Tangled and Warped

This coming weekend (April 5th) is Open Studio Saturday at the Western Avenue Studios.  Come and see the new gallery on the 2nd floor… and while you are there - stop by and see us in studio 306A.  I should be there from noon until after 5pm.

I have some new hand-dyed rovings and some new hand-spun yarns available.

Lifted from Carole Knits (and read on a few others).

With no new photos to share, I guess I will go with my faves.

So here are the rules:

1. Pick 10 of your favorite movies.
2. Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie.
3. Post them on your blog for everyone to guess.
4. Strike it out when someone guesses correctly, and put who guessed it and the movie.
5. Looking them up is cheating, please don’t.

1. “Vice, Virtue. It’s best not to be too moral. You cheat yourself out of too much *life*. Aim above morality. If you apply that to life, then you’re bound to live life fully. Nancy - you are a movie Trivia Goddess

2. “Yes. We’re gonna have go right to… ludicrous speed. Nancy again

3. “I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days.” Yay Dawn!

4. “THERE’S NO CRYING IN BASEBALL!” Right on Debbi!

5. “I’m always frank and earnest with women. Uh, in New York I’m Frank, and Chicago I’m Ernest. Dawn got two!

6. “Well, we’re not in the middle of nowhere, but we can see it from here.” Yay Ruth!

7. “I am the same color as the Department of Motor Vehicles and you look like A FLOWER.” Kathy got it right

8. “What if you mix the mayonnaise in the can, WITH the tunafish? Or… hold it! Chuck! I got it! Take LIVE tuna fish, and FEED ‘em mayonnaise! Oh this is great.” Another one for Nancy!

9. “That was the most fun I’ve ever had without laughing” Another one for Ruth!

10. “Assumption, my dear Mitz, is the mother of all fuck-ups.”   See I knew someone would figure it out! Nancy you ARE the TV/Movie Trivia Goddess!

Gee can you tell I’m a Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon fan. LOL!

Come on I know someone must know the last movie quote. Here’s a hint - it’s another cult film (not Rocky Horror) although there were lots of good quotes that I could have grabbed from that one not to mention Susan Sarandon. Hint number 2: It’s a road trip film (not Girls on the Side - another favorite of mine)

I’ve had my fill of yellow peeps for awhile. What is it about those squishy marshmellow sugared birdies?

Speaking of ‘peeps” as in my peeps or family/friends I wanted to introduce you to my nephew Eric.

Isn’t he cute in his Boy Scout uniform? He is currently working towards becoming an Eagle Scout and you can help. Eric is going to be Walking for Hunger (Project Bread). He is currently looking for sponsors, so please go to his site and donate what you can.

It so nice to see the results of a days labor.  I love to see how the dyes look once all the fiber has dyed.

said the bumble bee.

“How do you know?”, asked the old oak tree.

“I just saw a daffodil dancing with the fairies on a windy hill!”

That song brings back fond memories of Miss Ames, my first grade teacher.  She always wore red lipstick, and taught us many songs for every season.  I wish I could remember them all.

It’s been so grey and dismal this past week it’s hard to believe that the first day of spring has actually arrived.

I have so many things to take pictures of and post about but unfortunately the job and teenager-from-hell are getting in the way right now.  Why do they both have to blow at the same time?  I know life’s not fair.

I am so tempted to run away from home. But alas and alack… dependable Capricorns just don’t have it in their nature to run away.  Maybe I’ll just spend one entire day this weekend in my jammies watching old movies and knitting instead.

Little progress is being made on the Isis Shawl - I think I need to go to a bigger needle, but I’m not looking forward to ripping it out.

I did finish Michelle’s wrist warmers and I need to drop those off to her.

I still have several single socks that need their mates.

But then I just bought Knitting Lace Triangles by Evelyn Clark.  I love her lace shawls and this book is really interesting and it’s tempting me away from the single socks and Isis do-over.   Then there is all the lace yarn I space dyed recently.  It’s a vicious circle I tell you.

