Friday, August 31, 2007

*squeals of glee*

My Secret Pal 11 pal sent me an E-card today. It was very sweet and cute and I was totally excited to get it. Then, I about wet my pants because she told me that she bought me a subscription to Interweave Knits!!!!!!

I shreiked and started dancin' about my office in a happy gleeful spazzy excited flailing dance :D

Thank you SOOOO MUCH, loverly pal o' mine! :)

(Did I mention the glee?)

Monday, August 27, 2007

Punk Rock Gift Exchange Questions

1. Why are you punk?

Because I married my ex-wife in a white dress and ten-hole doc martins. Because I got my 5 year old son a mohawk when he said he wanted a "cool" haircut. Because I am me and sometimes that means a leather corset and mini skirt with chains and zippers and sometimes that means a pink t-shirt and ruffly skorts.

2. What are your five favorite things? (these don't have to be knit related)

cheese
fiber
books
my son
my partner

3. What are your three favorite things that you have made with knitting/crochet?

A cabled purse (for a swap), a string market bag, a skull dishcloth for a friend.

4. What five things would you love to see in a swap box someday?

bamboo yarn
a swift
Andy Goldsworthy book
crystal palace circular needles
Grains of Paradise (spice)

5. What are your three favorite yarns? What are your three least favorite yarns?

Favorites: Joseph Galler Peruvian Alpaca tweed, Dark Horse Fantasy, Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande

Least Favorites: Red Heart (nothing against acrylics, but all theirs are icky!), Berroco Memoirs (allergic to mohair), anything that could even remotely be called "fun Fur" or "novelty" yarn :)

6. What are your five favorite delicacies?

Pizzelles, Beemster Classic and Xo cheese, a good, crusty sourdough bread, baklava, chicken tikka masala

7. What are your three favorite guilty pleasures?

Barry Manilow, Kraft Deli Select singles, Hillshire Farms Cheddarwurst sausages

8. What are the five things you look forward to every week?

Wednesday nights (the one night each week when I don't have my son and I have no obligations or plans with my partner...just ME time :P) . Wearing my Oscar the Grouch t-shirt to work on Fridays (I'm an office manager), and making time to knit and spin.

9. What do you collect?

yarn, fiber to spin, science fiction books, fabric, lizards/frogs/turtle stuff, cheese (lol), octopi stuff, dust bunnies kitchen gadgets and silverwear.

10. When is your birthday?

Feb 16, 1973. *starts humming "This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius" *

11. Do you have any wishlists?

Heck yeah :) I have a Wist! You can find it here http://www.wists.com/fragglefemme or use the link on the right.

12. What would you like your pal to know that is not covered here?

I don't drink coffee or tea. I don't eat chocolate. I'm allergic to mohair. I hate yellow anything. My Ravelry ID is Fragglefemme. My website is http://www.noodlegirl.com. I LOVE swaps and will adore anything you send :D

Monday, August 20, 2007

Picture pages!

Took a few pictures of some FOs and some recent yarny goodness that I hadn't posted on here, so...here you go!


I'm adding the strap to the string bag...almost done and then I shall have an awesome orange net bag for grocery shoppin' and the such! Yay :)



Finished one slipper at my garage sale this weekend. It's a TAD too long, but ah well...it's scrumptiously comfy. I don't even care about the mistakes...they're SLIPPERS for gosh sakes, lol. On to the next one now....no second slipper syndrome :P



A few more picot swirl dishcloths I've made...gosh, I love knitting this pattern :)



This is some great soybean yarn I got from a friend who was destashing! It's super soft, a woven hollow tube yarn and I just love the colors :)


Three skeins of scrumptious alpaca yarn from Blue Sky Alpaca. My swap pal sent this to me. I LOVE the colors and they're just all so soft :D


Manos!!!! TWO skeins my secret pal sent me...Delish, delightful, delovely :D




Okay, I saw this yarn at Michaels and I wanted to laugh. I wanted to make all kinds of jokes about vanna white yarn. But then, I touched it and it was so soft. Then, I saw all the wonderful colors it comes in. Then, I noticed it was 100% acrylic and was shocked because of the super soft texture. Then, somehow...these two skeins ended up in my shopping cart! :

I blame yarn elves :P


Yay for fiber :)

Thursday, August 16, 2007

*yawn*

No exciting pictures to share :( I've just been too busy to snap any! But I promise, there is crafty stuff happening behind the scenes...alllllll kinds o' crafty stuffs :)

I've been spinning some luscious merino for A Little Quacky. She offered up samples of her dyed fiber to any spinner who would spin it and send her pictures to put on her Etsy shop, so I volunteered :) It's slow going...I think I've discovered that I was right not to like to spin dyed roving...it always seems so much more...compacted and dense when I go to spin it. Ah well. It's beautiful stuff, orange and purple and cream. You'll have to trust me :P

Finished off a bunch more dishcloths and I actually got my sister to send me her new address, so I can send her the birthday goodie box with dishcloths and whatnot inside. yay.

