The Haul

These are my lovelies that I bought at Southwind Farms. Sadly, I don't know which alpaca's fleece this came from, unlike Marissa and her pedigreed yarn.

I just cannot say enough about how wonderful our visit to Southwind Farms was, love those alpacas! Penny and Jim Mullen are wonderful, warm people.



And this is my Webs haul...Cascade Pastaza for the Cozy V-Neck sweater from Fitted Knits.

Tahki Ghost Prints for Urchin.

And a sweater's worth of Stockbridge from Valley Yarns in light grey to make the Cable Luxe Sweater.

I am off to Carson City, NV for Thanksgiving. Everybody have a happy and safe holiday!

Are We There Yet?

This weekend, Regina, Marissa, Rhonda, Sherry and I headed up to New England for our own fiberfest. I was first introduced to Webs at Stitches two years ago, imagine my surprise when I learned that they were only an hour away from my parents home in Connecticut. All of that yarn, so close, and I never knew?

A road trip to Webs became a frequent subject of conversation during knitting get-togethers. This weekend, we finally loaded up a rented mini-van and hit the road. Most of the baggage going up were WIPs...there was a whole lot of knitting going on in that van. My "So Called Scarf" is finally making some progress and hit a real growth spurt.

Yes, this is Marissa actually skipping with glee across the Web's parking lot.
And a sweet gentleman in a nifty granny square sweater, who brought his wife to the yarn Mecca; we heard no grumbling. Hmmmm....do we think that Flint, Robert or Mike may mellow like that with age?Everyone was incredibly well behaved. There was no pushing or shoving to get to the yarn. No one fibbed about how a color would look on someone else so they could score that colorway. We all played nicely in the yarn-box of Webs and left with lots of goodies. I'll detail my score later.

While in Northampton we stopped in at Northampton Wools and checked out all of their goodies. We chatted up some very friendly people there. Sherry was even giving spinning pointers and doing her very best enabling. Marissa scored some Jitterbug that was later spotted on the mini-van's dashboard having elicit sex with the yummy tweed she bought at Webs.

This gem of a bumper sticker was spotted on our way back to the mini-van. I think I could live in Northampton.

Today, on our way back to Philly we stopped at Southwind Farms in Watertown, CT and indulged in some mad alpaca love.

At first they were very shy with us, but warmed up as their curiosity grew stronger. The fleeces were incredibly dense and so soft.

Alpacas are incredibly bright animals. In some ways they reminded us of cats...for the most part they knew their names, but would choose to ignore you anyway. They are also very clean animals and not at all barnyard stinky. It was lovely to see the close bond between the alpacas and the farm's owner, Jim.

I loved the handlebar mustache on this gal, just like my dad's. We were told she is a bit ornery and quite a spitter. She was very well-behaved with us, despite Marissa smooching it up with her baby boy.

This adorable little guy is six-weeks old and a future champion alpaca. Watching him bounce and gamble about the enclosure was so much fun.

Lots of soft, lovely alpaca yarn came home with us. Southwind Farms has a nice selection of yarn from their alpacas. A huge thank you to Jim and Penny Mullen for opening the farm so that we could come and visit their herd! If you are wandering through western Connecticut, give them a call and go visit. I cannot recommend them enough.

Another huge thank you to my mom and step-father, Ed, for hosting us this weekend! It meant a lot to me to have my friends meet my parents and have my parents get to know my dear friends.

Tag-Team Quilting

I am a bit of a control freak, particularly when it comes to my quilts. I have very definite ideas about fabrics, straight lines, and how many stitches to the inch are in my quilting ( there are a lot BTW.)

Then along comes my wonderful friend Marissa with her, and I quote, "lackadaisical and creative" artistic nature. I fell in love with the quilt she made for another friend's adopted baby. And thought hmmmmm....maybe I could use a little loosening up?

Our adorable mutual friend here, I get to show you the reveal!

All the knitting glitteratti gathered at Rosie's to celebrate Flippy's imminent arrival. There was champagne, cupcakes and chocolate cake! Yum! A grand time was had by all and some of us even did a little knitting.

Marissa and I were both very happy with our tag-team quilt. But the expression on Courtney's face when she unwrapped it was the best. Mariss and I are hoping that this becomes the future security blanket, you know, the one that secretly gets packed when Flippy goes off to college.

My quilting mojo may be making a return. Thank heavens, because I have several quilts that need to be finished. How could that be, you might ask?

