I had a professor in college who, on the very first day of class in any given semester, would start by saying, "All right, people, we have a lot to cover," and immediately launch into his lecture and wouldn't stop until the last five minutes of class when he would finally take roll (for the first and last time) just to make sure everyone who was enrolled had actually made it. This is how I feel about this post--we have a lot to cover, people!
Cold Sheeping Status Report: The Scary Math
Still going strong on cold sheeping--I survived the very large marketplace at Stitches West without buying any yarn or fiber. One of the things that helped was the progress I've made in the virtual organizing of my yarn stash. Ravelry has wonderful organizational tools that allow you to track your yarn and fiber stashes, and they even have a mechanism that allows you to download your data to an Excel spreadsheet. What that means is you can use the calculation tools in Excel to get some big picture information about your stash.
Well, I recently updated my stash entries in accordance with my goals for this year. I have not accounted for everything yet, but I've recorded a good portion. And I downloaded my data to Excel. And I calculated how many yards of yarn I have entered so far. And here it is...over the (many) years that I have been knitting and crocheting, I have collected over 130 miles of yarn. That is just yarn, and (as I mentioned) that is not even all of it.
Let's assume I can process (i.e., knit, crochet, whatever) an average of a mile of yarn a month--not sure that I actually can do that, but let's assume it for the sake of discussion. That means that it would take me over 10 years to process the yarn I have. Now, let's remember that I am also a spinner. And I can spin about a mile a month. So while I am subtracting a mile a month in knitting, crocheting, etc., I am adding approximately a mile a month in new yarn that I am spinning.
I think you see the point. Taking the time to make these sorts of calculations really helps to remove the temptation to buy any more yarn or fiber, no matter how neat, pretty, shiny, soft, unique, special or rare it may be.*
Stitches West Report
Moving beyond the marketplace, Stitches West was a wonderful experience. Since I was not really there to shop, I focused on learning this year and had the opportunity to take four really great classes.
Rigid Heddle Weaving
Recently I've been getting the strange urge to take up weaving. I call it a strange urge because weaving NEVER interested me. I mean, you make rectangles. What is interesting about that?** Or so I thought. But I have noticed a lot of spinners are also weavers. And I have found that from time to time certain yarns in my stash, handspun or otherwise, have whispered to me that, yeah, sure I could knit with them if I insist, but they really would prefer to be woven and if I had any kind of sense I would see that they were right.*** So when the class registration for Stitches opened up last September, I decided to listen to my whispering stash and signed up for a six-hour class entitled "Learn to Use the Rigid Heddle Loom and Use Up Your Stash" with Deborah Jarchow. I mean, really, how could I resist?
First, Deborah is awesome. If you ever have the opportunity to take a class with her, I definitely recommend it.**** Second, yes, weaving is limited by the shape of the loom. As I understand it, you do not really increase or decrease stitches as you do in knitting or crochet to shape your project as you go.***** So, if you have a rectangular loom, you will make rectangles. But oh, the magic that occurs within those rectangles! Because the beauty and joy of weaving is the ability to play with color and texture on a different scale than with knitting or crocheting, and the ability to really highlight the yarn. And yes, you can do very intricate and complicated patterns in weaving, but the simplest of weaves can be a transformative experience depending on the yarn. I finally have ideas for the various specialty yarns I've collected over the years that I had to have but haven't been able to figure out how to use.
Because the class was six hours long, we all had time to make our very own simple scarves. Here's the one I made using my handspun:
And as you can probably tell from the pro-weaving rant above, yes, I did run out and immediately buy a loom, using some Christmas and birthday gift money I had been saving up (thanks Mom and Dad!). Here is a scarf I'm making right now, in progress:
Double Knitting in Color
At Stitches they offer "market classes." These are quick little one-hour classes in little fabric partitioned "rooms" behind the market place. They are an opportunity to get a jump start on a new skill with the help of a suffering but infinitely patient instructor who has to shout over the other five instructors who are also in their fabric rooms trying to be heard. It's fun :). During the lunch break for the weaving class, I took the double knitting market class. Double knitting is a technique for knitting a reversible pattern on the front and back of a piece simultaneously. (It sounds much harder than it actually is.) Here are pictures of what we learned (front and back):
Beyond Intermediate Crochet
I have been crocheting twice as long as I have been knitting, but I haven't pursued learning advanced techniques in crochet in the same way as I have with knitting, so I signed up for this three-hour class with the "Crochet Dude," Drew Emborsky.****** It was also a very good class. Unfortunately, I don't have good pictures to show you--I used variegated yarn for my swatches so the stitches don't really show up well. But we learned all sorts of interesting techniques such as using post stitches to create stretchy ribbing and crocheted cables, adding beads, making lightweight bobbles, and, the most "life-changing" thing, how to make foundation stitches as you go. In other words (apologies to non-crocheters, the following probably won't make any sense), instead of making a chain the length of your project and crocheting into the chain stitches, you can actually make a crochet stitch, add an extra loop and then crochet into that loop so that you are building the width of your project as you are crocheting your first row of stitches. The effect is that you end up with a very stretchy cast-on edge that ends up being just as loose as your bind-off edge. If that was Greek to you, just take my word for it that it is AWESOME.
