy and 2 friends and I had a day to myself. I hoped, to no avail, that the low lying cloud/fog would burn off and I would go to the Nordic centre for a x-c ski. Asked for a late checkout and when the kids left I went out to buy a cup of "real coffee" and went back to my room to read the paper, do the crossword have a bath and then read my book. heaven!
Checked out and saw the strangest thing. A man was taking his double wide roof rack from his SUV (the hard body ones with the hinged lid) to his hotel room on the 3rd floor!! I had to wait about 15 min. until he returned with the luggage cart. Idiot!!
After checking out I headed out to find the LYS. Wasn`t easy - wrong address on internet etc. successfully sniffed it out and met the lovely owner and we were able to chat and examine her yarns together. She still had things in boxes waiting to shelve as she had just moved to this location, but there was enough of interest on the shelves. She was knitting yarn to felt and then cut into 6x6 floor tiles to run a border around the edge of the room!! They looked great!
Headed off to my favorite restaurant "Crazyweed Kitchen" to have a glass of wine and a hot `Lambwich" with roasted eggplant in it, which, trust me, is incredible! Took away a slice of their apple pie (spiced with cinnamon and anise) for later!!
All in all, a real treat of a day.
Les - all happy and rejuvenated
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4/16/2004 6:31:47 PM
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It is Official
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Congrats Patricia - MOG! Perhaps Corinna can give you some tips - White Lies garments for the brides trousseau perhaps?
Les
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4/17/2004 7:48:27 AM
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Newsletter vs knittable samples
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Patw- Here`s my experience. I found this site and I subscribed to the "samples" right away. It includes the newsletter. It`s kind of like your birthday when it arrives! Quite exciting! Actually, since I don`t like b-days anymore, it`s better than your B-day!!
Four mini skeins are hand tied onto a piece of 8x11 manilla tag paper and the stats of the yarn are there.
The newsletter is a folded 4page glossy black and white
publication with pictures of various patterns to knit in a particular yarn and there is a 4 inch or so sample of each colour of the yarn taped onto the newsletter. And there is a verbal description of the yarn much like you find on the Elann site.
Just "close your eyes and think of England" and do it!!
I can`t remember what the price is but it is listed on this site if you click on "Features", them "Samples"
You`ll love it. Then it gives you time to swatch and dream before the yarns become available!
Les
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4/18/2004 4:26:38 PM
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Sweater design
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Okay, I have a need for your brains. I have never tried to design a pattern or make more than the odd tweak in a pattern.
In the latest Knitters (with Maggie`s Ireland) in it, there is a pic on p 66 called Caramel Cables. It uses 2 strands of the yarn and the gauge is pretty loose with the yarn I`m thinking of using. It makes the pulled over loop pretty long and I would imagine I`d be catching it on everything. I like the look tho and the shape of the sweater and the garter st. on the neckline and front. it is a neat texture and one I think I could handle working on with my limited capacity to shut out the activity going on around me in THIS household! The yarn i have is the Naturelle 8/8 on cones (from Elann) which is a worsted weight.
In the pattern, 3 of the repeats is 4 inches. It is also done on such huge needles - a 9mm. When you work with the unstretchy yarn, it has a tendency to slip off the huge needles. I don`t have a circ. one that big and don`t really want to fork out for one.
Some my questions are; (1)can you think of another stitch I could use or maybe i should just do that one but in a finer gauge using a single strand rather than a double one to avoid the long length of the dropped loop. If I do this, I would have to redesign the pattern. It doesn`t have any shaping on the body sides which is a bonus so I`m thinking that this sweater might be a good one to make my first attempt at what I consider major changes. (2) when I BO for arms, and make the shaping for the neckline, how do you figure out how to do it/ ie. how many to bind off first on the neck and then how many decreases and how frequently do you do it to make a smoothly curved neckline?
if this is too much for you wizards to answer, coupld you point me in the direction of a good reference or tell me just to "go away"?
Les
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4/18/2004 4:58:11 PM
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Sweater design
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Oh, and you Wilton`s dyers, I think I would like to dye the yarn (Naturelle 8/8) which is 74% cotton, 24% acrylic and 1% unknown (what`s that dryer lint). would you do it? I guess the acrylic wouldn`t take they dye so it would likely be a big experiment, eh? The colour I have is "Milk" which in reality is more like "cement" - not the most flattering colour on me until I bring out the self tanner in May.
Any suggestions?
Les
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4/19/2004 4:25:51 AM
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Sweater design
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Thanks Theresa - I had forgotten that the wilton icing colour would only work on wool... But that`s a good idea about the tea -temporary stain to see how that fiber mix will do with colour.
