Gumby loves yarn!

This is gumby, who currently sits on the dashboard of my cute little car. He has his little ball of scrap noro that he clutches in an oh-so-loving way. This is what I see every morning when i get in the car to drive to work, and every night when I head home - and I ask you: could life get any better?

Well, the new workplace is like wonderland. But there is too much food. Way too much food. Remember the "Freshman 15" from college? They call it the same thing. I will be working out as hard as I can to counteract this - and possibly lose the little last bit that I want to. Can I do it? We'll see!

The picture above shows 1 thing: LOVE.





And above, here are some sprouts that I planted in August. I'll try to get a more current picture soon. Since I missed August entirely, I thought it might be nice to include at least one picture from that time period.





And, lastly, above are two pictures of the wall at the Trader Joe's by my work. I may be a little morbid, but this mural makes me think of war - specifically, Pearl Harbor bombings - my infamous birthday. So, there you are, a few pictures to make up for a month of being absent.

More posts soon if I can manage it.

However, why not check out my podcast at: www.brassneedles.com (the site is pretty nice with fancy artwork)

Inspiring, isn't it? This bis a picture of one of the yarn walls at A Verb For Keeping Warm in Berkley (Oakland?) Isn't it inspiring? Rumor is that they use all natural dyes. Their stuff is even lovlier in person - I know, I went and mooshed my face against it (as one should do with all good yarn)










This picture sums up everything that is bad about the 80s coming back. Plastic glasses with stripes cut into them? How do those function as sunglasses? Really? You're not fooling anyone, Target. These glasses may convince you that you can be cool, but you will still be the dork who Molly Ringwald DOESN'T date but gives a pity dance to at the end of the movie. Yeah, you know the one. This is proof that the color red cannot solve all fashion disasters.






And now that this bit o'lace has been mailed to and received by its new owner - I can post it. This was made from a friend's stash that she had to part with based on the fact that she could no longer crochet. The pattern was taken from a button up shawl that turns into a shrug that I found in a magazine. Simple, mindless, 4 rows and every other is a purl row. boring.


I am for crap at updating this thing - I'll try to make it to at least once a week.

Ta!

LACIS part 2. SON OF LACIS!

What? who are these people and where are they? Well, it's on of my good friends and the knitmoregirls. We went to LACIS today, the "Museum of Lace," if you will.

Now, I'm not going to say anything about who spent how much.........ahem. But LACIS made it's siren song VERY appealing to at least one of the people pictured in this post. I spent my fair share......but I did not "win" the day...as it were.

More pictures and more posts another time, I promise!!









And what's this? Hair Jewelry. Seriously. Go check out Gail Carriger's blog (you can google it. it's ok, I'll wait). A month or two ago, she posted tons of pictures and some information about victorian hair jewelry. It's fascinating to me. The idea of taking human hair and creating keepsakes of this sort is a really beautiful, if maybe eerie, idea. LACIS is keeping it's 1890's clothing exhibit one more week - if you can get to Berkley (California, USA), I recommend visiting them. It's free - unless you buy things (and you may!)

The Frankensocks of Doooooom!

It occurs to me that I never posted a picture of the Frankensocks that I finished in June. So.....here they are in abundance. They are for a friend (redredgroovy) who has rather intense feet. (they are large and in charge.)(As in, they ARE the boss of you!)

So, here are some pictures to make everyone happy!

Mental Health Alcohol Services

Here we have the very amusing sign at the hospital by my place. Mental Health Alcohol Services! Why, I agree. Alcohol is a nice way to soothe what ails! However, I think therapy might be a better thing to advise.....but that's just me.







Here are some Spirogyra that I made for a good friend. This was taken after I had to fix them because they began to unravel (due to my poor finishing work). How embarrassing!!







And lastly, here we have my glorious new orafice hook! The boyfriend made this for me the other day out of some odds and ends he had around. You can't see in this picture, but there is a beautiful brass filigree where the rod meets the beads. Simply gorgeous. I love it! And, the best part - - - it's functional! Yes, my favorite part of beautiful things is that they can still maintain their utility.

