Adventures with the Mamajama

The Mamajama and I spent a FABULOUS day in the city yesterday, shopping an schmoozing our way up the West side. We hit up Macy's first, then up to the UWS for a inaugural trip to Knitty City . Yes, ok, I've lived here how long and I was Knitty City virgin? But now I've gone and I loved it - Great selection, good prices and friendly staff. Even though i almost decapitated another customer by starting a falling-domino chain of events from one shelf to another finally knocking a kit off a top of a book case, I think it was great...

While I was there I picked up some Lambs Pride Bulky in Onyx for the BF's hat - I think I might finally finish it this time! Ok, it started as the Anarchy Irony Hat from the Happy Hooker. He really wanted it but he has a bit of a big head... and when I say a "bit" I mean "gigantafrickenoremous". So I tired the original pattern and it was no good. Tried using a bigger hook and it was way too lose in the stitches to act as any sort of warming device. Failure abounded... So I finally gave in, bought the bulky wool, and it's going much better. I'm doing a simple beanie-style pattern (so not the original from the book) but I'm still going to add the anarchy symbol when it's all done. So now he can stop harassing me :)

I also picked up "Not your Mama's Crochet" from Amy Swanson - love some of the funky patterns - after I finish the hat and Frou Frou I'm going to start either the Straight Laced Shrug or the Pseudo-Kimono... thought he Pea Coat is awesome too...

How to dye with Koolaid - SUCCESS!

The Mamajama and I, with the strict supervision of Poppy and LeeLuu, had our first dying workshop! We had hoped to use both Jacquard and Koolaid for dying, but we had so much fun with the Koolaid that we never got to the Jacquard.

The Mamajama took Notes:

KoolAid Workshop Aug 15 2008

Yarn: Treadsoft 2ply Superwash merino wool.
Mom bought a cone of yarn. I'll have to get her to add the website to the comments. I skeined up approximately 50 grams of the yarn with my trusty niddy noddy. Its a bit thinner than fingering weight, which was frankly a bit of a disappointment. We had great debates about if we should keep it or not. Mom also got some bare "worsted" weight for Claire, but my wraps-per-inch tool told me it was more like a DK weight. But, it should work regardless.

The Procedure:
We soaked the yarn in warm tap water for about a hours. Actually, it was probably closer to two. I put the yarn in to soak and then we decided to have dinner (Three Cheers for Kelbasa! We had a culinary celebration of our Slavic roots!). Once dinner was done, we covered the table with news papers and got ready to go!

After we squeezed out the yarn skeins, we laid them out on a double layer or plastic wrap. For the first two skeins, we mixed one cup of water with one packet of Koolaid. Then we went to town with foam brushes! One thing we did notice was that the dye did not soak all the way down so we had to flip the skeins over to get even color distribution.

Mom did Little Girls Dream. She used 1 package of pink lemonade and 1 package of grape.

I did Morning Grasshopper (named because we met a grasshopper the next morning who was the exact same shade of green!). I used 1package of Lemon lime. and 1 package of ice blue with 1/2 a package of grape mixed in, that produced a lovely periwinkle.

After we painted the yarn, we sprayed it with full strength white vinegar (I bought a gallon jug of it for $1.89!) .

With our next experiment, we laid out two more skeins. This time, we added a tablespoon of vinegar IN with each cup of color. Mom said she did not notice any difference. I felt like the dye got immediately sucked up exactly where you put it. I found it more difficult to "push" the color around.

Mom did Tropical Sunrise with 2 packages of cherry, 2 of orange, 2 of lemonade, mixed into individual cups with 1 cup of water and one table spoon of vinegar.






I did Tropical Sunset using the same orange and lemonade but with 2 packages of black cherry. As you can see, the reds do make a big difference!








The last skein we did was Shaken Not Stirred - Bombay Sapphire and I'm not telling how we did this one!! Trade Secrets!!!!