Thanks also for the math lesson. It does seem simple - I thought it would me more complicated than that, I guess.
Les
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4/19/2004 4:35:48 AM
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I gosh darn gone and done it..
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Alriiiight!! Good job girl! The parcel in the mail is such excitement. Maybe you`ll have something to open when Tim has his celebrations!!
Les
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4/19/2004 8:23:21 AM
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aracuania
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In defense of Araucania:
* I loved knitting with it. Very soft, nice weight.
* colours are very intense - beautiful variance in shade here and there. I love the range of colours provided. I will tell my niece to wash it in cold water by hand and perhaps some salt in the water will help preserve the colour.
* I frogged about 4 times with the same ball of yarn with no deleterious effects.
Les
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4/19/2004 10:52:58 AM
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Now It`s Time for Serious Knitting - Suggestions?
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what about a fairisle felted bag? I was in a LYS and saw one that was just gorgeous. Along the line of the "Folk Bags" by Galenas It was from a pattern that was a leaflet on folded paper like a large handmade greeting card. Didn`t write the name of the pattern writer or company down - maybe I could phone them. Anyway, the bag was huge at least 14 inches tall and reminded me of the ones we had in the 60`s and 70`s. Perhaps a pared down version could be done for a little bag or case. You`d probably have to design something not too intricate tho as the intricacies might get lost in the felting - do you think? And maybe that would defeat the purpose.
maybe a hat like the one TchemGrrl posted here with the fair isle she designed herself..
or a cushion top done in the round would be cool.
Hmmm?
Les
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4/19/2004 4:08:15 PM
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Creative Strands Conference and Buttons
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Gee, that creative strands looks good doesn`t it! Too bad I live a zillion miles away! There`s a "Fiber Week" in a town about 2 hours from here at the Agricultural college in July. I may try to go there to get some inspiration!
Les
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4/19/2004 5:57:13 PM
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Waaaahhhh From the Backwoods!
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I thought we had them in Canada but maybe I just assumed we did because I saw a comercial which may have been from a US station! Vancouver`s gotta have them! I did a google.ca search and found that there are:
Shout Colour Catchers
Zero dye magnet
said that they found them near the fabric softeners in the blurb of the reviewer it said "On Canada"
http://sewing.patternreview.com/cgi-bin/notions/readnotionreview.pl?readreview=1&ID=208
she also said that she heard that an ordinary terrycloth face cloth does the same thing!! (or maybe a favorite piece of lingerie or your DH`s new white jockey`s)
Les
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4/20/2004 3:21:51 AM
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Ok-Today, 20 April 2004, Happy birthday Tim!
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Happy Birthday Tim! I want to call you Timmy because my son has a friend named Timmy altho now that he`s 15 I think he goes by Tim. Hard for me to change!
Here`s a funny website for you and your mom to play with today.
http://svt.se/hogafflahage/hogafflaHage_site/Kor/hestekor.swf
The kids and I thought this was pretty funny!!!
Hope you have a fun day and that you have your favorite cake!
Les, Mike, Lauren, Claire and Hugh
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4/20/2004 3:54:23 AM
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Is there anything else out there?
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I need to pick your brains re: yarn substituting. I bought 2 balls of the Noro yarn last week and whipped up a couple of snowboarder toques. I paid $10.00CND per 50gm ball for the yarn. Now, i loved the colours and effect. The Kuryon is the one that does the self striping and it is pretty cool. It was in shades of brown. The other is Himaraya and it was in teal, navy and purple - gorgeous - it doesn`t self stripe- does more of a self blotching - also very cool. I know that it is "hand dyed" - whatever that really means. Saw a sample scarf in the Kuryon which was beautiful but I would never be able to wear it because the wool fiber is so harsh. so, being in a mode of $ self restraint until the taxes get paid, I am asking if there is anyone has found a substitute that is perhaps, less expensive and less scratchy.
Les
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4/20/2004 4:22:06 AM
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Now It`s Time for Serious Knitting - Suggestions?
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www.woodlandwoolworks.com
Alice - I found this site today - it`s in Oregon. Lovely stuff. Check out the many kits for inspiration for your fair isle projects. It has bags, hats waterbottle holders etc. which could easily be adapted for your workshop. I love the pic of the sheep on the home page. He makes me want to maul him!! - okay, no jokes about sheep.
Les
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4/20/2004 5:11:58 AM
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Clorox 2 Success with Araucania color bleed!
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Did it lighten much after the Clorox 2 washing? What colour yarn are you using?
Les
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