There have been a couple of discussions on Ravelry and other forums regarding how can you tell if you have too many patterns in the queue (Ravelry or otherwise).  I know I have patterns queued up that if I knit 7/24 for the rest of my life I would never possibly put a dent into the wait list.  But then there is all the yarn that is in the stash waiting to be turned into one of those queue projects.  So I ask you which comes first the pattern or the yarn?  In my case I think they have formed a conspiracy and I’ve already fallen down that rabbit hole.  At least I have things to look forward to in my old age retirement.

Happy Birthday Michelle!

Ya they look all innocent but they aren’t

Michelle learned to knit for her birthday - I expect we will be seeing lots of little fru-fru doggie coats in the future. hmmm - I wonder if there are patterns for Iquana sweaters - probably somewhere on line. LOL!

Everything I knit this weekend must be frogged - that is what you get for not paying attention. I did finish spinning and plying the Merino Cashmere from Spunky Eclectic (Dogwood colorway). It came out more brown than expected but still pretty. I need to set the ply and count the yardage.

I did get to the studio and did vast amounts of dyeing with Brian - but no pics yet.

UPDATE:

I got tickets for this years True Colors Tour in Boston - Cyndi Lauper, of course but the best surprise! The B-52s!!!!!

Although it’s been a busy week, and I have been knitting away,  I got nothing to show for it yet.  I have just been so tired for some reason.  I cannot believe it’s just the hour we lost last Sunday with switching the clocks ahead for Daylight Savings Time.  It is nice to come out of work with at least another hour or so of daylight to enjoy.

My current knitting projects include:

Swatching for the Veil of Isis Shawl.  Finishing up the fingerless lace mitts, and starting the ‘other’ fingerless lace mitts that I hope to finish before Sunday’s birthday party.   Harpy was right - the Orchid ones are definitely Memories yarn from Knitpicks and not the Artyarn as I previously stated - so much for lost tags.  The “other” fingerless gloves are being knit from one of the STR sock club skeins from last year.  It’s their silkie sock yarn and I don’t see the colorway up on their site.  But is is very pretty, you will just have to trust me on that until I get pics of the completed project.

I finished and sent in my tax returns via e-filing on Monday.  My refund was in my bank account on Thursday.  NICE!

I am planning on spending the day Saturday at the studio doing some fiber dyeing.  I have about 15 different colorways in my head (and written down) that I want to try.  I might even try doing some pastel to medium color saturation too.  I love the intense colors but I want to try to expand the repertoire so to speak.  I’ve also been trying to move out of my color comfort zone semi-successfully this year.  Using more earth tones and getting comfortable with the browns, oranges and golds.  It’s still so easy to get sucked back into the purples, blues and greens that continue to call me like a sirens song.

This weekend there a lots of parties on the calendar, so tonight I am baking Irish Soda Bread to bring along.  Traditional soda bread is rather tasteless and dry so I like to add the raisins (or currants) and caraway seeds to my recipe.  I will not be adding green food coloring however.  What is it with dyeing everything green for St. Patrick’s Day?  Blech.  Save your food coloring for the Ostera celebration and dyeing the eggs.  Or even better wait until after the “Easter” holidays and buy the egg dyeing kits for .10 each and dye fiber with them.

I got an email from the Lowell Summer Music Series today too.  So far they have an awesome lineup for Boarding House Park:

The Indigo Girls are coming back again.  They were awesome last year.  Some new faces this year; Taj Mahal, Robert Gray and Arlo Guthrie, just to name a few.  I may have to by a season’s ticket this year.  Stay tuned for more names to be announced.

I guess that was a little more than noth’n.  Have a great weekend and be careful if you are out celebrating Saint Paddy’s Day.

Yesterday afternoon we experienced a power outage for about an hour…  checking the local website this afternoon the cause was… SQUIRRELS!  Have I ever mentioned how much I hate squirrels?!