After we dyed each skein, we rolled them up in the plastic wrap and steamed them for about 30 minutes each. Then we rinsed and dried! Its very exciting. We had so much fun, and we have to restrain our selves from immediately dying more!!!

Fiber Mania

This is my week of Fiber Mania! I met Bev (AKA emmasdaughter) at the College Street Café in Clinton on Monday. I think we might make Mondays a regular meeting! Then I met Vanessa (AKA DivaMissV) at Panera’s on Tuesday. I hope to make this semi regular too! Yes yes, I know! Three days of knitting (because we can’t leave out the Rome Wednesday’s group!) might be a bit much (especially when MissV and I forget all about the time and leave poor hubby sitting in the parking lot for HOURS! Sorry MrV!!). But I think I’m going to need the inspiration. I’ve got a lot going on:

The Sock Madness:
The Mother has roped me in to some sock insanity. We’re in the “Pair-a-Month” challenge on Ravelry. I joined a few months late, and the Mother has convinced me I need to catch up. I have 5 and a half pairs done. So in the next 5 months I have to do 6 more pairs. August will be tough to double up on this challenge (see madness below), and Sept and Nov are reserved for the Pentathlon. But if all goes well, this should be no big deal (so sayeth the madwoman).

Ravelympic Madness:
The Ravelympics – sign up, choose an event, cast on during the opening ceremony, cast off by the closing ceremony. Mom has convinced me I can knit a sweater in 17 days. You know, its insane and an almost impossible task, but I’m going to go for it!

Secret Surprise Project:
This one isn’t going into Ravelry, and I have to get some yarn for it. But it shouldn’t take too long.

Claire’s Jawbreaker:
I’ve finished the back but the front is giving me some trouble. I just have to concentrate for a bit. I hope to have this done for her way before Rheinbeck (crosses fingers)

The Super Secret Super Exciting Project:
This one is going to throw a wrench in all my plans! I’m so excited about it that I’m obsessively tracking my LoopyEwe delivery (see above). I just can’t wait for the yarn to arrive so I can get busy!

The Shawl(s):
I got it in my head that I wanted to spin and knit a shawl for myself in 2008. Then I thought I’d spin and knit 2 shawls for 2 of my girlfriends. Well, that might have been a bit ambitious. I’m not even all the way thru the first 4oz of fiber. Its just been too hot an humid to spin! The stuff just felts in my fingertips! So I’m not sure I’ll get THREE done, but I do want at least 1.

Whew, that’s a lot of stuff!

Castonitis

I have a serious case of “cast-on-itis”. I ferret out all these cool little projects that I simply must cast on right this very second or I will die, my heart pounds, my fingers tremble, I swoon. Then I take a few breaths, chant and the terror passes. Let me explain what I have going on (“no there is too much, let me sum up” bonus points if you, Dear Reader, can NameThatQuote!)

OTN (On the Needles)

The Punk Shrug: Status – Hibernating.
This was started for baby sister and is on hold until I find her measurements so I can see if it will actually fit. I’m hovering in this looooong section of stockentte and well frankly it gets a tad boring after awhile.

Jawbreaker Cardigan: Status – Unknown.
I am filled with deep dark premonitions that this project will soon find its way to the Frog Pond. I adore the pattern. I adore the yarn I bought for it… however…. After skimming “More Big Girl Knits” in the bookstore a while back – I am coming to the conclusion that Chunky Knits + Chunky Girl = Not So Good. I absolutely refeuse to knit a garment saying to myself “well, I’ll lost 40lbs and look perfect in it!”. I’m going to hold off on final judgment after serious conversation with the Mamajama… and after buying and devouring “More Big Girl Knits”.

Midnight Surf Scarf: Status – WOW.
I can’t stop knitting on this. It is so very awesome. The pattern is sooo much fun to work with and of course I love my Inferno Monster Yarn. I actually have to start holding back and savoring the experience!

