Do You Still Knit??

I know there hasn't been much news on the knitting front these days.  Mainly, it's because of a couple reasons.

1. School.  Taking two summer classes in 6 weeks = not the smartest idea.  It's not really that much work, but on top of everything else it's keeping me on my toes.
2. "Work".  My work knitting takes up pretty much all my knitting time, since that's the only income I have right now (anyone know of any part-time jobs in Brooklyn??).
3. Designing.  Yes, designing.  The Knitmore Girls Podcast is hosting a design contest for premie/newborn hats, and I'm working my butt off to get some in.  Every pattern will be featured in a downloadable e-book, but several will be chosen as winners with prizes.  Either way, I'd love to get that Knitmore logo on my design and the coverage that comes with their name.  I've got 2 hat styles finalized with many other ideas swimming around my head.  I don't know if I want to send all of them or not, though that also depends on if I get them done in time.  I'll do a post about them soon though I promise!

In other news, I've been thinking about all the yarn and projects I have in my room.  Our lease is up in just over 2 months which means moving again.  Moving yarn.  And UFOs.  Oy I get stressed just thinking about it.

So I heard on The Knitting Show and on Peter's blog that he was working on his "Project:  Free the Needles."  I was inspired, and have my own UFO finishing project plan swimming in my head with those hat ideas.  Check back for that one soon too.

Coffee and Knitting

So while I was supposed to be at home on Saturday evening/night working on my homework, I instead decided to hang out with my ladies at Starbucks.  One of them knits, one of them doesn't.  But we always have a good time there.

We were there for about 4 hours just hanging out, knitting, talking, drinking beverages.  Oh, and teaching the Starbucks boys to knit.

Working is overrated anyway right?  Jose was not too thrilled to have his picture taken...except I was video-ing, so once he gets over the camera, he knits his first row:

We're lucky they love us :o).



Don't worry, I got my paper and quiz done Monday morning :o)

My Saviors

Park Slope is an absolute bitch to park in.  It has been rated the best neighborhood to live in in NYC, and also the hardest to park in.  I know most of the people who read this don't live around here (and if they do, they're probably smarter than me and don't try to drive in the city), but I have to give my boys a shout-out anyway.

Roadify is 3 guys working to make life for the rest of us a little less stressful.  They provide a free (wow there's still something free in the city??) text-based service for finding a parking spot.  I won't explain the whole thing here, and though because of the times I come home I usually don't get a spot, they've helped me plenty.

Say, for instance, you really want to do your laundry, meet with a friend who's visiting his parents from Florida, go to Knit Night at the Village Knitter and meet with a designer to drop off her knit pieces/get paid/get more work.  You would load everything up, lug your overflowing laundry basket, laptop, bag of food, and everything else and carry it a very long block away to your car.  Load it all into the car, get in (it's a million degrees in the car too), and turn the key.  The engine turns over twice and then makes a funny clicking noise.  Oh joy.

Yeah, that was my Thursday mid-morning.  I prayed it was just the battery because the last time I heard that noise, Brother and I were stranded in the middle of the pizza place's parking lot with my old Pontiac not starting back in high school.

I texted my dad, Brother, and The Boy.  Dad didn't answer; Brother's response was:  shiiiit; Boyfriend had no clue what to do.  I don't even have jumper cables.  I used them once in college and haven't seen them since.  Roomie wasn't answering the phone (she had just gotten up and the phone was probably still in her room) so I walked back to ask if she could jump me.  Turns out she doesn't have cables either.  SMF.

I had though of tweeting to Roadify as soon as the car didn't start, but I wanted to save that as a last resort.  Of course it came to that though.  I sent out the tweet and within minutes they were asking where my car was.

Dylan, whom I've met before, came with a car and tried to jump my silly Galactica (aka a Hyundai Elantra).  But it didn't work.  The engine was barely turning over before the clicking.  Damn.  Dylan did give me a Roadify Tshirt though!

The car works again.  Cousin and Brother finally got it started by jumping it, but the engine wouldn't restart if you turned it off.  Went and got a new battery on Friday and it's been running great (well, as great as a car with 112,000 miles can run) since.

But more happy news (and still on topic), I got an award this week from Roadify.  Holla!  I even got a mention on the site.  Check it out here (I'm yazipengyou on there).  Yay me!  My trophy was hanging on a sign near the apartment, only Dylan is really tall and I"m really short sooooo I couldn't get it down.  It was gone by the time I tried to show The Boy so all well.  Here's the picture I took of it though:

Roadify keeps us entertained with their YouTube channel.  Check out this video they made:

Etsy Craft Night

As many of you probably already know, every Monday Etsy hosts a craft night broadcast live in their Virtual Lab.  They of course are streaming live from DUMBO (a neighborhood in Brooklyn- Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass- which it literally is).  So a perk of living in Brooklyn, is I finally had the time to go.  And now my picture is on their website!

