Yo-Yo Waaaah

With apologies to a certain player of a large-ish stringed instrument. Piggy couldn't help herself.

Here is what the Good Luck/Bad Luck Cowl looked like this morning:




As you'll no doubt surmise by the amount of fabric before you, I elected to go with option #1: make one and press on.

Or, rather, make 2. For two or three repeats on, it happened again. Two missed yarn overs from R2 of the pattern.

And really, I just made one -- from wherever -- and kept on trucking. Most unlike me. I knew that, in theory, I could do what a couple of helpful commenters suggested: get out the old crochet hook (or smaller needle) and do some stitch retrieval from the proper spot.

But darned if I can figure that out. I am spatially challenged. Seriously. And I'm not good at translating written instructions for these sort of things into practice. I need to see them being done.

I'm sure there are videos of this on youtube or knittinghelp.com. I could have looked them up. Or waited to show it to a yarny pal. Or, gone with option #3 (full-on frogging), or at least some frinking (remember frinking?).

But I didn't. I just plowed ahead. With this result:




I am trying to get over it. With little success.

Piggy's rule #27: don't bring lace to a knitting meet-up

Unless you're the type of knitter who can comfortably ignore everyone else (and keep your own trap shut) while counting your yarn overs. Or, of course, you are an experienced lace knitter. Piggy is neither of those things.

On the weekend I actually made a bit of progress on the Good Luck/Bad Luck Cowl...




On the bus this morning, however, I came across an error. I am missing one stitch in one of the 10-stitch repeats. By my count, three options are open to me at this point:

1. Make one stitch and just press on; nobody is going to notice.
2. Tink back until I find the error (two rounds back, methinks), fix it, and continue.
3. Frog the bloody thing, and accept I was never meant to complete this project.

Each of these options has its pros and cons.

1. Pro: this is the quickest and easiest solution. Con: I'm going to know the mistake is there, darn it. And it will bother me no end.
2. Pro: I'll be able to sleep better knowing it's done right. Con: I'm going to have to tink back two rounds; and when tinking k2togs and pssos, the possibility of making additional errors is reasonably high. This, of course, means further hair-pulling. And less sleep.
3. Pro: My frogging skills are highly developed; I know I can rip perfectly. Con: Once it's frogged, I'm going to have to start all over again. Call me Captain Ahab; this cowl is my Moby Dick.

Stay tuned to see which option I choose...

What was I thinking? (Help a Piggy out!)

As I mentioned a little while ago, Piggy went a little nuts during a recent elann.com sale.

Twenty-five balls of fingering-weight cotton worth of nuts, in fact.

Well, they arrived last week. And I have no idea what to do with them.

I seem to recall my pre-process knitterly self -- seduced by all the pretty colours and the rock-bottom pricing -- planning summer dresses for my nieces (and assorted other little girls of my aquaintance). Think I can find any patterns for such that call for fingering weight?

Suggestions? (Please!!!)

Contest prize!

As promised, a picture of the comment contest prize:

I e-mailed the winner, Dove Knits, this morning. She requested I send the donation to Warm Woolies, a Denver-based charity whose volunteers knit warm clothing for orphans in Russia, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia and on Native American Reservations in the northern U.S. I'll be posting the cheque today.*

I'll also be sending Dove a skein of Malabrigo Lace in olive. I did a wee bit of spying on Ravelry, and discovered she likes lace, and green. And, because I also discovered she is observing Lent, I'm including the heart-shaped wooden buttons in lieu of the "something yummy for the tummy" (i.e. chocolate) I hinted at yesterday.

Thanks again to everyone for sharing your thoughts about charity knitting. :-)

*The sharp-eyed among you might have seen I neglected to fill in the date before taking the picture; don't worry, it's there now!

We have a winner!

Thank you to everyone who entered the contest and gave me some great ideas for charity knitting. There were 30 of you (beentsy left two comments; I counted them together as one).

This morning I plugged the numbers into a random number generator, which selected the winner:



Comment number 10 was left by Dove Knits. Congratulations!

I'll have pics of the prize up once I've contacted Dove and sorted out the details. 

Thanks again, everyone!

Contest reminder: deadline tonight!

Just a reminder that Piggy's got a $25 cheque ready to be filled out to someone's favourite registered charity...plus something yummy from my stash (and, maybe -- just maybe -- something yummy for the tummy).

Go to last week's post about charity knitting here. Leave me a comment by 11:59 p.m. Pacific time tonight. I'll have a winner, chosen at random, tomorrow.

The cowl came back

It's hardly the very next day, in this case, however. More like four months.

Well, close enough. That's right, I'm working on the Good Luck Cowl again. As you might recall, Piggy's had a rather embarrassing amount of trouble with this lacy little number; at one point in December, the frustration drove me to contemplate throwing myself out the window. (The fact I live in a basement suite means that wouldn't actually have put me out of my misery...but I digress.)

