Top Secret Knitting- Revealed

The current issue of the Anticraft is up and the theme is bacon. I have been cringing since I first heard the theme several months ago so as a protest to slaughter of innocent piggies I designed a vegan bacon scarf which I call a Vegan Wrapped in Bacon (insert Homer Simpson groan here.) I love the idea of double knitting color work patterns to create a reversible fabric with a negative image on the back, I just never found anything that motivated me enough to do it. Double knitting is perfect for scarves since there is no right and wrong side and your carries stay nice and hidden in between the layers. I designed the scarf so that it is a 50 row repeat with approximately the same amount of red and white on each side so neither side is dominant. The scarf is knit with Blue Sky organically grown cotton on US7 needles.

Also, in case you didn't notice, the cover art for the issue was done by Philip.

Vacation

For the past several days Philip and I have been on vacation. We didn't actually go anywhere (except a day trip to Louisville on Tuesday,) but we were taking a break from life nonetheless. The weather has been absolutely beautiful here, afternoons in the mid-70's, so we spent quite a few of our vacation hours sitting out on the back porch reading, talking, drawing and knitting. We also managed to spend some time at 3rd Street Cafe which is fast becoming our favorite weekday morning hang out. We go there a lot when Philip has the day off and I am working since I can work from anywhere with internet access, but it is especially nice on the days that I get to go without my computer and knit.

With all of this free time I actually finished some projects! The first is my TV sock that I have been slowly working my way through. If you remember, I started these back when the Tinman re-aired. I changed the gauge and pattern three times before finally deciding on making them anklets on US1 needles. I am very happy with these socks and since I have enough yarn left for another pair I immediately casted on for two more of these babies. Don't they look super cute with my Earth shoes?

The next finished project is the Abalone hat from Woolly Wormhead's book Going Straight. The book focuses on making hats on straight needles without seams by using short rows and grafting techniques. The book was self-published so you have to order it from Lulu.com, but it is totally worth the wait. The grafting instructions are the best I've ever seen covering grafting in several scenarios with lots of pictures. She also shows how to do a crocheted cast-on directly onto the needle, something I have never seen before but absolutely adore. The patterns are interesting and fun and there is good pattern support on Ravelry so if you do run into problems it is easy to find help. I knitted this hat in under a day and I only ended up using 110yds of worsted weight so it was fast and cheap.

Another pair of shoelaces

Philip found these old Nikes that fit him perfectly and he really wanted some yellow shoelaces to go with them. I am trying to keep our house as sweatshop-free as possible and I thought about the yellow sock yarn sitting in my stash from the Anticraft heart which was the perfect size for some shoelaces. I casted on 3 stitches and worked 32" of i-cord. They are finished with tape and glue so they will stay together as well as a store-bought pair. I like these much better than the first pair that I made on a knitting spool though these don't sparkle.


I really like making things I need out of materials I already have. While I was working on these shoelaces, several people commented on how it was a waste of time. To that I explained that by the time I factor in the time spent searching for the perfect yellow shoelaces and the gas used to drive around searching for said shoelaces it would probably be faster and cheaper to make them myself. Plus, I don't get the same kind of satisfaction from buying as I get from making things myself. The other day I ran across the Story of Stuff which reaffirmed my desire not to become one of those Americans who use shopping as a way to feel better about themselves. Everyone should watch this video and more importantly learn from it and use at least some of the tips given after the video.

Woo hoo!!!

I just got my ticket to Norfolk and for the first time in three years the price difference between flying from Lexington and flying from Louisville was under $100 so I will be flying from Lexington, woo hoo!!! Of course this means no dinner at Ramsi's upon my return, but given the time frame of my trip that might not have been a possibility this time around anyway.

Boba Tea Tuesday

Today when I was looking through the cabinets for something beyond soup that I could make for lunch I ran across a bubble tea kit that I bought a million years ago. I found the kit which contains vegan bubble tea mixes at Jungle Jim's a little while ago, but since they stopped selling the kits and the mixes I have been trying to conserve what I had. Today, however, was definately a bubble tea day so I mixed up a strawberry tea and I used the rainbow tapioca pearls to make a Springtime treat. It was delicious and really fun to drink out of the provided cup and straw.

Just in case you are wondering, I did eat a real lunch. I ended up making a baba ganoush sandwich with tomatoes and onions. I made a big batch of baba ganoush on Sunday to put on sandwiches all week. I used this recipe which was super easy and turned out great. I am going to try and keep a fresh batch of hummus or baba ganoush in the refrigerator at all time through the warm months since they are so easy to make and provide a healthier snack than some of the things we tend to eat when we are too lazy to prepare something.

A contest and a good cause

Hi, my name is Robyn and I am addicted to Ravelry. It all started one morning last July when I finally received my invite. As soon as I logged into the site I could feel how it was going to become a big part of my life. At this point the addiction is so bad that I can't imagine knitting without it. I visit the site several times a week, sometimes a day, to check the boards, see what my friends are knitting and to check my projects for stars (oh how I love those stars.) Anyway, Fricknits has put together the ultimate Ravelry contest. Basically, the way it works is for every $10 donation you make to keep Ravelry running you will receive a chance to win one of several prizes including four dream stashes; you should check out her site for all of the details. I really want to encourage everyone who shares my love/addiction for Ravelry to donate $10 to Ravelry.

In other news, Philip and I did some emergency cleaning last night and in one room of the house I found nine unfinished projects. Sadly, this is just a fraction (though I will not disclose how big or small a fraction) of my unfinished knitting. My goal now is to get down to under five projects on the needles at one time.

I officially have a case of startitis!! I have so many projects on the needles at this point that I am constantly pulling needles out of old projects to use in new projects. This is really bad since I have a lot of needles. I am too scared to actually count all of my unfinished items so instead I am challenging myself to finish them. Here is the way it works, for every three projects I finish (this means finish, block, and add to Ravelry) I can start one new one. Sound simple? Well, so far it feels like torture, but I did finish two old projects this week so it appears to be working.

The first is the Hempathy scarf that I started sometime last summer. I actually only had to knit 3 pattern repeats, graft it and block it so it was a pretty quick finish. The scarf used two balls of Elsebeth Lavold's Hempathy (one for each half) and I used all of the yarn. The pattern is available free at ReBelle and it is a super easy lace pattern for someone who has never knitted lace and super quick for the lace pro.



The second project is another Dream Swatch Head Wrap (my first one can be found here.) I knitted this out of some leftover sock yarn last August, but I never got around to blocking it. Friday night I found it in my knitting basket and I decided to go ahead and block it. It was dry and ready to go by Saturday morning so I wove in the ends and wore it out (please excuse my frizzy hair, there was no time for the straightening iron yesterday morning and the anti-frizz goop doesn't do much for me.)

Super Knitter Saturday

Like every other knitter in the Lexington area, I am getting really excited about the Yarn Harlot's visit tomorrow night. Since last year's event was in the afternoon, I worked the store while Sarah (who missed the Harlot's visit the year before) went to see her speak. This year, she is being hosted by Joseph Beth (a fabulous local bookseller) and she doesn't speak until 7pm which is after the store closes. Tomorrow will be insanely busy, but so much fun!! For those of you who don't know, Jess put together an amazing knitting basket full of handmade items, yarns from Magpie and ReBelle and gift certificates to both stores. The basket is worth over $150 and 100% of the ticket sales goes to Doctors Without Borders. The tickets are $1 each or 6 for $5 and are available at ReBelle and Magpie before the event and from Jess at the event. You can check out all of the basket contents here.