Recent FO (Finished Objects)

Branching Out AKA Spring Mix Leaves Scarf
I’ve actually made some great progress in the finishing category, because you see, it is finished completely. AND I BLOCKED IT! Yes, I actually blocked it. That is a big deal to me. Usually I burn out of big projects by the time it comes to the finishing details like sewing on buttons (see “I’m a little teapot Cosy”) and sewing in ends. I have a horrible terrible confession to make. I don’t sew in the ending yarn in the toes of my socks. I know. I’m a terrible knitter. I should shun myself from knitting society and live a solitary life of penance…. But I digress… So this is why I’m so proud of the Branching out scarf… I SPUN it from roving. I PLIED the singles into a 3-ply yarn. I KNIT it into a lovely LACE pattern. And I sewed all the ends in AND BLOCKED it. Proud. Proud indeed.

Stretchy Sport Socks
I am not a fan of these socks…. Fade to black with telltale flashback music. The Mamajama and I were on a yarn-crawl thru the smaller yarn shops of The Isle of Long. There are times, I have to admit, that I get this pang of guilt in my gut when I just browse in smaller local shops. I know very well how hard it is for LYS to stay afloat so when I pop in, I feel obligated to buy something… so anyway… in this LYS the were some balls of this candy colored cotton stuff with elastic. And the shop gal assured me you could get two socks out of the tiny ball. I think it was under $10 so I could satisfy my guilt and have a pair of socks to boot! I figured the color would grow on me. Well, I might have been a touch “glass-half-full” on this one as the color didn’t grow, actually it kind of shrank and shrivled… now add that to some serious pattern frustration, makes for not a happy project experience. I did manage to finish them up during WWKIP Day. So they are done. Done! They will probably never see the light of day, but they are done.

What I WANT on the needles

Oh, I’m in such dilemmas. The Mamajama has roped me into not one, but two, count ‘em TWO sock knitting KALs – The Sock Knitter’s Pentathlon and The Pair-a-Month Challenge. SKP2008 I’ve talked about before (to sum up- a speed knitting challenge of 5 socks over the course of the year, quickest overall knitter wins). A sock is released every two months. The Pair-a-Month challenge is well, pretty self explanatory and if you need me to explain, let’s talk. Now, the Mamajama and I have agreed that we can double count the SKP socks for the Challenge. Now here’s my dilemmas… THERE ARE TOO MANY COOL SOCKS TO CAST ON! The Summer Knitty just came out and the nanosecond I saw Ziggy, I was balling up my skein of Noro. I cast on and knit a good portion of the annterloc sock in the Brooklyn Handspun Sprinz but HATE how it’s coming out. It’s far far too poofy (Yes, that is a technical term). So, to the frog pond it went and I found the Rainy Day Pattern to cast on that should match up nice with the yarn weight. Picot edge, people! It has a Picot edge!!! And then there is the Bellatrix sock. MUST MAKE HARRY POTTER SOCKS! And I LOVED the, but I just have to find a suitable yarn. But I know myself, if I cast on all these projects right now, I will run out of steam before the pair a month challenge is up. And there is NO way I’m losing to the Mamajama. Not happening. Nope. Never! So I’m booked up on socks for-like-EVA. July will be the SKP Sock3. August will be Ziggy. September will be SKP Sock4. October could be The Romantic Lace. November is SKP Sock5. And December is Belletrix. January is Anntreloc????? How crazy is that?

My life, as we know it, may have come to an end

I finally broke down and bought a new printer. My old printer I got for free with another electronics purchase and when "The Ex" moved the computer stuff, I don't know what happened, but it never worked again. The death of a technology toy is always sad. However, this is not a major life tragedy. I can print stuff from work. I have a snazzy color laser printer at my desk. However, there have been times that I've really wanted/needed to print things at home. For example, I did my taxes online and it would have been more convenient to print the second I finished and sign the return. So I filed my taxes and got my modest return and decided a printer would be my one splurge item. Printers are relatively inexpensive these days and are jam packed with goodies. I decided it would be a wise business decision to invest in a multifunction model. This baby prints, prints in color, prints PHOTOS, copies AND scans. That's right folks, I can do it all! Instead of typing in recipes I find in cook books, SCAN HO!!!!!! If I find a scrap of fabric I want to scrapbook, well, I can just copy it! I want to share a crafty image with the Mamajama? Hello printer my friend!