The fault is all mine; as I've said before, Christianne Gerstner's lovely pattern is very clear and free from errors. Just ask the 150+ people on Ravelry who've used it without losing their marbles (and their knitting mojo).

Piggy just has an issue with yarn overs. And concentration. Not a good combo.

Anyhoo...after several (and I do mean several) false starts, and a belated acceptance of the suggestion that the use of stitchmarkers might be helpful, I managed to get a fair bit done.

But then something went horribly wrong; something somewhere was missed, my stitch count was off, and my attempts to tink back failed miserably. Well, my patience failed, anyway. So I put what had become known in my circle as the "Bad Luck Cowl" away.

I dragged it out again this week, with plans to frog it and start over for a few last-minute points for March's Defense Against the Dark Arts (DADA) homework. The assigned lesson: something that requires "constant vigilance." I figured the Bad Luck Cowl fit the bill.

I did have second thoughts when I dragged the cowl out on Tuesday at lunch...




...and realized I had completed more repeats of the pattern than I had remembered. I was more than halfway finished.

I briefly contemplated ditching the DADA assignment (one cannot use WIPs for homework), and attempting to fix the problem and press on.

Well, I pressed on, alright. With the frogging. (Much to the horror of my Hufflepuff co-worker Siobhan.)







And cast on again. And again. And again. It's actually pretty standard procedure; I seem to require at least three starts on every project. Often it's because I've mis-estimated the length of tail required, but occasionally for something even more stupid. In this case, I forgot that the three rows of garter stitch border meant I needed to purl rounds one and three, and knit round 2. Ugh.

After work Siobhan and I headed to a coffee shop a couple of blocks away for a new, hopefully regular Tuesday evening knit group. We were a nice group of four, and I was pretty chatty...which meant I needed to tink back that first row -- I refused to frog it again.

As of Wednesday afternoon...one completed pattern repeat, with no issues at all:




Maybe my luck is finally changing...

(touch wood)

I've been tagged

The lovely MelonHead tagged me this morning, and I simply cannot refuse her.


What are you wearing now? Grey turtleneck and one of my umpteen pairs of black trousers (seriously, I get them in bulk -- if I find something that fits, I buy out the store).

How often do you blog? I try to blog daily. Doesn't always work.

Who was the last person you hugged? Ummmmm...not sure.

Which item from your closet are you wearing most lately? Flannel pjs; they come on as soon as I get home.

What's for dinner? A big salad, stamppot (a Dutch dish that is basically mashed potatoes & kale), and a rare piece of fake meat -- a "Bavarian Smokey" from Yves.

What's the last thing you bought? A large soy latte and a vegan power cookie yesterday afternoon at a knitting meetup.

What are you listening to right now? Lots of stuff: people typing, someone punching numbers on the microwave (now the microwave cooking), new cubicles being put together.

If you could have any super power what would it be? Flying would be pretty darn cool.

What is your favorite weather and why? Sunny and cool. Sunshine just makes everything better, but I hate being hot.

What time do you usually get up? During the week: 6:30-7:30. Weekends are a crapshoot.

What is your most challenging goal right now? Short-term: sitting down and facing my income taxes. Longer-term: figuring out how to win the lottery what I want to be when I grow up.

Say something about the person who tagged you. She is an incredibly creative artist. And one of my best Plurk buds. :-)

If you could have a house-totally paid for, fully furnished-anywhere in the world, where would you want it to be? Devon.

Favourite vacation spot? India: endless variety.

Name the things you cannot live without. How much time do you have? LOL. Yarn from natural fibres, circular needles, chocolate, a library card, my laptop (with Internet access, of course!)...

Which movies can you watch over and over again? Pride & Prejudice (BBC 1995), Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, 12 Angry Men...lots of others I can't think of at the moment.

What is your favorite tea? Real masala chai in India. At home: Twinings Irish Breakfast, straight up.


So...MrsQuimby, beentsy, Plae, Chrissy & Brenda...consider yourself tagged!

FO: Cabled Baby Hat

I wish the weather outside were as sunny and cheerful as this sweet hat.

Yep, I'm loving the final product. And I even picked up a new skill for this one (yay, process!): cabling without a cable needle. I used Grumperina's handy tutorial, which made it easy (I would recommend you use needles with fairly pointy tips).

This was made both for Malabrigo March (general accessory) and March Herbology homework in the Harry Potter Knitting/Crochet House Cup (the assignment: use Abyssinian Shrivelfig to "shrink" your object).

Project details:

Pattern: Cabled Baby Hats (non-Ravelers, go here) by Julie Hentz; 10-cable version
Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worsted, in Pollen; less than half a skein
Needles: 4.5mm/US 7 Clover 13 cm/5 in double points
Modifications: None.

