Strings & Yarn

A few weeks ago we had our Monday night knitting group at the Eugene Textile Center instead of Market of Choice. Now I’ve been going regularly to Monday night knitting since I started working full time (January ‘07), and it has become a necessary part of my routine (I would say it’s up there with drinking coffee in the morning). I feel weird if I haven’t got to a knitting group for awhile. The company and the advice I get from these fellow comrades in fiber is invaluable.

I’m not talking about just the the fiber advice. I have formed some great friendships with the women at knitting. We all have decided that knitting would be a major part of our lives, and naturally I connect with people who have similar priorities.

Knitting groups also are a great mix of people; different ages, different stages of life, different experiences, different knitting levels.  We are mostly women in this particular group, but we do have an occasional man join us.

It was extra special to be in a different place and get to see the new Eugene Textile Center.  I missed the grand opening the weekend after this, but I heard it was a great party.  Getting a new business that pushes fiber is always welcome in my mind, and I made sure to get a few pictures to share with you on the blog.

Since I don’t weave, there are a lot of things in here that I won’t be using, but the spinning fiber and dye space is wonderful. The space is centered around education and classes (pdf) in order to spread all the fibery goodness.

They had a large grand opening party and a good article in the Register Guard. I am excited about having another great local resource. If you are heading towards Eugene (Black Sheep Gathering is coming up!), make sure to put this on your visit list.

I finished the Bayerische Socks yesterday and it looks like val of abehap is going to get to keep her $50. I had to rip back and put in contrasting toes.

The second sock also has some visible lines where I changed balls of yarn. Apparently they were just slightly different shades of green. Oh well, you knit and learn. I’m still very happy with how they feel and fit. The smaller stitches and gauge did wonders for this fabric, and I hope they last longer because of it.  I will definitely be using my size 0 needles again for socks.

I was a little worried for awhile that I wasn’t going to finish this months challenge. Since I successfully finished, I have now done one pair of socks for the past seven months. The whole process has been overall very rewarding, and I’m looking forward to having 12 months of socks finished in the end.

So it got me thinking about setting longer goals with my knitting. Maybe once this is finished I set a number of sweaters I want to finish in a year or a number of skeins spun per year. I usually only think from one project to the next.  The challenge has gotten me thinking about my projects in terms of a years length of time. I think that having a future goal has worked wonders for my knitting due to having a group goal.  Something about having some guidelines, knowing that I am knitting along with many other knitters and having a definite due date has kept me knitting.  Or maybe it’s just the possibility of prizes. 

Are any of you out there participating in the Sock Knitter Anonymous Sock Down challenge? Do you give yourself goals to meet? Would anyone else be interested in trying to set some goals as a group?

I also wanted to let you all know that I’ve been working on a big update of my etsy shop.  As always, thank you for your continued support!

I just managed to finish my first sock for the February part of SKA. They are Bayerische Socks (ravelry link) by Eunny Jang. (Yes I know it is no longer February, and that March’s end is looming in the near future. It’s a good thing I have spring break, because I’m going to have to do some intense knitting to get these done before the end of March and get my next pair cast on.)  I’m so happy with the results that I may even wear only one sock around tomorrow.  Having one leg means that is an acceptable practice.  Haha!

I love how they feel. Since they were knit on size 0 needles and have tons of small cables, the fabric has this wonderfully dense and comfortable fit. Unfortunately that means that they are yarn guzzlers, and I was a little worried I wouldn’t have enough yarn. I decided to weigh the sock and the yarn I have left to see what I was in for.

I weighed the sock first. Phew!! It looks close, but I should have enough. Let’s check the yarn just in case.

Rio de la Plata yarn in Seaweed.

By the skin of my teeth! Why do I have three balls of yarn you ask? Well, this ball had issues from the beginning. When on the swift, strands that weren’t supposed to be cut got cut, leading to more ends. It ended up sitting in time out (not even with the rest of the stash. This yarn had to sit out in it’s own bag in isolation) for six months or so, until I started these socks and this yarn was screaming to be knit. Not including our first skirmish this yarn has been great to work with, and the color is beautiful.

I won’t be weaving in my ends at the toes until these are finished. Just in case I need to rip back and make contrasting toes on both socks. Here’s to extreme knitting!

Things have been warming up around here, and spring is just around the corner. Starting in February, we finally get a reminder that sun does exist behind all those clouds in the Northwest, and that it will stop raining someday. The few glorious days are enough to start the spring fever, big time.

I started in the garden much sooner this year, knowing a little bit more about than last year. For instance, instead of putting strawberries in starter pots inside, I put them outside right away. Anthony and I cleared out a bed of iris bulbs mid February and I planted the strawberries in their place. A much better use for the soil if you ask me.

The strawberries are thriving well, sending out new leaves, and I’ve even found a few buds. They live right under our bedroom window, which I try to look out at them and check on their progress often. Can you tell that I’m excited about our first harvest? The strawberries are tristar ever-bearing strawberries. They should produce a heavy crop in spring and then continue slowly over the summer. They should also last for many years to come, and produce new plants to replace the old.

Since today was a nice enough day to get outside and work in the yard we also did quite a bit of digging.

