the actual signage

I promised I would show proof of my backside being signed by The Yarn Harlot, and here it is! This photo is courtesy of Kathleen, who graciously agreed to let me post it for all to see.

A week or so ago, Kerin delivered Flat Judy to me. I mean to have it laminated, but I haven’t had time to do that yet.
On Tuesday, #1 Son decided to move his computer from his room in my house to his room in his house, where it will be decidedly more convenient to use. He also asked if he could have the old router that I’m not using any more, because it’s better than the one he has. And I’m fine with that because I hate to see old stuff go to waste.

Tuesday night I came home late to find unmistakable signs that #1 Son had been there (a half-finished pot of coffee, etc.). And I found Flat Judy with old random computer parts piled on it, right where Stephanie signed it!

We are not amused.

I have rescued it and stored it safely away from too much abuse and I will get it laminated as soon as possible. (Query to my gentle readers: does Kinkos laminate? Or where is a good place to have that done - prefer PDX metro west side.)

The Harlot signed my backside

You can see that not too much damage was done. There’s the signature in all it’s glory.

How many people can say their backsides have been signed by a Harlot. I know… I’m easily amused.

I have started a pair of toe-up Monkeys using the Blue Moon Knitters Without Borders colorway. I really like the way that this is knitting up. I have seen a couple of other pairs of socks in the same yarn, and it’s funny what a difference gauge can make. All of use are getting totally different results.

I really like the way that the white strip on my socks is really narrow and really pops against the darker colors. It’s easier to see on the sole side, but try to imagine it.

Last night I acquired a new offering from Sharon of Stitch Jones. That link is to her new shop, which is almost ready for prime time. In the mean time, head over to her Etsy shop and check out some of the new colorways. Yum!

Tangle knitters

Here in the Portland area we have an almost embarrassing number of local yarn shops. We knitters here are very lucky. And the shops are very diverse. There’s one to suit the mood of every fiber junky, whether looking for the trendy and hip or the classic and elegant. It’s all here. And most of it is available via mass transit.

But there are so many, and new ones spring up at regular intervals. So, while sad, it’s not too surprising to hear now and then that one will be closing. Except one never thinks that it will be one’s favorite yarn shop. It’s always the one that you didn’t go to all that much, you know.

But today… it was my favorite. Tangle will close on June 14th. I am so sad.

I have been hanging around Tangle almost since it opened. When I first came back to knitting and realized that there were places that sold only yarn, and it was good yarn, and I didn’t need to buy my yarn at Michael’s. And I could wander in to this amazing yarn store and just breath yarn fumes and sit and knit and chat and be amongst my people. And Alice didn’t even mind! At Tangle, I met women of every age and every shape and size and color and knitting ability. And every one is a treasure that I am so much richer for knowing.

Judy’s Magic Cast On was born in my family room, but it was refined at Tangle. I can remember some of the conversations that took place:
Me: Is this something that’s cool?
Knit Buds: Yes! You should publish it.
Me: Really? Do you think anyone would really be interested?
Knit Buds: YES! Publish it! NOW!
Me: OK

Without the downright insistence gentle nudge from my Tangle Knit Buds, JMCO would still be just that thing that only I know how to do when I start the toes of socks.

At Tangle, with Alice’s encouragement I learned to teach knitting. My first sock class was such a disaster, and my long-suffering students so understanding and so patient. I think I learned as much or more from them. (I made exactly zero on that first class because I had to keep reprinting my handout. It was full of errors.)

On Thursday nights it doesn’t matter if I am early or late or tired or happy or whatever. I am welcomed into the circle, and if there isn’t an empty chair one is found, and a glass of wine is poured, and everyone asks how my socks are coming along, and I feel myself relax as I pick up my needles. And we chat and laugh together, and sometimes cry together, and before I know it it’s time to go home.

Between the lime green walls, nestled in the yarn cubbies, amongst the knitting circle chairs, around the finicky swift… Tangle holds my heart.

Salish Sea Socks

I have finished the Salish Sea Socks. This pattern was part of the 2007 Rockin’ Sock Club. I don’t know when, or if, it will be made available to the general sock-knitting public.

I had a lot of fun with this pattern and only wish that I hadn’t gotten distracted (oooh… shiny…) and let them languish for so long.

As is her wont, Cat has come up with a brilliant pattern. I really love the way that the gusset increases are hidden inside the wavy pattern on the foot. And the traveling garter-stitch rib on the ankle was a fun knit. I actually behaved myself and followed Cat’s instructions - with one change. I modified the heel turn to use the math from the smallest size given in the pattern. I paired that with the gusset increases that were called for by my actual size. Et voilà - a sock that fits my skinny heel. I still sort of prefer my own heel turn to Cat’s, but this worked pretty well and I’m always glad to learn new techniques to add to my repertoire.