Now I'm back in pre-process mode: I'm trying to find one more project to squeeze in before the Selbu Modern KAL starts...

Podcasts for Piggy (clue me in!)

I'm really coming late to the party as far as knitting podcasts go; I just started downloading a couple (literally, two) over the last month or so. This is a little surprising, really, as podcasts are a wonderful way to get some knitting in without actually knitting anything -- perfect for the pre-process knitter.

The first podcast I sampled, The Manic Purl, is hosted by a fellow Vancouverite and Plurk pal of mine, chrissythegreat. It's fun to match the voice with the name on the screen -- and the face in the LYS mega-sale line-up! Chrissy has a very conversational style, and her podcast includes a wide mix of stuff -- what she's knitting now, what she's planning to knit, reviews of the latest knitting magazines, featured etsy shops and sellers, contests, and lots more. Check out The Manic Purl group on Ravelry.

From a podcast originating in my own backyard to one on the other side of the world...the other podcast I'm listening to now is Sticks and String, hosted by Aussie David Reidy. This is a very popular one, with thousands of weekly downloads. Very easy to listen to -- including the occasional contributions from cats Tikka and Tiger! I particularly like David's thoughtful essays; my favourites so far are The 'T' Word, from show 89; and Bloom Where You're Planted, from show 95. Check them out, if you haven't already.

I have plenty of episodes of both The Manic Purl and Sticks and String to catch up on, but I'm also on the hunt for more knitting podcasts to enjoy. There are quite a few of them out there -- the the Knitting Podcasts blog maintains a handy list -- but I'd love to have some suggestions.

What are your favourite knitting podcasts?

Piggy is really a sheep

Eh?

Well, a bunch of the Wranglers who meet up on Sundays are doing a KAL (Muggle translation: knit-along) in April, and I'm jumping on the bandwagon. This despite the fact that I am incredibly unlikely to wear the finished object.

The pattern: Selbu Modern (non-Ravelers, go here), by Kate Osborn. It's a gorgeous colourwork tam/beret. The problem is, Piggy doesn't have a hat-friendly noggin, and tams...well, no.

But I'm going to do it anyway. It's another example of my pre-process knitting tendencies; I'm in it for the social aspect, rather than either the knitting itself or the final product.

This will be my first colourwork project; I'm a bit nervous about it, but it's a good opportunity to finally learn Continental knitting (this is the process knitter part of me coming out)...through which I will knock off two of my New Year's knitting resolutions in one project.

And it gave me a good excuse to buy a book I've had my eye on for awhile:



The Essential Guide to Color Knitting Techniques, by Margaret Radcliffe. I just picked it up. I'll report on it later.

I've already picked out my yarn (selecting it took two trips to Three Bags Full, both pre- and post-meetup last Sunday, and consultations with several Wranglers):


Two pretty purples (Koigu KPM 1160 & 2235)-- perfect for Piggy, just in case I change my mind about tams. But I can also think of a few people who would like the combination as well...so it could be a super-early start to Christmas knitting for me this year!

I can't decide which shade to use for the background, and which for the colourwork...what do you think?

Are YOU a Pre-Process Knitter?

I know you're out there, my fellow pre-process knitters. Come out, come out, wherever you are!

Just in case you aren't simply in denial, I have a wee quiz for you...simply select the most appropriate answer to each of the following five questions.

1. My stash is...

a) All in project bags; any yarn not on needles will be once their cousins have been used up on the WIP.
b) Accounted for; I have picked out a pattern for each yarn, and I have a pretty good idea when I’ll start each project.
c) Growing, but nicely organized. If I come across a pattern I’d like to try, I’d probably know right away if I’d need to buy yarn, or could use what I already have.
d) A little out of control; I really should go on a yarn diet, but it’s all just so pretty, darn it.
e) I don’t want to talk about it.

2. Of the knitting books/magazines in my collection, I haven’t used a single pattern from ____of them:

a) 0% – I would never buy a book unless I planned on knitting at least three of its patterns.
b) 25% – But I didn’t buy them; I can’t help it if my significant other/best friend/mother/boss/crazy Aunt Mabel can’t be bothered to check my Amazon wishlist, can I?
c) 50% – But Elizabeth Zimmermann books shouldn’t count: they’re stories, not patterns.
d) 75% – We really shouldn’t get hung up on numbers; the purpose of knitting books is to provide inspiration, not guaranteed FOs.
e) 100% – No comment.