Today is almost starting to feel like Spring is just around the corner.  Only two more weeks and the Vernal Equinox will make it official.  This isn’t to say that there couldn’t be more snow on the horizon, but only that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.  The winter has just seemed to be exceptionally long and weary.  I swear my plow guy must be putting a big honking addition on to his house, for that boat I am sure I bought for him.

I’ve been busy knitting, then frogging, then re-knitting the Orchid Lace Mitts from Knitspot.  I made some modifications to the pattern and I think Darling Daughter will love them.  I think the yarn is Artyarns Ultramerino that has been languishing in my stash for quite some time.

I also think I found a shawl pattern for the lovely alpaca yarn from Peru.  I think the Amethyst Shawl will suit my purposes.  I’ll do some swatching this weekend.   I’m sure there will be plenty of yarn to get at least a couple of shawls done.

Speaking of things my DD loves, I ran across these on-line and I am actually considering trying to make some.   They sounded kind of gross to me, but my kid is the one drinking the pickle juice out of the jars and eating sour dills for breakfast.  Oh the interesting things you can find on-line these days.   She would probably love them.

No dye day this Saturday - other obligations are taking precedence.  Next Saturday definitely.  I have so much stuff to dye.

Cindy brought me a cone (2.2 lbs) of lovely ecru alpaca 3/10.  We figured there is approx. 3600 yards of this soft creamy three-ply that is somewhere around fingering weight.  Sure that is enough to knit a sweater… but I would die of heat stroke if I tried to wear an alpaca sweater.  Besides this so wants needs to be a shawl (or two!).  Which brings me to the decision part.

Which shawl?  I have about 20 of them in my ravelry queue and at least 4 lace and shawl books at home.  Right now I’m thinking either the Victorian Lace or the Golden Nugget .  But then there are so many beautiful lace shawls in the Victorian Lace Shawl book and the Folk Shawl book and the list goes on and on.

I just had to swatch a little bit up last night and it’s just lovely.  Whatever it turns into it’s going to be gorgeous.

I finished my Noro Socks - no fancy pattern just my plain vanilla sock pattern that fits nicely and shows off the colorway.  I soaked them and they are now hanging up to dry.  I sure hope they get softer with the wash.  That is what everyone says.  I’ll have to be careful they don’t end up in the washing machine, I am pretty sure they would felt and that would be a complete bummer.

Dye day this weekend!  I cannot wait I have lots of stuff to dye.  Keep your eye out for new stuff in the etsy shop soon.

My camera is back… and so is my sister!

And she brought back 17 - SEVENTEEN! Kilos! of Alpaca Yarn

One of the cones is MINE!

Here are some of her photos from Peru.  Look closely you may see a couple of the sweaters that we sent down.

And they “loved” the art supplies!

this little boy kept his school supplies close.  I don’t think he was planning on sharin.  LOL!

These little girls were adorable and quite smitten with their art supplies.

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Now photos from the Weaving Co-op

Cindy getting Spinning lessons.

Fiber Prep Before and After

Natural Fiber Dyes (check some of the colors hanging on the back wall)

Weaving a table runner

Women weaving for the co-op

Now for the contest announcement that I am sure you have all been waiting for.

and the winners are…..

First Sweater turned in goes to Amber - Amber you have won one of Cindy’s scarves.

The most hand knitted items prize goes to Judy - you can pick if you want some hand dyed yarn, or if you would prefer some hand dyed roving  (let me know)

the random name picked out of the hat… goes to Gerry!  Cindy has some of her hand dyed cotton for you since we know you love cotton yarn.

We added another prize winner - only because we thought it deserved one.  The prize is for completing the sweater at the last possible moment and of course this goes to Lucia!  Lucia you can pick either hand-painted yarn or my hand-dyed roving.

We want to thank all of you who participated in this little contest.

Cindy will be guest blogging her trip report soon.  She had a great time, except maybe for the food…

Roasted Guinea Pig anyone?