Tour de Fleece!

Well, here are my first Tour De Fleece 2009 pictures. The pinks are Crown Mountain Fibre's Susie Q colorway. I spun this on the 4th of July Weekend. It's a three ply sock yarn. If I did my math right, it is just under 300 yds. I have a little bit more of it to spin up and ply before it's gone.




The Black/Purple mix is cormo that I managed to get at the Retslaff Winery Spin-In. I want to say it was Sue Roiser's, but I think that I'm wrong about that. I'm pretty sure it was another vendor, but I can't remember which. I have more roving from the same vendor, though, so I'll be able to pull the tag off of some of that when I get to it. This is a two ply fingering weight. I've already made two skiens, and have at least two more to go - this, I think, is the end of my tour de fleece goal. It should take me the rest of the 'tour to get it done.


Now, what is this knitting thing? I think I used to know what it was, but it's been so long that I must have forgotten!

A Little Catch-up

In no particular order here, we have:

-- A drum carder with some fantastic red that Jamin and I dyed from plain brown. It is stunning!

-- We have a cabletini-toe-up sock being worked on for the Cabletini knit along that is going on through the Brass Needles Podcast (my podcast is located at www.brassneedles.com or can be downloaded through your favorite podcatcher).

-- We also have a finally finished baby sweater for one of the cutest little girls that ever lived. I hope it's still cool enough where she lives for her to wear it sometime!

-- And we have my writing backwards on the window "All your base are belong to us" in vain hopes that the window washers or others may appreciate it...... the joys of a window at work are many and varied.

The Lucha Statue!

And here we see what happens when I have an old gauge swatch, some loose yarn on a needle, and my boss' unattended statue. This statue - usually of a resolute old man with long beard (still visible under the luchador mask) - stays facing out the window of my boss' 6th floor window. It's job was to bring in business. Now - it's job is to bring the smack-down! Because, when you're going to be out of work in three months, why not mess with your boss just a little?

I stole the statue while the boss was at a meeting. I sewed the gauge swatch to the statue at my desk, then walked it around showing my team-mates. Then I snuck it back in his office. But then I realized that I didn't have a picture - so I went and borrowed a camera from the IT guy, re-stole the statue, and ran to the mail room so I could take more pictures - dodging the boss when I ran into him, holding the statue behind my back and distracting him with political talk. Then I re-replaced the statue, returned the camera, and waited at my desk for the boss to notice, giggling to myself at my own cleverness. (yeah, I'm a dork)

Proof that it was a good decision?
1. I'm still employed
2. He left it on the statue


Rock on!!


~ miss k

In this post we see the Borg Beanie in it's initial stages. First, the borg beanie during creation (during fabrication?). Next, we see a pictures of the Borg Queen. According to my scribbling, she is both gooey and scary. I still maintain this view.

in this doodle, we see me designing the borg beanie. The doodles are me deciding what hardware and knitting need to be where, and also rough sketches of a really happy little cartoon person wearing the completed beanie.

Spinning at a winery is a-ok by me!

Why hello!

I just got back from Livermore, at the Retslaff (sp?) Winery. It was a spinning event with a potluck lunch and wine tasting available for $5. Wine and spinning do mix! Who knew? However, drinking and buying don't mix, so I made my meager purchases before I did the wine tasting. I am smart! I did purchase 1 fleece in a medium gray, but I dropped it off for processing, so I won't get it back for a few months. I am going to end up with parts of a dark blackish-brown and a white as well. Those, Jasmin and I will settle up over later, when they are back.

What else? Sleepy, happy, working on my cabletini socks for the knit along on the brass needles podcast.