3. My non-knitting friends:

a) What non-knitting friends?
b) Probably think I’m dead; I’m too busy knitting to get together with them.
c) Are hiding from me: they have more sweaters, scarves, hats, mitts, socks, dishcloths and naughty chapstick covers than they know what to do with.
d) Keep harassing me to finish that sweater/scarf/hat/dishcloth/pair of mitts/naughty chapstick cover I’ve been promising them since Christmas 2006.
e) Think I’m certifiable: who has four big Rubbermaid totes full of yarn, a bookshelf full of knitting books, and six Glenfiddich tubes full of needles, but never knits anything?

4. During the hour or so I spend in line waiting to pay at my LYS’s big semi-annual sale, I:

a) Cast on, knit and cast off a hat for my colleague’s new baby, using half the yarn I’m about to buy. The other half is for the matching booties, which I’ll start and finish when I get home.
b) Chat to the knitter behind me while I work a few rows of my Noro Striped Scarf; my basket has everything I planned to buy, so I don’t need to look at anything else.
c) Give in a little and pick up one extra skein of luscious Malabrigo...I deserve a little treat every once in a while.
d) Beg those still shopping to throw me a few skeins of this and that (“Any shade of purple, green or blue is fine!”) until I need another basket to hold all my purchases.
e) Have a full-on smack down with another knitter over the last two skeins of 50%-off Brand X yarn, even though I am an avowed Brand X hater. I mean, come on, it’s 50% off – I must have it!

5. Since I joined Ravelry:

a) Ravelry? Who has time for Ravelry, with all this knitting?
b) My knitting output has gone through the roof; I join every KAL I can find.
c) I’ve been knitting a lot more; it’s so easy to find new projects.
d) I’m slowly working on my queue; unfortunately, it’s a one-FO-forward, 50-patterns-added process.
e) I spend all my time on LSG; I haven’t knit anything in months.

Answer key: you don't really need one, do you? Ok, if you answered d) or e) to two or more of these, you have some strong pre-process knitter tendencies.

Welcome, and have a piece of cake. :-)

a) Process; b) Product; c) Neither

I've been meaning to write this post for a while now. Quite a long while, in fact. There's some irony to this, as you'll see if you stick around for the whole thing. (If you don't want to, no worries -- how about entering my comment contest instead?)

Many (if not most, or indeed, all) of you reading this will be familiar with the concept of process vs. product knitting. But for any Muggles who've wandered over here, I offer a brief primer...

Process knitters are, as you might guess from the term, all about the actual process of knitting: they enjoy learning new techniques and skills, the feel of the needles and yarn, and aren't particularly bothered about when (or even if) they complete their project. Many process knitters keep very few of their finished objects, instead gifting them to loved ones (who often fail to properly appreciate them...but that's another post altogether).

Product knitters, on the other hand, are all about the tangible results of the craft. They knit because they want that sweater, hat, stuffed animal or dishcloth -- not necessarily for themselves: many product knitters churn out charity teddy bears or baby blankets by the dozen -- and they want it a.s.a.p.

Process and product are pretty much two ends of a continuum, and I think it's generally agreed that most knitters fall somewhere in between the two extremes. Few process knitters have literally no interest in the final product, and the number of "pure" product knitters in this day and age must be tiny: it takes a special kind of masochism to knit without taking any pleasure at all in the process itself.

A Third Way

This is all pretty reasonable. Piggy, however, is not really known for being particularly reasonable. So allow me to nominate a third category to the spectrum of knitter types.

Because while I certainly enjoy the time I spend knitting, and celebrate each time I cast off a WIP (it doesn't happen often, as you might have noticed), neither the process nor the product are the most important part of my life as a knitter.

Because I am PRE-PROCESS KNITTER.

Yep. I'm all about the stuff that happens before the cast on: the hours of yarn fondling at the LYS, buying countless skeins without any specific pattern in mind -- just because they are beautiful; the evenings (and mornings, afternoons and late nights) spent on Ravelry, gazing at patterns, building up a ginormous queue of projects, the vast majority of which I will almost certainly never cast on; the every-growing collection of books on techniques I may try someday; and the the stitch-and-bitching, talking, blogging, reading and dreaming about knitting...with very little actual knitted fabric to show for it at the end of the day.

Skeptics might suggest that what this all boils down to is procrastination, rather than a true style of knitter. Bah! I say. It's true, Piggy could procrastinate for Canada; but I think it's more than that. Really. I enjoy the social aspect of knitting as much as the knitting itself or the end results. And I'm o.k. with that.

I'm sure there are more of you out there. Come join me in my campaign to acknowledge the knitting world's pre-processors! We have cake...

Keeping myself honest

Yarn Barf

You know what I'm talking about: a big ol' tangled mess coming from yarn with serious internal problems.

Piggy is particularly prone to tangles (this blog's subtitle is literal as well as figurative); temperamental skeins, hanks and balls of yarn seem to gravitate towards me. I have no idea why, as I'm certainly not cut out for the role of yarn medic; I have no patience for the tedious work of de-tangling.