See it on their page here

I'm on the right, blocking Claire, and that's her boyfriend in the green shirt.  Claire is awesome.  I not-met her at the WWKIP Day Event (I was so busy running around that I didn't get to meet anyone there) but then actually met her at La Casita's 6 month anniversary party.  She's interning at SoHo Publishing (ahem Vogue, Sixth & Spring- ring a bell?), writing a blog about her city adventures and is dorming where I stayed when I did my internship with the NYCDOE so we had lots to talk about that night.  We've been saying we were going to go to a Craft Night for weeks but couldn't get it arranged due to other commitments but it finally worked out.

The theme for the night was "cupcakes" because the night was hosted by Cupcakes Take the Cake, a blog about, well, cupcakes.  I only had time for one craft because I had another commitment after (of course, right?) so we made felted cupcake pins.  Here's mine:

They're made using store-bought felt and pieces of roving.  Then you fit your felt base around a bottle cap or jar lid.  I had to use a jar lid because I made that candle a little tooooooo big I think :o)

Soooo now I'm in love with needle felting.  What a great way to use up small bits of roving or loosely spun wool!  Good to keep in mind when I eventually attempt my drop spindle and the products don't come out as expected.

So if you're ever in the area, I highly recommend heading over to Washington St to check out a Craft Night...or to just stand in the creative center of the Etsy world.

I've Been Working on the Knitting

So I've mentioned a couple times that I have some knitting jobs.  Since I'm working for these people, I might as well give them a shout out.

My first hired knitting position is for Wai (pronounced like "weigh") Fashions.  Cindy designed these chunky ponchos that can be worn in 3 ways:  a poncho, a circle scarf, or a snood.  Basically what I do for her is knit the cable panel pieces.  No finishing, no binding off, that's it.  Someone else weaves in all the ends, seams it, and adds the ribbed collar.

My second job was recommended to me by the wonderful ladies at the Village Knitter.  Courtney had gone in looking for knitters because her normal knitter will be away for much of the summer.  Courtney makes dresses out of knit tops with fabric skirts and adds some beaded pizazz.    She sells online and in local shops on Long Island.  She had the great idea to do dress designing parties:  she brings samples of the yarns, fabrics, beads, pendant to the hostesses house and all the women get to create their own dresses.  They each get measured and a piece made to fit them.

I figure if I want to make money, I should give my ladies a shout out!  That being said, I'm still working on designing and creating for my own Etsy shop.  So keep an eye out for that announcement too :o)

xxo

Book Review: Scrumptious Toppers

Recently I was scheduled to meet with a designer I'm knitting for.  We meet close to Lion Brand Studio so I figured I had to perfect excuse to subway myself down to see Debby Ware that same night.  I had to be in the area anyway, it's free, and there's AC; so why not right?*

Debby is such a sweet, friendly, bubbly lady.  She reminds me of a Virginian Version of Mrs. Weasley from the Harry Potter books.  She was interesting to watch, conversational and I really really liked her.  I just wish I could say the same for Scrumptious Toppers for Tots and Toddlers.

The hats in this book are outrageous and over the top.  Looking for a way to use up that novelty yarn that you can't even give away?  Buy this book!  Every piece has at least one of the following:  novelty yarns, bobbles, I-cords, French knots, pom poms...  Whoa.  Just whoa.

Debby said she designs for babies because they can't say no (as long as their mommy doesn't mind).  That right there should tell you something.

There are some patterns I do like, though.  The Birthday Cupcake Cap (no Ravelry link available) is probably my favorite out of the book.  I do plan on knitting one of these for Autumn for her first birthday (no, she's not even born yet...).  The hat has a banded brim (seemingly a favorite of Debby's judging by this book) and then a sparkly novelty yarn top making it look like a cupcake. On top is a candle standing straight up.  Along those birthday line is the Crystal Party Hat.  It's like knit birthday hats they can't destroy in 5 seconds!  The Feathers & Fringe Fedora could work too (though it doesn't really look like a fedora to me).

The Baby Beastie Beanie is pretty cute.  The top of the hat is knit split into two points to look like bunny ears.  A face is embroidered on and some color coordinated novelty yarn is used for the tips of the ear points.  Though they're bunnies so I'm not really sure what's going on with that name.

The Halloween Hat is cute.  It's your typical pumpkin/jack-o-lantern hat, but I love the way she designed the pumpkin ridges on it.  And it helps that the baby model looks like one of my favorite babies from the daycare I used to work at.  I bought yarn for this at the Gotham Moving Sale.

I don't know that I'd actually put this on a kid, but I think the Black and White and Red All Over is funky awesome looking.  Maybe if Lady Gaga had a kid he/she would wear it.