Today the sun is shining, but I have the feeling that the cold has not completely loosened its grasp on the Northwest. I will probably get to wear these a time or two before it’s time to close up the sock drawer for the summer.

By the way, if you haven’t there recently, go over to the Blue Moon welcome page. I don’t know how long it will be up there, but right now the picture shows the PDX Knit Bloggers at the Yarn Harlot event. And there’s Flat Judy right in front.

The Knitters Without Borders colorway is now available on the Blue Moon site. $3 from each skein purchased goes directly to Doctors Without Borders.

The pictures of this colorway in the skein do not do it justice. I’ve already cast on toes, and I’ll have a pic soon. Until then, go over to FiberQat’s blog to see how wonderful it looks on her needles. Then go buy some. You know you want to.

The Particulars:

• Yarn: Blue Moon Socks That Rock Medium (100% superwash merino / 5.5oz, 380yds per skein); one skein of Bella Coola with a goodly bit left over
• Needles: a pair of Addi Lace 24″ circulars, US#2
• Pattern: Salish Sea Socks by Cat Bordhi - one of the 2007 Rockin’ Sock Club offerings
• Modifications: I followed the pattern pretty much as written. The only change was to use the heel width from the smallest size with the heel height from the size I was knitting otherwise. I tweaked the number of wing stitches accordingly.

Four years ago I asked What Do I Do With A Blog? in a little box in some software called Movable Type, and then clicked a button labeled Publish. In some ways I am still asking that question.

Four years ago I was a geeky, single, working mom with a teenage son who was deep in the long dark night of the soul called adolescence. One day I told my brother that I was interested in blogging software and thought I’d start one to play with. Bro replied, You know, if you start a blog you have to write in it all the time at regular intervals. You’ll never keep it going.

Ha! to you, Bro.

Four years ago, I had no particular thing I blogged about regularly. I just wrote whatever came into my head. I toyed with political blogging for awhile, but that took too much time to research and too many were already way better than I could ever hope to be. I toyed with techie blogging with much the same result. I wasn’t all that surprised that I had few visitors. But hit count had never seemed the point of it all to me, anyway.

Three-and-a-half years ago #1 Son became the proud possessor of a learner’s permit. And I picked up a set of DPNs and some rather hideous yarn and started knitting a pair of socks. I started writing about my knitting. Something clicked. And, seemingly overnight, I found myself in the wonderful world of knitting that is found online, and in my local yarn shops, and at fiber festivals and yarn festivals, and everywhere I go.

Some things have changed, some have not. I am still geeky, still single, still working. The blog is now powered by WordPress, which I hack on a regular basis to beat it into submission. #1 Son is still a teenager, for a few short months more. But he has (mostly) escaped the Borg and come back into the light to be revealed as a young man I can be, and am, very proud of. I have wonderful friends all over the world. And Knit Buds and PDX Knit Bloggers. And I have you, gentle reader, to chat with. And we are all bound together by little strands of fiber.

I’m going to keep typing at semi-regular intervals until my fingers fall off.

Salish Sea Socks

I did managed to get a bit of knitting in this weekend, in and amongst other things that vied for my limited attention span.

I have made the Salish Sea Socks (Cat Bordhi’s brilliant pattern) longer in the feet and re-knit the heels. I used the instructions for the narrowest heel (more or less), and they fit my foot reasonably well. I am pleased. There is the requisite pooling of colors over the instep. But somehow I don’t mind it at all in this yarn. It sort of fits in with the watery theme.

I have about an inch or so completed on the legs. There’s nothing tricksy about this stitch pattern and it’s easy to memorize, so I think I should have these completed within the next couple of days, provided I can get some decent knitting time in.

And then… what will be next, she pondered? There are the two skeins I wound before going out of town last week — Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in Pioneer and Blue Moon Socks That Rock lightweight in Pirates Booty — and they are calling my name.

But this weekend, I also picked up from Bobbie what you see in the second picture.

Things I Learned From Knitting

There was a signed copy of Stephanie’s new book, Things I Learned From Knitting (Whether I Wanted To or Not)

And there was a skein of a special Blue Moon STR colorway called Knitters Without Borders. Proceeds from the sales of the books and the yarn went to Tricoteuses Sans Frontières (Knitters Without Borders).

Now, I realized it’s a leap of faith to ask someone to buy yarn for you, sight unseen. I mean… it could have been, well… pink or something. I figured that best case I’d like it, and worst case it all went to a worthy cause and I could have a contest or something because someone out there amongst my gentle readers would like it.

Gentle reader… you can’t have it. Or at least you can’t have this skein. I’m not usually taken with multi-colored yarn that has a lot of white in it. But I am making a big, big exception for this yarn. I love it. And the more I look at it, the more I love it. And I’m already plotting what it will turn into. Stay tuned.

You can’t have my skein, but I understand that it will be available directly from Blue Moon in the not too distant future. So keep checking back with them. And you can have your own skein.