If anything, I tend to feed the disease, rather than quell it: the yarn almost invariably becomes even more of a tangled clump -- and I turn darker shades of purple with frustration -- before I chuck the whole mess away.

So you can imagine my distress when late Sunday morning, when a skein of lovely Malabrigo Worsted in Pollen succumbed to the disease. Mmmmalabrigo, people!



On the table: about to make the critical cut.

It was a particularly advanced form, too: it had reached the projectile stage. Barfage everywhere.

I tried to save it all, honestly I did. But the clock was ticking (I had to grab a shower before heading out to meet MrsQ for some pre-Wrangler meet-up shopping), and the damage so severe that the only thing for it was surgical amputation. When all was said and done, a good five yards was left on the operating table.

Fortunately, I am occasionally willing to own up to my inadequacies and ask for help. So I gathered up the patient and transported it to the Grind for further treatment. The wonderful beentsy managed to save most of what was left; there are a couple of breaks, but the bulk of the 216 yards made it into a single ball.

I'm afraid I have no photos of this second operation, but after some time in recovery, I managed to transform the patient into a decent cake o' Mal, which is now leading a productive life as a Cabled Baby Hat in progress.



Post-recovery: the salvaged amputees, the cake & the WIP.

With any luck, the disease won't spread to the rest of the stash.

An interesting note: when typing up this post, I looked up "tangle" in the Thesaurus. (Piggy is just a tad anal about repetition, and didn't like two forms of the word in the first two sentences.) Interestingly, one of the suggested synonyms for "tangle" was "skein". Hmmmmmmm.....

Knitting & Crocheting in the News: Charity (and a CONTEST!)

In the last couple of days I've come across a couple of interesting -- and inspiring -- fibre-related stories on the interwebs...

Hip Hens

Volunteers across the U.K. have knitted up more than 1,500 jumpers for the Little Hen Rescue Centre in Norwich, England. That's right, sweaters for chickens. Now, Piggy's not generally in favour of non-human animals in knitwear -- mini-brained people shelling out big bucks on designer outfits for their mini dogs to be wheeled around in baby strollers really turn me off -- but I'm all for these chic chicks.

The charity buys battery hens who've outlived their peak fertility -- saving them from the slaughterhouse -- and finds them new homes. First, though, they need to get healthy, and grow back a full set of feathers. The sweaters -- which are more like bibs, and allow for the flapping of wings -- help keep the hens warm, which in turn helps promote feather-regrowth.

Check out a video about the charity and the sweaters here, and the pattern for a "Basic Chux Tux" here.

"Milk Bag Lady": Crochet for a Cause

A 69-year-old woman in Dunnville, Ontario is using strips of plastic milk bags to make sleeping mats and therapy teddy bears for people in developing countries.

Dianne Scott, who calls herself the "Milk Bag Lady", started the project in 2006, and now co-ordinates more than 70 teams of crocheters who transform the bags -- the outer bags that hold three pouches of milk inside -- into water- and pest-resistant mats and bears. She runs the still-nameless effort from her home, and works with other non-profits to distribute them to countries around the world.

Read more about it here.

Naughty Piggy

I'll admit right now that I've never done any charity knitting. And I'm starting to feel a wee bit guilty about it. I think it's about time I look for an organization to do a little knitting for. And it probably would be a little knitting -- let's be honest, my output is pretty small to begin with. But every little bit helps, right?

I'm also going to make a rather embarrassing confession: a few months ago, in a comment on the Harlot's blog, I committed to donate to Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders, as part of her amazing Knitters Without Borders campaign. I haven't done it. I could give you a litany of excuses, but really...they're all pretty much crap. Yes, I've not had the best few months, money-wise, but I could have spared a few bucks.

So I'm writing a cheque today. It won't be a huge one, by any means. But again, every little bit helps. I'll have a photo of it up here tomorrow. :-)

CONTEST!

How about you? Have you done any charity knitting or crocheting? How much time do you spend on it? How did you choose which organization to help out? Or do you contribute independent of an organized charity? Or are you like me, and haven't yet used your needles and hooks on a charitable project?

Leave me a comment below this post by the end of next week -- that's Friday, March 27th -- and I'll use one of those random number thingamajigs to select a winner, who will receive something nice from my stash AND a $25 donation to the (registered) charity of the winner's choice -- in her/his name, of course.

FO: Thermis

Yep, it's another neckwarmer. In an appropriate shade for St. Patrick's Day, no less.

This was knit for both Malabrigo March and my March Charms homework (Ravelry links). Nothing unusual about the former -- I joined several Malabrigo Junkies in the Thermis KAL. As for the latter...the Confundus charm is the theme for March...the assignment, to make something that you can't see the point of. I figured a warm woolly neckwarmer for a Vancouver March was a bit silly, especially since I already have several cowls.

