Archive for 2012 July

Numma numma panna (fun to say, try it!)

I won a contest in one of my Ravelry groups and received my prize a few days ago: a gorgeous skein of yarn!

This is panna worsted weight by numma numma (which is really fun to say, try it!). It is SO SQUISHY. I can’t properly express in words how wonderfully squishy it is. It’s like Malabrigo Worsted, but MORE SO. And I don’t say that lightly, people.

So obviously this needs to be a mega-special design, one that’s worn right next to the skin. I’m thinking mittens, maybe? Not sure I can get two mittens out of 200 yds of worsted, though. Fingerless mittens? A cute beanie?

Any ideas?

Mini Moo Business Cards!

I’ve been meaning to order business cards for a while, and when I saw Moo.com was having a 30% off sale a few weeks ago, I jumped on it.

Here are my adorable new Mini Moo business cards:

They are SO CUTE. Seriously. Here’s a pic with my hand, for scale:

Now I have cards to give out at fiber fests, yarn stores, or when I meet fibery people!

Socks! Well, sort of.

I finished a huge and tedious design project in laceweight a few days ago (yippee!) and was itching to get my hands on some worsted-weight yarn.

This lovely has been marinating in the stash for a while:

Malabrigo Rios in Indecita

And since my new place is rather drafty on the feet (even in the 100 degree + weather we’ve been having), I decided to whip myself up a pair of slippers!

I’ve only ever knit two pairs of actual socks (meaning, ones that can go in shoes, made with actual sock-weight yarn). Those were enough to show me that while I like the idea of hand-knitted socks, the amount of time they take and the rapidity with which I wear through them don’t work for me.

I really enjoy top-down sock construction, though. So when I found this pattern (Arwen Slipper Socks, Rav link) on Ravelry, I decided to (uncharacteristically) forgo designing my own chunky socks and just settle down for some relaxing direction-following.

It’s great so far:

Look at the yummy heel flap–somehow they always look cooler to me in a chunkier yarn:

The pattern says the socks require about 200 yards and I’ve got 210… but I’ve also got size 9.5 feet! Here’s hoping I don’t run out….

My LYS = win!

I trekked down to Mass. Ave Knit Shop in Indianapolis a few days ago to search for blocking wires.

They had these ones by Fiber Dreams, which are awesome and worked perfectly:

Also: I forgot how much I love that yarn store. Five years ago, before I moved to LA, I used to come to Mass. Ave a lot–but I wasn’t as much of a yarn snob then, and I also wasn’t designing. Now I can really appreciate it!

This wall of buttons makes my heart go pitter-patter. I’ve been to every yarn/button/craft shop in the LA area over the past year trying to find a store with even a fraction of this selection:

My other favorite thing is their Madelinetosh TML rack–look, they have a few sample yards of ALL THE COLORS! How cool is that??

I think I’m lucky the shop is an hour drive from me…

Arrived!

I’ve arrived at my new home in Indiana, and now I finally have time to get back to blogging!

Of course, now that I have the time, I’m working on a top-secret project I can’t show anyone. Ha. But trust me, it’ll be awesome.

For this project, I need to buy some blocking wires for the first time. I’m going to visit a few LYS (oh darn, right?) to see if anyone has them to purchase right away, but I might end up needing to purchase them online.

Knit Picks has these ones for $19.99:

But I’m a little worried about the speed of shipping. I’m trying to get the project done by the weekend, and my (non-negotiable) deadline for this piece is the week after that… so unless I paid for super-expedited shipping, I’m not sure I’d get them in time.

I saw a few mentions on Ravelry of buying welding rods from a hardware store (plenty of those around!). I found this picture online when I searched for “welding rods for blocking”:

Those look pretty good, but I also found lots of pictures of wires in spools, like this one:

And I wouldn’t know the first thing about straightening the wire to make it useable. Hrm.

Probably my best bet is to call around to the LYSes and see if anyone’s got them. I would much rather have wires designed for the purpose, even if they’re a little more expensive.

Do you have blocking wires? Where did you get them?