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.