My blocking wires for the elann shawl came a week ago. Broken in half : I kid you not! UPS came in with this tube all bent and twisted and looked at me and said, "I don't know what you want to do about this..." so I opened it and everything inside was all twisted and broken and bent and so I refused it. I'm not willing to wait another 3 weeks to get a replacement, so I just got my money back from the online vendor and I'll try blocking it with lots of pins and some fishing wire for the straight side. Wish me luck!

I've started knitting some slippers for myself using this pattern. I'll be leaving off the pompoms thankyouverymuch...but I like the basic shape enough and I needed some slippers quick because my feet have started getting cold at nights and cold feet = crampy feet and that's just no fun. I'm making them in grey acrylic and I've added picots on the top edge of the ankle just for fun :P

Of course, after I started making them, my partner decided SHE wants slippers too, lol. But I found a better pair for her....and now I want the loafer style ones too! Ah well. I can have two pairs of slippers :P

The drops ones are killing me, though....all seed stitch *twitch twitch*

Finished up my net bag, just need to put the handles on it...yay! Welcome to my crappy camera phone picture, lol. But but but! At least it's a picture, eh? It's also MUCH more vibrant orange than that, lol. It's super spiffy and I can't wait to carry groceries in it soon :)

In my non spinning and knitting world, I have cleaned off over half of my craft/sewing table and uncovered the sewing machine! Over the weekend, I made a skirt, altered another skirt that was too big and made some awesome flannel black with colored lizards pajama bottoms :D The PJ bottoms had been cut out for YEARS, just sitting in the sewing project pile and I am super excited to finally get them sewn up and in rotation.

Love me some flannel PJ bottoms. Love me some lizards. How can it be wrong?

Oh, and I still have no idea what I bought the Cathay yarn for :

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Secret Pal 11 questionnaire

Woohoo! On to the info to spoil me :)

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I am in love with all things alpaca! I also love wool, cotton, silk, bamboo, acrylic. I'm much more interested in texture and softness factor than what the yarn is made of. I want to try some yarns made out of corn and soy and stuff like that just for fun :)

Yarn I can't stand? Anything vaguely fun-furish, ribbony or scratchy, hard acrylic. I'm also allergic to mohair, so nothing with mohair please!

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
I store my needles in an over the door shoe rack :D It's inside my coat closet, which is right next to my fiber arts center :) I have one pocket for each size needle, with the extra pockets for cable needles, Knit Picks Options cables, etc. I only use circular needles, so they fit right in each pocket just perfectly :)

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I have been knitting for about two and a half years. I started knitting on looms, then added in needle knitting once I felt like it was something I wanted to take on. My grandmother had taught me to knit when I was young, so about 18 months ago, I just picked up some needles and said, "Now, how did this go again?" and never put them down :)

I would say I am an advanced beginner or intermediate knitter. So far, nothing makes me afraid; lace, cables, short rows, increasing/decreasing, different stitches all come fairly easily to me. I haven't tried any colorwork yet, nor entrelac, but those are on my list of to-dos :) I knit exclusively on circular needles, so circular knitting doesn't scare me in the least - I'm a big fan of the magic loop method.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
No Amazon, but I have a Wist, located at http://www.wists.com/fragglefemme/ You can also click the link to the right for my Wist page :)

5. What's your favorite scent?
I love citrus-y cents a lot, as well as jasmine, lavender, vanilla, apple. I do not care for spicy scents and I have an aversion to the smell of coffee and tea. I know, I'm bizarre :P

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
Of course I do :P I don't eat much chocolate, though, so I prefer things like swedish fish, sweet tarts, anything citrusy or something savory and cheesy like cheetos or cheese twist crackers. I LOVE rosemary crackers. or oooh! Beef or turkey jerky! I love Pemmican original or terriyaki beef jerky and Snackmasters originial turkey jerky! Yummmm....I never seem to buy myself Jerky, even though it's a favorite. Favorite cookies are palmiers or pizelles. I don't drink any coffee or tea. Yes, I know...no chocolate, coffee or tea...I'm obviously a mutant :)

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
Besides knitting, I do spin and I love it. I also sew, make beaded jewelry, dabble in weaving sticks and basket making and just do general crafty stuff whenever possible :) I want to re-learn tatting and crochet at some point, but I don't have time to do the stuff I do already!