These eensy tiny baby mittens were knit by Emily. As Kate would say, "they are so stinkin' cute!"

Sock Model Wanted...

...must be size seven shoe, with slender, shapely ankles. Own supply of adorable shoes to wear with my socks is highly desirable.

Yup, I have come to the conclusion that I can knit lovely socks, but I cannot model them. There is a huge degree of photo envy here. All those pictures on Ravelry and Flickr of beautiful socks in funky maryjanes leave me in the pit of dispair. I used to blame it on the awkward angles and bad backgrounds when I took the pictures myself. Now the truth is glaringly obvious. I had friends at knitting circle photograph my socks on my feet. This was the best shot...ouch.

My mummy used to tell me that my feet looked like some little old Chinese lady had bound them at birth. The only person that ever praised them was my ballet teacher, who said I had the best natural pointe. Unfortunately, add to that high arch and instep, ankles that have been sprained multiple times and finished with a nasty break, and you have a sock modeling disaster.

The socks are lovely on their own. It is the Monkey pattern; knit from Black Bunny Fibers merino.

From Beast to Beauty

Lady Eleanor was the beauty of the ball, erh...Harvest Festival at 1st Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. I am happy to say that she sold for $300 in the silent auction today! A lot of my items were sold today which makes me extremely pleased.

I have had a problem for a while with the general concept that because it is a church event that hand-made things should all be sold on the cheap. Come on guys this is a fundraiser for charity! Cough up the bucks! There are still plenty of items there, that are the cheesy craft things and oodles of novelty scarves all for those that only want to pay $10 max for any thing. Some of the older women doubted that my things would sell at higher prices. Ppphhhht (raspberry sound) they were wrong! There are people out there willing to pay the proper price for hand-made goods.

So it was a fun day despite the torrential downpours. My stash of finished pieces has been diminished, money has been raised for children's charities in Philadelphia and I have a nice little tax deduction.

Simpsonized

Oh my goodness, Artemis and I have been Simpsonized. Don't we look smashing?

Blocking the Beast

Well, I finally stopped procrastinating and blocked the beast. I gave Lady Eleanor a good soaking in Euclan in the kitchen sink and popped her in the washer for a good spin. That much wet wool weighs a ton.

Just for this event I invested in blocking wires. It was a good thing. This would have taken every pin in my possession. I think this incredibly tedious task would have gone even better if both cats had not found it so fascinating.

Now onto the fringing! There is hope too that my first Lady E. will now get finished...

Caution! Under Construction

Well, here at Chez Lisa, we are under construction. It's the morning of day three and my head is splitting from the noise of saws, drills and hammers.

It is however all going to be worth it. The leak that has plagued my condo from the date of purchase has finally been located and is being fixed. I am also getting a new door frame to the soon to be rebuilt deck and a new screendoor. Its costing a bundle, but if it eliminates all the stress I carry with me every time it rains heavily or walk into the kitchen and see the huge honking hole in the ceiling over the sink, it will be worth it.

Also underconstruction are a bunch of hats for new-borns.

These are knit from Koigu mill ends and are a mini version of the "James Dean Hat" from Rosie's. Thanks to Courtney's Max for the fabulous idea! The hats I am knitting are going up for sale at a charity fundraiser at the end of the month.

September and October has seen a lot of charity knitting. I am waiting to block Lady E for the same fundraiser above. And then there were the vests for afghans for Afghans.

Stash busting for charity has felt great. And addictive, I have more of the alpaca above, waiting to be another sweater for an Afghan child. I hope they keep some kids toasty warm! Thanks to Allison (Ravelry link) for organizing the drive on Ravelry. Some members knit a truly impressive number of sweaters, mittens, hats and socks.

Now I need to get moving on the Christmas knitting!

Making up

Pomotomus and I have put our differences aside. Our friendship has been resumed and I've cast on the second sock. All we needed was a little time apart to adjust our perspective.

Cleaning Up the WIP

I have been inspired by all of the projects that Mariss is finishing. And think it is time for me to get with the program.

Finishing is not part of my genetic make-up. My mother makes beautiful clothing and taught me to sew. But, if you go through our closets you will find a ton of safety pins...all in the waist bands of trousers and skirts. Now that I think about it, is it a problem with finishing or a problem with closure?

Whatever?!?

Two berets are finished and blocked. (Big thank you to Kate for the raspberry Koigu rescue!)