WTF MOMENT:  The Baby Chick Cap.  No words.  See for yourself. I dare you to put that on your child.  ::Ahem:: why does this one have a Ravelry page and the actual good patterns don't??  I don't get it.

Not included in the book was an adorable hat only available as a kit on Debby's website:  the Cherry Swirl Hat (Ravelry).  I loved this one.  You bet I want to make it for little baby Autumn.  Look at how cute those cherries are! I think I would knit the top flat though.  I don't think Autumn's Mommy would care so much for the funky style.

One thing I enjoyed about Debby's presentation was that she shared with us her dead end projects and how they lead to her "keepers."  One dead end lead her to the Fizzle Ruffle Beanie.  The dead end was a beret that fits and adult head in the same yellow yarn.  Only there was knit ruffles covering the hat.  At the end of these ruffles was that same reddish eyelash yarn.  As a had, oh.my.god no!  But I point out to Debby that it would make a perfect skirt for a little girl.  So you heard it here- when she makes that pattern, mhm, I gave her that idea!

Another thing I (as well as the others in attendance) enjoyed was that Debby's pieces were poorly or not at all finished.  Strings hanging, ends not woven in, and no attempt at hiding sewing/embroidery stitches.  Thank you Debby for not trying to be perfect!  Debby doesn't send her pieces off to professional finishers.  She doesn't try to make her pieces immaculate.  In her opinion, the pieces are for kids and kids aren't going to notice/care about what the inside of their hat looks like.

To see some pictures of the event,check out the blog post on Lion Brand Studio's Blog.  You can see a bit of my hair in one picture, or just check out some images of Debby's hats.  The ruffle hat I was talking about is the one on the projector screen with the caption "!!??!!??!".  Debby's also holding the hat,  It's also in someone's hand at the display table, and the cupcake hat is on the middle prop.

Overall, I don't think I'd recommend this book to others.  That being said, you really have to have a preference for dressing your children in outrageous clothing to like these patterns.  Maybe it's my age, but I just don't see Autumn wearing most of these things.  Her mommy just isn't into that style.  Maybe that will change when she arrives, but at least then I'm prepared.

*Just as Debbie was about to start her presentation, the designer texted me:  none of the other knitters could make it so she was cancelling.  This was the main cause of the horrible mood mentioned in the Knitty review post.

Holy Yarn Sale!

I was very sad to hear on Thursday afternoon that Gotham Fine Yarn will be closing :o(  The owner is moving overseas and is closing up shop.  Sad that one of my favorite LYSs is closing, but the good news is...

Everything is 40% off!

So what does that mean?  Oh I just doubled my stash.  Take a look at some of my new acquisitions:

Here's the whole stash.

Big pile, huh?  Maybe I went a big overboard...

10 skeins of Mirasol Miski for $55.

What a steal!  I'm hoping to make my first sweater with this.  Does anyone have any suggestions?

2 skeins different pinks String Theory Caper Sock

God, I love this yarn.  How could I not buy it.  When I left, there were still two skeins of a mustardy color there.  I may have to go back for them.

2 skeins Ella Rae Classic

These are for another Weekend Hat for one of The Boy's co-workers.

Artyarns Silk Rhapsody Glitter

One of my no-designated-project purchases.  But Silk Rhapsody for just about half off?  SOLD!  I think there's a pattern in Reversible Knits that will work for it.

2 skeins Jojoland Cashmere

CASHMERE!  Two skeins for just about $30.  Another don't-know-what-I'm-gonna-do-with-you projects, but I'm thinking a nice scarf and fingerless gloves or maybe a cowl.  Something I can wear close to my face to cuddle with in the cold NYC winters.

4 skeins Malabrigo Worsted and 4 skeins Artyarns Cottonspring

These will be used to make a nice cuddly winter blanket for Autumn.  Not sure of a pattern yet, but probably something simple or my own design.

Ella Rae Classic Superwash

I'm going to use these to make the Halloween Hat from Debby Ware's Scrumptious Toppers book (review coming tomorrow) for Autumn.

And then there was this.  For a wee $23 I bought...

...a Louet Drop Spindle Kit.  The kit comes with the spindle, half a pound of roving and instructions.  I'm sure I'll need more than what they included in this box (I'm very open to suggestions:  books, DVDs, websites, teachers, where to buy fleece here...) but I'm sure it's enough to get me started.  The rovings are sooo soft.  I haven't tried it yet because I've been trying to get all my work knitting done first, as well as a baby hat pattern I'm writing (more on these coming soon also!).

If you are in the NYC area, I highly suggest stopping by.  Kat is running the store until the end of the month.  When Rebecca gets back early in August, she's going to start packing for her move overseas so get there quick!  Also, with yarn being 40%, do you really expect it to be there much longer?  Hurry up and get there!!