Mosaic Knitting
This was another market class. Mosaic knitting is a two-color colorwork technique, popularized by Barbara G. Walker (the same Ms. Walker who authored the stitch pattern book I have previously mentioned) in which only one color of yarn is worked in a given row, while the stitches in the other color are simply slipped and not worked in that row. Even though you are only working one color at a time, you can create some very intricate patterns. Here is a picture of the mosaic coffee cup holder we made in class (well, it's supposed to be a coffee cup holder, but my cup will have to be very wide!):
Ravellenic Round Up
The Ravellenic Games are over and you are probably wondering how I did. Well, I didn't get it all done, which is what I suspected would happen. Part of the fun of the Games is setting impossible goals so that if you accomplish them, you feel AMAZING, and if you don't quite make it, at least you have the satisfaction of knowing you really went for it.
In addition to the cardigans from the last post, I finished seaming the Thunderstorm Swirl:
Ravelry page:
Thunderstorm Swirl. The modification due to running out of yarn worked just fine--in fact, the next time I make a Swirl, I'll make the same modification on purpose.*******
I completed the Aerial Unwind:
Before:
After:
Ravelry page:
Unwound Swirl. I have to admit, it was a little heartbreaking to unravel all of that knitting, but it had to be done. It may take me a little while to figure out a new project special enough for this yarn though.
I also spun up a skein of the baby camel/silk to complete the Flying Camel Spin:
Ravelry page:
Ravellenic Camel/Silk. I love the color and shine of it. It reminds me of the Muga silk.
Things that did not make it across the finish line:
- Mink Cardigan. I think if the Mink Cardigan had stayed the plain Jane cardigan originally envisioned, I would have been able to get everything done. I started working on it immediately after I finished the Lacy Cardigan, but after I had spent a whole week working on just half of the cabled trim, I knew that I was in danger of derailing all of my Ravellenic hopes. I realized there was no way, even if I worked exclusively on the Mink Cardigan, that I would finish it in time. So I put it down and finished the projects I knew I could complete. Nonetheless, I did make a lot of progress:
- Grand Plage Cardigan. After I stopped working on the Mink Cardigan, I picked this one up and started a sleeve. It is not turning out very well. I picked up too many stitches around the armhole so the sleeve is puckering:
To be honest, I have become generally unhappy with this project as a whole. I love the main yarn color, but that is about it. I have been having sizing issues with the pattern that I've tried to ignore/fix as I have been going, but I'm not thrilled with the solutions. For example, the armholes were HUGE -- they originally came all the way down to my waist. So to make the sleeves a reasonable size, I had to sew up the sides, which created seams in a garment that is supposed to be mostly seamless, and left a large amount of fabric on the insides of the cardigan:
It's a fix of sorts, but between not being happy with the sleeve progress, not really being happy with the seams, and also not liking the yarn I used as a trim (it's floppier than the main fabric and not matching well), I think it's time to give up on this one. I know what I want the finished product to look like and I think I will do a better job of getting there if I design the pattern myself. So we'll call this a learning experience and start over.
Iknitarod
The Iknitarod (yes, you guessed it, a knit (or whatever) along with the Iditarod) has started. The end date is undetermined--we need to finish our projects by the time the last musher crosses the finish line, which is usually about two weeks. Fortunately, the Iknitarod moderators have included a WIP category this year. So, all things considered, I've decided to use the Mink Cardigan as my Iknitarod project to keep the momentum going. (Otherwise, we might still be talking about it two years from now.)
It's March--Time to Get Real
March is here. The last month in the first quarter of 2014. So, for all of the projects that I haven't been worried about because "I have until the end of March, no problem," it is time to face the piper. Here is the list of projects that need to be finished by the end of this month:
- Big Shetland spinning project
- Precious hoodie
- Q1-new-to-me project for the Yarnathon (I started a moebius scarf--the new-to-me technique will be an applied I-cord trim. More on this and pictures in a later post.)
Additionally, the Mink Cardigan will need to be completed even earlier, most likely by March 15th (or maybe...St. Patrick's Day?? Will that forever haunt me as a deadline?) I will also need to have spun and/or processed 3,000 yards by the end of the month for the Mad Dash, but if I complete the above, that will take care of the Dash. It's a daunting list, but I say shoot for the moon and keep on keepin' on.
Random News
On February 28th, Ravelry hit 4 million members. The team that makes Ravelry happen put together
a fun little page with different Ravelry statistics.
Fin
Whew, are we all caught up? I certainly hope so. If I've left anything out, we'll have to get to it next time--my loom is calling me. Wait---did I say "loom?" Of course I meant the Mink Cardigan. Yeah, that's the ticket. I'm running off to work on the Mink Cardigan. Right this minute. Here I go.
_______________________________
*I imagine to non-knitters, these calculations sound horrifying. But I can assure you that a very large number of knitters would be nodding their heads and saying, "Yep, that sounds about right." Also, to add a little perspective, it can take around 1 to 1 1/2 miles of yarn to knit a cardigan. (The Thunderstorm Swirl is just over 1 mile's worth of yarn. The black lightweight cardigan is 1.25 miles.)
**Says the person who spent many years of her crocheting and knitting life just making squares (blankets) and rectangles (scarves).
***The Muga silk has been particularly insisting that it wants to be woven.
****She travels all over the country teaching weaving at different fiber arts conferences and brings her own looms for students to use in class so you don't have to own one to learn:
Deborah Jarchow's 2014 Class Schedule
*****Though I am not necessarily convinced that you CAN'T. I will have to do some studying...
******
http://drewemborsky.com/
*******On a fun note, I wore the Thunderstorm Swirl to Stitches (part of the fun of Stitches is that everyone wears their handknit creations so the entire weekend is like being at a fashion show). The teacher for the mosaic knitting market class had just taught a Swirl making workshop at her local yarn shop and was so tickled that I was wearing a Swirl that she made me stand up and show it off to the class.