I leave all plant destruction to Anthony. So while I was planting our seed starts for the summer (tomatoes, cauliflower, okra, peppers, artichokes, and several herbs) Anthony worked away at clearing out beds. We have slowly been working on turning our yard into our vision instead of that of the previous owner. The back bed is destined to become home to plants I can use as natural dyes and some herbs. The dark bed received new seeds today including sugar snap peas, mesclun, kolrabi, golden beets and bok choy. That was my only vegetable bed last year, but this year we should be making at least one more.

Plus, some of the perennials from last year are starting to show.

Asparagus peeking out to say hello.

The Madder plant is also showing new growth.

Newly transplanted Rosemary that I started from seed last year.

Obviously we have some big plans for the yard this year. As I start planning out where I want things to go and what I want to include, I try to keep my garden theme in mind; The Imagination Garden. Most of all I want our yard to be somewhere I can go to retreat from the world, to divine inspiration and to help us lead more sustainable lives. Now for the hard part, waiting for everything to grow! Do you have any garden plans for this year?

My Grandma’s birthday is on Valentines day. This year was no small birthday either, she turned 80. I knew that a trip to Las Vegas had been planned for her birthday, and I knew that my parents were going to surprise her by showing up on the trip.  Since I wasn’t going to make it out to Las Vegas for the trip, I couldn’t let the occasion pass without sending her something hand knit and hand crafted.

My Grandma and I in front of Village Wools in Albuquerque, NM.

Before my Grandma moved to Albuquerque to be closer to her family, I remember being so excited whenever she flew in to visit. She was sure to bring a few goodies in her carry on and her visits always made me feel special.

Then she moved to Albuquerque and it felt great to have another family member in town.   My family is scattered all over the west, I didn’t grow up with grandparents, cousins or aunts and uncles near by.  Her close proximity proved to be incredibly important when I was diagnosed with cancer. As soon as I started feeling better after each chemo therapy treatment she would be sure to bring me my favorite first meal. Egg Drop Soup from Ko Palace, the Chinese restaurant down the street. It always helped me feel stronger and more importantly, ready to eat more substantial food.

My parents moved to Colorado the same year I went to Northern Arizona University for my degree, but staying at Grandma’s as I went through town became essential. It was wonderful for us to have that time together, her all to myself.

I needed to pick something very special to knit her for her 80th birthday. I had red sock yarn and originally had thought socks would be the best thing to make. However, I couldn’t remember seeing my grandma wear socks. Slippers yes, nylons yes, but socks? If she did, they were short and thin, not really something special to knit. Plus, I knew whatever I made her, she would want to show off. I couldn’t imagine her showing off the short anklets she would usually wear.

That’s when I decided on a lace scarf. Something delicate, soft, slightly elegant, but could be worn whenever the inspiration came.

• Pattern: Strangling Vine Lace Scarf by Nicole Hindes (Ravelry links)
• Needles: Knitpicks Options - Size US 6
• Yarn: Knitpicks Essential Sock in Burgundy - 2 skeins
• Started: January 2008
• Finished: February 5th 2008

I was actually extremely monogamous with this knit. Mostly because I was pressed for time. However, it really reminded me that if I had less on the needles I would feel like I got a lot more accomplished.

Even though I started it in January, this may be the only thing for Project Spectrum that I get done for Fire. However, it is my small contribution to the many wonderful PS projects that are being done. If you haven’t yet, check out the Flickr group to see what people are doing.

When deciding what to knit, I tried to imagine my Grandma wearing it and showing her friends. This scarf, the lace, the color all matched my mental image perfectly. Now I just need to get out and visit again so that I can see her in it.

I don’t know if it’s spring, but I’ve been feeling the need to clean up, re-prioritize and reorganize. I am ready to shake off those winter doldrums and air out the house, the blog, and me. Here are some of the things I want to work on freshening up.

My violin. Since I stopped school, I’ve taken a long break from playing. I’ve done a few gigs here and there, and I’ve learned one movement of one sonata. It’s been well over a year since I’ve had lessons, but one movement! That’s nothing. So I’m hoping to order a few new concertos to start looking over and working up my chops again. I miss the mental challenge of playing regularly and vigorously.

My garden. This is just a general spring sort of thing. I’m ready to go to work and get some serious revitalization in our back yard. We live on almost 1/4 of an acre and most of it is in the backyard. We have some big plans this year, including converting a large portion of the lawn into raised beds for more veggie space. Plus I’m planning an area that will be dedicated to plants for natural dyes.

My blog. This one isn’t a huge overhaul, but a little sprucing up. I’m hoping to fix some of the old broken links from when my blog had a different url. But most of the refreshing will be in the content. I’m hoping to make my posts more personal, more thought-out, and hopefully more meaningful.

My house. I constantly feel like I’m learning how to keep our house cleaner and more clutter-free. I am a clutter bug and have pack rat tendencies. I have piles of stuff (paper, mail, knitting, books) that seem to spread everywhere. I’m hoping to make simple things like vacuuming and dusting a more regular part of my life.  Plus we have several house projects that have been left to languish.  After we first moved in, we did so much work that both Anthony and I needed a break.  We are now feeling ready to finish up some of the projects we started and start some of the things we have dreamed up.

Time will tell how much I accomplish this year, but just putting it out into the world feels like a good first step.