BayCon

Ok, so i don't have any of the pictures in yet - and I forgot my camera, so it might be a while until I can track some down, but we just finished baycon 2009. baycon was again a very fun convention, sort of light on the panels this year, with two of the main big names (the only ones I recognized except Peter Beagle - and I know I just misspelled that) cancelling last minute due to illness. However, as I don't attend for the panels (which is, to my mind, like saying that you read playboy for the articles, it might be true, but no one believes you), I wasn't upset. I did, however, make it to my first panel ever at a baycon - and it was on podcasting. And, as I feared they might, they poked a little fun at the fact that I was a knitting podcaster. Although, I will point out that one of the panelists enjoys BOARDGAMING podcasts. Ahem. And they think knitting podcasts are lame? We'll just leave that one alone, shall we?

What else? Many parties, I made friends with the Klingons again (so goes my tradition), and even got my copy of The Unincorporated Man signed by the authors! yay! I helped JD Sawyer of the Polyschizmatic Reprobrates Hour (say that 5 times fast) podcast do a team interview of the writers. Hopefully I'll get some of that from Dan soon to put on my own podcast.

in other news, have great plans to design a borg beanie (don't ask - well, go listen to the podcast for explanation). Not going smashingly yet as I keep not being sure where I want it to fit on the back of the head, and worrying whether or not I can get away with enclosing an entire eye for the lazer. Desicions, decisions!

Oh! And I received a Hall Costume Award at Baycon for - wait for it - originality in Knitted Steampunk accessories. Hilarious and wonderful!

Pictures when i get some!

I'm Famous!

Well, maybe not famous, but I did just find that part of a short interview I did while teaching knitting at SteamPowered Convention in October made it into an article online. The article is with Bizarremag.com. I would like to point out that I did not drop a stitch. link here. http://www.bizarremag.com/bizarre-world/parties/7664/steam_powered.html

There's even a picture of me teaching someone to knit in the sidebar! Squeeee!

Victory Garden Creation

Over at Casa de Kalendar, we decided to put in a victory gardent, reminiscent of WWII campaigns to conserve. See the pictures below for the miraculous transformation.

Mother's Day Purse

When you have an idea that is perfect for someone, you just have to move on it.
Case in point - the mother's day bag for the Fiend's mom. It's all silk purchased at Stitches West this year in February, but i didn't want to post it until after it was gifted. It's about mid-knee length with the full strap, and expands large enough to fit about a 7 year old kid (if you'd be interested in putting one in your carry-all bag).

Ms Kalendar Wears an Awesome Red Dress to a Wedding and Drinks Beer

Oh my God do I love that dress.




So here I am in my native habitat - dressed up, drinking, and haging on men. Sigh. Could life be more fun? The wedding was completely non-traditional and a lot of fun. And, well, anywhere I get to wear a dress that's been sitting in my closet for over a year with the tags still on is a good outing, in my opinion.

Miss Kalendar Does Easter Weekend.

Well, I just uploaded Episode 2 of Brass Needles, which you can find at Brassneedles.com or get from Itunes. I feel accomplished.

However, why not see what I was up to on Easter Weekend? As you can see from the pictures, Meri_Sefket and I were out at Lacis on Saturday. This would be the textile museum in Berkley/Oakland. it is fabulous. And beware, there are great things to buy, like busks for corset making or lace-making supplies, books (such as the one I was perusing), and bone knitting needles and crochet hooks, as well as thread, yarn, etc., for all of your dirty little hobbies. It was hard to walk out of there with just a set of bone needles and a copy of piecework about re-creating WW2 socks.

There are no pictures of my sassy 1950's cocktail dress on Easter morning, but there are pictures of drinking wine and watching Xena from Easter night. Now that's what I consider to be an excellent Easter Weekend. Nothing says good times like 90s television and good red wine. Of course, Miss K loves her red wine any day of the week, with any hobby.

Podcast!

Brass Needles, my knitting, sci-fi, steampunk, cosplay, gaming, etc. etc. podcast is now up.
(thanks for J D Sawyer of polyschizmatic reprobates hour and antithesis. Visit him at www.jdsawyer.net

It is not on Itunes yet. But I will work on that soon.

You can visit it and download at www.brassneedles.com

Ta!

Miss Kalendar's new 'do and friend.

Posted by request of C.L., the Metamor City mastermind.
So, I posted a picture of he and I hanging out to make it fair.