Beatrix the second is being seamed. My two vests for afghans for Afghans...one is getting its buttons sewn on tonight...one is blocked and drying.

My second Lady Eleanor is waiting for its chance to be blocked and fringed. Maybe then I will do the finishing on my first Lady E. I admit to be a little wigged out by blocking something so big...and I have blocking space issues.

And work resumed at lunch today on Courtney's Claposhrug. One sleeve to go!

Now if only I could get back to the Pomotomus...sigh.

Totally Tubular, Man...

Yeah, I heard you groan....but it is totally tubular. Italian tubular cast-on that is. Eunny Jang's Endpaper Mitts have been on my to knit list for quite a while. I loved the ones Emily made for her wife Y last year. But once again a pattern got sidelined by a knitting technique I couldn't grasp.


The dreaded Italian tubular cast-on is a bitch to learn and yields a great stretchy edge when done correctly. Fluffbuff has posted a fantastic tutorial with pictures and a video clip. I watched the video a bozillion times before I caught on. The toughest part was that she was casting on to a long much larger gauge needle and I was casting on to a "0" dpn... nothing to tuck under my arm. This technique definately requires that you have two free hands. After repeated attempts using the only two hands that God gave me, with needles sent flying across the livingroom, I figured out how to anchor my needle. A big ol'center pull skein of Noro, wedged between my laptop and my boobs, with the needle jabbed in. Now the next problem was getting Tosca to hit the keys on the laptop to forward and rewind the video clip.


It was worth the learning curve. I am really pleased with how my mitt is working out. Love the colors, Kiogu of course, and I am carrying them in two hands. Yup, a plethora of new tricks to use in these mitts.

Serendipity

This evening I walked down to the Schuykill River to take some photos of the sunset and 7 pm for a Photo-Scavenger Hunt on Swap-Bot. What I found was the Anne-Marie Mulgrew and Dancers Company Performing the Hidden River Project 2007.


The performance started on the banks of the river at Walnut Street and progressed two blocks to Market Street. The performance encompassed the rock garden, ramps, and underpasses.

During the rock garden section the audience was encouraged to walk amongst the Umbrella Ladies. In ways it was like interacting with the human statues that you find on the street in European cities.

Normally, I am not an audience participation kinda gal. I almost rebelled when we had to join hands to ascend the stairs to the pergola at the top of the spiral staircase, but I sucked it up and held hands with two strangers.

I learned that the first name of the river was Ganshowahanna, Lenape meaning "rushing and roaring waters." Schuykill means "hidden river," the name given to it by Dutch trader Arendt Corssen. It was really lovely to be able to enjoy all of this along the banks of the river and not worry about trash and all the things we used to associate with the Schuykill.

After all, Muffy has had two swims in the river this summer and her flesh didn't melt off!

F%*#@ the Pomatomus

Ah, Pomatomus, that lovely sock pattern. Mine were looking so lovely; knitted in Yarn Pirate's beautiful Sonoma colorway. The yarn is a joy to work with and the feel is so silky.


Until I hit the 2nd graph and the jog in the pattern, I was cruising. And then I spent a week knitting and unknitting rows 5-16 and another week on rows 16-22. Sure, I tried them on and couldn't get my foot into the ankle. I put it down to my fat feet and absurdly high instep. So, I promised them to my mother for Christmas.

Last weekend Muffy and I ventured to the family homestead in CT. I took the socks for my mum to try on. I was heading for the toes quickly and did not want to make them too long. Tragedy struck ...the damn thing was too small even for my mother and her narrow feet with normal insteps. She didn't even hesitate when I asked her if I should rip them out and start again.

You can hear me sobbing as it unravels in a squiggly mound of yarn, can't you?

All of that hard work and I really really love the yarn...now I have to start over and I have promised them to my mother. By the way, this is just the thing that my mother's highly selective memory will remember...sigh...I really want these socks for me.

A gal's gotta have a little consolation in this world, so I stopped by Rosie's on my way home and got the first crack at the freshly delivered Black Bunny Sock yarn. This "Saucy" skein should take away some of the disappointment. Oh, yeah baby!

Allons enfants de la Patrie...

Judy demands a new posting and I oblige. I was scolded on Sunday for not posting in ages. Life I am afraid has intervened, but there has been a lot of knitting going on. This is the first of two Beatrix, knit for little miss Shayna...