Well...it's bloody freezing out there. And it's St. Patrick's Day. So a green, warm Thermis actually makes a lot of sense. Here's hoping my prof won't hold that against me.

Anyhoo. This was an enjoyable knit. I pretty much stuck to the pattern, despite several comments from fellow Junkies that the sizing was large. I like me a longish cowl, so the length wasn't an issue. I also like my cowls on the snug side, so I was a tad worried that the proscribed 112 stitches might be a tad high.

I needn't have worried; if anything, it's on the too-snug side. But I haven't blocked it yet, and I'm sure it will stretch a bit with wear, as well. (Not sure I should attempted to block it at this point, as I've already attached the buttons...think this is an issue?)

All buttoned up

And unbuttoned!

The biggest issue for me was which buttons to use. I wanted some wooden ones, but the only ones at my LYS at the moment are heart-shaped. Piggy's not really a heart-type gal. I bought two anyway, figuring I could switch them out later. Then I found these mother-of-pearl-type ones at a big box store I'm ashamed to admit I shop at occasionally.

What do you think? I'm still not sure about them.

Project Details:

Pattern: Thermis, by Kristen Patay. (Non-Rav link.) Size small/medium.

Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worsted, in Christmas Green.

Needles: 40cm/16in Addi Turbo, 4.0mm/US 6

Modifications: I cast off in pattern, rather than using the sewn cast off. Because I'm lazy, and because my threshold for sewing tolerance was met by the attaching of buttons.

A little bonus at the LYS today...(hot yarny actor ogling action!!!)

I've just returned home from Three Bags Full. Where I -- and a few of my fellow Wranglers, some of whom are sure to be blogging about this, too (that would be MrsQ and Plae, methinks) -- were doing what one does in a LYS, namely ogling and fondling yarn, when we spotted a rather attractive man buying several skeins of Green Mountain Spinnery (I'm pretty sure it was Mountain Mohair, in at least three shades that I noticed -- a blue, green and a kind of rusty-red...but I digress.)

At first, I just thought he was a nice-looking guy buying some nice-looking yarn. I wondered what his plans were for it -- colour work of some sort, I figured. Normally, I would ask. But something didn't feel quite right, so I held back.

Then Plae murmurs to me "You know who that is, right?"

And then it hit me. This guy was an actor. I knew I'd seen him before, but I couldn't place him.

"I think so," I whispered back, "but you'll have to confirm later."

Anyhoo, cute yarny guy chats with Francesca while she rings through his yarn..."I really love this yarn," he said. The guy knows the yarn.

We buy our stuff (more on that later), and leave the store (cute yarny guy was still there, waiting, I think, to have his yarn wound)...

We're all a bit giggly outside, when Plae tells us it's this guy:

Please, ABC, don't sue me

His name is Mark Valley. He's been on several shows I've never watched, most recently Fringe and Boston Legal. I, do however, remember him from Days of Our Lives about 10 years or so ago.

He looks just as good in person. Better, actually. And he's a yarny! Swoon. My google research tells me he's got a math degree (very helpful!) from West Point (gotta love a man in uniform). And he recently married his hot co-star in Fringe, Anna Torv. Maybe he's going to use the Mountain Mohair to knit something lovely for her?

So...of course we're all furious with ourselves for not Kinnearing him. But as MrsQ and I discussed on the drive home, it wouldn't have been easy to Kinnear him in a subtle fashion in such a small space, and it would have been totally inappropriate to disturb him in the sanctuary, the temple, the holy place that is the LYS.

Sigh.

Now that’s more like it!

A little while ago I blogged about breaking my yarn diet. As you may recall, I felt the fast was a failure on more than one level: sure, I cheated. But more importantly (and, it's true, more perversely) was the fact I didn't go on a full-on hedonistic bender.

Well, this week, I’ve redeemed myself. And it’s all elann’s fault.

I’m sure most of you are familiar with elann.com and their sales. They have one every Tuesday. These are publicized well in advance.

They also have fairly frequent special sales, often only advertised on their site the day before. Many of these are feeding frenzies reminiscent of the old Filene’s basement annual wedding dress sale, albeit – given the fact that elann sells exclusively online – with far less bloodshed.

These sales can be brutal. You need to train for them: constant reviewing of the “Sneak Peaks” section of elann’s website, to ensure you spot the announcement of the sale; followed by a perusal of the available colours (so often, we’re warned, “some colours are available in very limited quantities; shop early!”). Then it’s off to Ravelry for a reconnaissance mission that would make the Marines proud.

Because once the sale starts at 9 a.m. Pacific, the fibre flies. You need to get in, get the job done, and get out double-smart. If you delay, those 12 skeins of Boysenberry in your cart might well fall into enemy hands.