Take today for example. We had a Scrapbook Extravaganza with the ladies from work. Scrapbooking is a new thing for me and I haven't quite decided if its THE thing. There are a few ladies at work who are just mad about it. The do scrapbooking WEEKENDS. We get together now and then and share tools and supplies and basically socialize for a few hours. It is great fun. And since I don't really have a lot of supplies, I get to borrow some cool stuff. I did 4 pages and here you see a corner section of my LeeLuu Page. One draw back is my scrapbook is 12"x12" but the scanner flat bed is 8.5"x11". C'est la vie. I'm sure I could figure out how to cut and paste small images into a bigger one, but I'm not that bored today (but you never know what will happen tomorrow).

Yes, yes, the printer is an exciting new tool. I can print photos, I can scan ideas. It's very exciting. That however, is not the really exciting part.

The ladies put together a raffle for a Circut.

THE THING CUTS PRECISION SHAPES. It is the most amazing thing I've ever seen. One of the Ladies brought it into work for a scrapbook night, and I was over the moon. Not in love enough to race out and buy one. They are pricey suckers. The machine itself is $300+ and the software bits are $80 a pop. GULP. While I could afford it, there are other things I'd like to dedicate my resources to.

By now, Dear Reader, you have probably figured out who won the raffle. This little machine is soooooooo cool. It cuts flowers, it makes perfect letters. It's super exciting. I could see myself sitting entranced by the machine for HOURS. I have it on my coffee table right now. I have a feeling, it will get a work out this week.

We’re on a roll!!

No not the Kieser kind… hmmmmm kieser rolls, I wonder how they’re made… STOP that Amy! Focus! Focus!

Ahem

Pardon moi. I have let the intoxication of the challah bread woo me… hmmmm challah..

OK OK Back on track.

I just saw “A Tradition of Quirky Artists” listed on a blogroll for the first time! Woo hoo! OK, yes I know that’s not very exciting, much akin to seeing your name in your 8th Grade Band Recital.

Clickety Click on over to the Martha’s Vineyard Fiber Farm and read all about it!

The Cast of Characters

My dream is to get the whole Gang involved in this little blog project so I thought I'd introduce the Cast of Characters to you.

May I present....

The Mamajama. Matriarch, Enabler. The Mamajama is the driving force behind GlassNeedleArts. It is her dream to have a shop and share her obsessions (and nuttiness) with the world! The Mamajama's current obsessions are: Knitting, quilting, tatting, just about anything that gives her an excuse to go to a craft store.

Poppy. Patriarch, Driver. Poppy begrudgingly humors our crafting madness and is ever so kind to drive the Mamajama on said craft store adventures. Oh yeah, and he makes the most fabulous stained glass creations you could ever imagine.

Claire. Crocheter, Mensa Brat. Claire is the hipster in the group, keeping tabs on the fashion trends and what the cool kids are doing. And yes, she really is a member of Mensa. Brat.

The Russians. We may on occasion make reference to "The Russians". You see, we are not a normal family. The Bro, his wife and the neices now live in Russia. I could tell you why they are there but then I'd have to kill you. Loose lips sink ships.

LeeLuu. Pug Monster, Direction Eater. Ah, the joys of the pug. LeeLuu loves to help with crafty adventures by getting her curly tail tangled in the yarn you're working, or eating directions, laying on your freshly washed fabric, or getting scrapbook paper stuck to her feets. She's very helpful. Bonus points if you can tell me where her name comes from!

Amy. Action Plan Girl, Tinkerer. Yup this is me. I do a little bit of everything. From knitting to origami.

Now, on with the show!!