The last five weeks have been spent fighting a vicious case of viral bronchitis. Every once in a while I think my boss is going to throw me a fish for being such a good seal. Before that I was sans laptop, after Tosca danced on the keyboard, then settled in for a nice long toasty nap which fried my hard drive.

Saturday, I rallied a bit to celebrate Bastille Day with my friends. In Philly, the Eastern States Penitentiary stands in for the Bastille...nice, grey and very forbidding. There is even a working guillotine for chopping watermelons rather than Marie Antoinette's neck.

Marie grandly declares, "Let them eat cake!" and the crowd below is pelted with...Twinkies? It used to be so much better when it was Tastycake Butterscotch Krimpets...sigh.

It is fun though to see the little kids there with their catcher mits seeing how many they can grab. This is my editorial Twinkie shot...

But even better was the presence of one of literature's most notorious knitters, Madame Defarge. She was so pleased to show off her knitting and be recognized. Fortunately my name was no where to be found on her lovely scarf. My neck is safe for now!

Are you happy now, Judy?

"Did you run out of yarn?"

...my boss asked. Duh...men can be such idiots. I just whipped up this adorable shrug and may have to make yet another.

The pattern is Teva Durham's Turtleneck Shrug from Scarf Style. I knit it in the Rowan Kid Classic specified in the pattern. The fuzziness is lovely and really not terribly itchy for mohair. The shrug is very warm considering its total lack of a front or back. I would definitely use this yarn again, but am a little afraid about roasting in a whole sweater.

This pattern was fast, easy and pretty darn close to instant gratification. And you get a lot of bang for your buck. Even non-knitters were complimenting me on it...too bad I could not take credit for the clever design. I have read that some knitters have found that theirs shift around a lot on the shoulders. This one is staying perfectly in place. I did knit it on graduating needles to accommodate my chunky upper arms...started with 5s on the wrist and worked up to 7s on the upper arms. The changes are not at all noticeable when worn.

And I love, love, love this color! Does anyone else hear the heavenly choir singing in the background? Why am I so obsessed with wearing black when I look so adorable in grape? I have my mind set on some of this in aqua for a ballet wrap sweater from Rowan's fall mag.

What Lisa Needs...

Type your name and needs in the google search bar. First 10 items that come up...

1. Twitter / Lisa: NEEDS a nap. But alas she has a TO DO list that is longer than the nap could ever be. 02:58 PM November 29, 2006 from web ...

2. In Reply to: Lisa needs braces posted by Dental Plan on April 18, 2002 at 05:09:29:. : : what a rollercoaster! congrats with everything!

3. You need a flat, fishes need the sea Lisa needs a tree. Lisa looked all around ... Lisa needs a tree. So Lisa moved to the town With all her family too ...

4. dental plan, lisa needs braces. some guy: "and that's when i realized that my glasses were on my *head* the whole time!" dudes: " .... " ...

5. This 'Mona Lisa' needs a bigger grin and lots more warmth from an overly conscientious Julia Roberts.

6. LISA needs to more clearly communicate to clients how they can benefit from being members of LISA. Up until now, many of its benefits have been ...

7. Amazon.com: "What Lisa Needs in Her Kitchen" A list of products including, Cuisinart DLC-2007N Prep 7 7-Cup Food Processor, Calphalon Commercial Hard-Anodized 2-1/2-Quart Shallow Saucepan with Lid, ...

8. Ethics Report 20 Oct 83 how Lisa needs to handler lower conditions.

9. MySpace Profile - lisa needs more fun, 46 years old, Female, , RHODE ISLAND, US, i like the way you say yes.

10. Lisa needs work... If you haven't heard Top model writers are having a fit about not having no union on the show, but my thing is i didn't know Lisa was a ...

...Silly? You bet!

Now some knitting stuff... my first stitch markers. Aren't these chicken beads a scream? They are for a swap and my partner has a thing for chickens, found these on ebay. I did find extra special lampwork chickens on Etsy, check out these expensive, but incredible beads.

And a new liter of kittens popped out of the Bernina. Two of the kittys are on Etsy.

There is some knitting going on, but no pics. Calorimetry and matching fingerless gloves in Malabrigo are done and in daily rotation. The turtleneck shrug/scarf from Scarf Style.

Open for Business

I have finally gotten off my tail and opened my Etsy Shop.

Many thanks to the lovely Maris who stood out in the cold today and modelled my handbags for me. Aren't her new bangs adorable!?!