Seriously, people. If you don’t believe me, log on to one of these battles sometimes, hit “refresh” every few seconds, and watch the stocks fall. Just make sure you’re sitting down; it’s easy to get dizzy.

Anyhoo…yesterday morning the special was on Needful Yarns Cable Due cotton: 160 metres for $2.13 (that would be 175 yards for $1.68 for you south-of-the-border yarnies). In a ridiculous number of gorgeous colours.

Well, Piggy was unprepared. With all this yarn diet nonsense, I’d missed the past several weeks of morning yarny callisthenics, and was soft. And I missed the drop into the combat zone.

I turned up at 10:15. Most of the carnage had already been done. Glazed Carrot. Boysenberry. Driftwood. Surf. Cranberry. Denim. Tropical Sea. Salsa. Coconut. All gone. And several others were mortally wounded.

I managed to snag 10 balls of Alpine Violet (I’m thinking a summery top for Piggy), and five each of Lavender Frost and Lemonade (dresses for the little girls in my life?).

But that’s not all. Oh, no.

I went back in this morning and picked up another five balls of other colours. You know, for colour work on those dresses.

Damn you, elann.com!

(I love you.)

Seriously?

Catching up, part 2: Malabrigo swappity goodness

I forgot to mention this yesterday; just as well, since I've been working on a freelance project this weekend, and have nothing new to report.

So, I signed up for round 5 of the Malabrigo Swap on Ravelry. Resistance was futile: it's Malabrigo, people!

Here's what came in the first package:

Score!!!!! A dpn holder from marelle on etsy, and two tubs of Laura's Wholesome Junk Food -- vegan treats that taste like cookie dough. Best. stuff. ever. I was introduced to them by Cephalopodlover, my partner in the previous round of the swap. Can't get them up here, which is probably a good thing, really; they might be healthy junk food, but they pack a few calories.

The enclosed note simply said they were from my swap partner. I went back to the envelope to take a look at the return address ('cause you know I was going to do some reverse-stalking on Ravelry!)...Texas. 

Hmmmm...there was no-one in my group from Texas. Interesting. I figured out who must have sent it -- irunnaked was from the very town in Texas...but who was she working for? 

Soon enough, I found out. And when I saw the return address on the enormous padded envelope, I knew I was going to love the contents: it was from Michelle, who had spoiled me with not one but two packages in a Blue Sky Alpacas swap last summer.

Check out what she sent me this time:

But wait -- there's more...

Oh, and there's more...

And let's not forget the yarny, Mmmmmal goodness...

The colours here aren't quite right, but that's a skein of Silky in Hot Pink, and Sock in Violeta Africana...gorgeous!

And, the piece de resistance:

A gorgeous hand-knit neckwarmer in Geranio. Deeee-lish!

Thank you soooo much, Michelle! (And Jen, for your sneaky help!)

Catching up: LSG meetup and free stuff!

I'll apologize right up front for this post's higgeldy-piggeldy (pun fully intended) structure. I'm just going to cram everything from the last week or so into one post.

So...first up: last weekend's Vancouver LSG meet-up. For non-Ravelry members...well, sign up and take a look.  Anyhoo, a bunch of us Vancouver-area LSGers met up for a fantastic day of debauchery. 

We started off at Salt Spring Coffee Co. on Main, where we took over an entire corner and spent a few hours stitching and bitching...much raising of Muggle eyebrows ensued.

Round 1 was capped off with a yarn swap. The rules: bring stuff we were willing to trade with zero conditions; dump it all out on the table; free-for-all. Any disputes to be resolved by caged pudding wrestling.

Piggy needs to work on her reflexes -- I missed out on a couple of choice items. I did, however, score a few nice additions to the stash:

That would be a full skein of Fiddlesticks Lace in a yummy shade of teal, some sock yarn of unknown origin in mixed pinks, and that skein of superwash DK in a most Piggy pink. I also scooped up some grey wool of some sort that beentsy promised would "felt up like iron". I've somehow misplaced it, however, so no photo just yet. 

I unloaded a few things as well...but I'm too lazy to list them. Ravelers can go to my stash page if you're really interested. No reason you should be, though.

Then it was off to Three Bags Full, where Piggy was very restrained -- zero purchases! -- followed by a pit stop for lunch. En route, I took a very LSG photo:

Represent!

We wrapped up the day at Birkeland Bros., where most of us took advantage of some serious discounts on Fleece Artist & Handmaiden gorgeousness and generally made our presence felt. Pay a visit to MrsQuimby's for the evidence. 

Next up: more free stuff. Needles. And more needles. And even more needles. Oh, and a few crochet hooks and buttons, to boot. 