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
Yes, to the MP3 question...all my music is on my computer, lol. I like the genre of music I refer to as "Chicks with guitars." Basically, Indigo Girls, Garbage, Ani DiFranco, Gina Young, etc. I also like most 80's alternative rock...Erasure, They Might Be Giants, B52s, INXS, stuff like that. I'm also a huge broadway musical soundtrack freak. My secret love is Barry Manilow and Cat Stevens music, lol. Recent artists I like are K.T. Tunstall, Scissor Sisters, Evanescence, Bowling for Soup, Gnarles Barkley. Basically, I like most anything except for Country, Heavy Metal and Rap :D

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?
I love orange. I love green. I love orange and green together. I love browns, rusty reds, deep purples, earth tones. I do not like yellow in any fashion, most blues (except some cobalt blue) and any pastels.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I have one 5 year old son, which I co-parent with my ex-wife. If the tater tot isn't at my house, my partner of 2 years probably is, although we do not live together on a full-time basis just yet :) No pets, as I can't have cats :(

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
Noooo ponchos. A poncho on a 5' 11" 230 lb woman who is heavily endowed in the chest area is just such a bad idea, it should be outlawed :) I have very broad shoulders, as well...so...no. Just say no. LOL. Scarves are nice, as are fingerless mittens or gloves. I am a computer geek, so I need my fingers to type all day. I like hats a lot, but I'm a bit picky about them.... I have curly fluffy red hair, so when I wear a hat, it squishes it all down and then I look silly. Therefore, the hat has to have some poof to it somehow...a brim, something to compensate for the bulk around my head that goes missing under the hat. Yes, I know I'm weird :P

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
I like knitting all sorts of things :) Bags, dishcloths, blankets, scarves, shawls, shrugs, toys. Booties are so fun and cute and instant gratification.

13. What are you knitting right now?
At the moment, I just finished a large shawl for my mother. I'm making a bunch of dishcloths for my sister's birthday present and a mesh grocery bag for my partner. I'm also stuck at the same place on a sock I've been for oh...3-4 months now :) I'm about to cast on for a shrug :)

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
But of course, I'm no fool :P

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
I knit only on circular needles. Bamboo is my needle of choice, but I also really like the Knit Picks Options needles. I have size 4 and 5 in them thus far, as well as some size 2 Knit Picks classic circulars that I'm using for the great sock knitting experiment. I'm working on getting more Crystal Palace bamboo circulars...I just love the needles...and the cable join pivots, so the cables will always lay where I want them to go! I only have size 8 and 9 right now in a few different cable lengths....they're just so spendy! But they are my favorites... *drool*

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
Have a winder and have been drooling over the swift that I want... http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=6165919

17. How old is your oldest UFO?
A little over a year. A purse for my sister's wedding present. Her one year anniversary was in June :

18. What is your favorite holiday?
Halloween. Mostly for the season and time of year. I'm not a person who dresses up or decorates my house to excess for any holiday.

19. Is there anything that you collect?
I collect yarn and knitting patterns :D Oh, besides that...well, I have several hundred books...mostly Sci Fi, children's books and cookbooks...my kitchen is decorate in pears. I used to collect Wizard of Oz stuff, but not so much anymore, although I have a Oz tattoo on my right thigh...I think I have it all, lol. I collect lizard, frog and turtle stuff...I have a lizard tattoo on my right ankle and several lizard knicknacks around my house.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
I want some more Patons Rumor yarn something fierce! The green stuff, I think it's called Fern Heather....besides that, I am always in love with alpaca yarn :) I want some cotonade yarn in colors Spruce, Lipstick, Nutmeg, moss, chocolate or plum. I would LOVE to try some sea silk in color Forest or Mineral. I have been drooling over Inca Cotton in color Oz for quite some time and I need another skein to make a top I want... I also adore Colinette Tao 100% silk in shade Madras 153, Colinette Jitterbug 100% merino in shade Sahara 135, Prism Lotus (wool, bamboo, silk blend) in color Highlands, Muench Touch Me in any earthy color, Malabrigo and Manos de Uruguay in anything earthy and Trendsetter Blossom # 106.

Can you tell I have a thing for yarn?!

I would like some Crystal Palace circular bamboo needles in any size other than 8 or 9 (5, 6, 7, 10, 10 1/2, 11, 12) and I'm always in the market for some more Knit Picks needle tips in sizes other than 4 or 5, as well as more cables (I'd like a 40").

I don't have any knitting magazine subscriptions, but I would certainly like to get Interweave Knits one of these days. Until I do, I just read them at the library and copy any patterns I want at work on the copy machine :) I also like Knit 1, Spin-Off, and Knitscene.

Specific patterns I've been wanting are on my Wist :D

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
I want to start playing with double knitting and colorwork. I also want to learn how to Navajo ply on my spinning wheel.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
Well, does casting on about 8 times, knitting a few rounds then ripping it out in increasing frustration...make me a sock knitter? I thought not. I'm trying! Really, I am! I am now up to my instep, but the toe is so large, I could fit both my feet in it, lol. I've re-cast on with different yarn and different needles and am trying a cuff-down sock at this point, but I've stopped right before the heel, because the ankle seems too big. Might need to frog again :(

My foot measurements are: 10 1/2 inches long, 9 3/4 inches around at ball of foot. I wear a size 10 wide or 11 regular shoe, depending on the manufacturer.

I also have a very big head, lol... 23 1/2 inches or 60 cm around. What can I say, I'm of swedish decent and I'm just all around big :D

23. When is your birthday?
February 16, 1973.

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what's your ID?
Yes indeedy :) I'm fragglefemme on Ravelry!