Last week a co-worker gave whengaiasmiles a huge bag of vintage needles owned by his late mother. We spent a lunch hour in the boardroom cataloguing them all, before staking our claims (the rest are up for grabs to our fellow Wranglers). Unfortunately, my computer ate the photos of the full collection, but here's what came home with me:

Those Aeros with the ivory-and-red tops (English size 9, which my needle gauge tells me is 3.75mm/US 5) totally reminded me of my mother's tin of old needles, so I grabbed a set. And the green ones -- well, who could resist green needles? 

But my favourites would have to be the super-duper "PERL-INOX-Tric" needles...

What with the finer, easy-gliding shaft and everything. 

FO: Flying Pig Patronus Cloth

Updates galore chez Piggy today!

I whipped up this dishcloth for my Defense Against the Dark Arts homework for February. The assignment: to make something relating to your patronus. I didn't bother taking one of the inummerable online quizzes: it was obvious what my patronus was. :-)




Project Details:

Pattern: Pigs Can Fly by Susan Mrenna (non-Ravelry link)
Yarn: Bernat Handicrafter Cotton, Rose Pink
Needles: 4.5mm/US7 Clover bamboo straights
Modifications: None
Start/Finish: Feb. 26/Feb. 27

FO: Mmmmal Swap Birthday Cowl

Yes, it's another Birthday Cowl. I can't rave about this pattern enough. It's a quick and ridiculously easy knit (seriously, it's simple enough for even Piggy to memorize in a flash) that looks lovely and uses less than a skein of Malabrigo Worsted. And -- the proverbial icing on the cupcake -- it's a freebie. What's not to love?

This is my second Birthday Cowl, and like the first, I gave it away. This one was for Adrienne, my spoilee in the Malabrigo Swap on Ravelry.

Apologies for the craptastic photo.

Because I needed to keep this project under wraps until the swap was completed, I also used it as my February Charms homework in the Harry Potter Knitting & Crochet House Cup -- the assignment was to use the Fidelius Charm.

Project Details:

Pattern: Birthday Cowl by Nova Seals

Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worsted, Christmas Green -- a little over half a skein

Needles: 5mm/US8, 16" Addi Turbos

Modifications: None!

Start/Finish: Feb. 17/Feb. 19


The next one is mine, all mine!

Piggy's back

Well, it hasn't been all that long, really -- less than two weeks -- but this has been the longest gap between posts since Piggy started blogging last summer. It's not that I have fewer things to blather on about -- my life hasn't been any less interesting than usual. Besides which, a dearth of exciting news hasn't exactly stopped me so far. (Quit nodding your heads and rolling your eyes!)

Two Saturdays ago I attended Northern Voice 2009 out at UBC. In fact, I was a panellist (it's ok to look shocked...I was surprised that my yarny friend Lauren, who is also an uber-geek and one of the conference organizers, asked me to take part), and spoke -- very briefly, to the relief of all concerned -- about "Where I live online". (I am, apparently, the only person on earth still on Plurk -- this will, no doubt, come as a surprise to all my Plurk pals.)

It was a great conference: excellent speakers (ahoy, Nora Young!), interesting discussions -- both inside the sessions and during the lunch and coffee breaks -- and a small (in the good-things-come-in-small-packages sense) group of about 300 friendly and engaging attendees, many of whom were Northern Voice first-timers. Several, in fact, non-geeks, as I am.

What I'm trying to get at here is that this was an inspiring day. Yet Piggy, who, as you may have gathered, has a rather familiar relationship with the proverbial half-empty glass, left Northern Voice with a fairly hefty case of self-doubt and skepticism. I felt like I was somehow different than everyone else there.

Consider the following:

1. I didn't live-blog or tweet the highlights of each panel; hell, I hadn't even brought my laptop, and my cell phone is a phone, full stop.

2. I don't have 1,000+ Twitter followers taking note of my daily output of profundities. And yes, as a matter of fact, I do tweet my dinner menu.

3. I found myself wanting to give Kirk LaPointe a big hug at the start of the session on how Twitter and the like are affecting journalism...and wanting to smack him by the end because I felt he didn't make a strong enough case for the role of professional journalists.

4. I'm not embarrassed to admit that I don't have a problem with the occasional meme.

5. Until Northern Voice, I'm pretty sure I'd never troubled myself with the issue of my "brand."

And there are countless more. But I don't want to bore you further.

I actually worried about this. For days.

But in the last day or so, I've gotten over myself. It's o.k. that this is "just" a knitting blog, (of rather unremarkable knitting, to boot) with the occasional (o.k., frequent) superficial diversions into politics, food, celebrity gossip or whatever.

I may not be at the cutting edge of this week's paradigm shift, but that's o.k.

See you tomorrow. With knitting. :-)