Happy 2010!

The 2009 holidays were busy, with smaller gift projects flying off my needles at a rapid rate. Hard to post anything about those efforts, as the intended recipients might see!

Looking back, here is the result of the past 2 months work:

• 5 hats (okay, 2 were for me...)
  
• 1 baby pod (pictured above)
  
• 2 robot brooches
• 8 coffee/tea cozies
• 1 new Proto Robot

Next year, I need to do a little more advance planning!

Talking of planning, one of my resolutions for 2010 is to clarify the purpose of this blog and, with that clarity in mind, to post more often. So far, here is my outline:

• Develop a mission statement to answer the question, why would anyone want to read this blog? (still working on this)
  
• Plan and post in logical sections: Projects On and Off my Needles, Bye-Bye Budget ( Products to <3 ), Travel & Adventures, Geekery Alert!
  
• Play the Eliminate the Words 'I' and 'me' game (go ahead, try it!)
• Get my random capitalization under control
  
• Above all, do no harm (constructive criticism is ok, but no careless or hurtful posts)

Any resolutions to share, ye bloggers out there?

Knitty Calendar Contest Winners!

Sometimes things all fall into place.

I wanted to make a dress for my niece's third birthday. When the Knitty summer issue came out, I thought the Elenka dress was just the ticket - but was not sure if my niece would like it. Val, her mother, liked it, and so I quickly knitted up the dress to be ready for their visit to the East coast in July - the first time I would see my niece in a year-and-a-half since their last visit.

She loved the dress (such a sweet reward to see a little girl twirl and jump and spin in something you made for her!) and when I mentioned the calendar contest to Val - she was excited to try her hand at taking a great picture of Maddie in the dress.

With wings and wand in tow, Val and Maddie (and Aunt Kathy) went out to Middlebury College Museum of Art on a beautiful August day in front of the Patrick Dougherty installation of twig tipi houses that helped set the scene in fairy-land.

We sent off the pictures to Knitty just in time for the contest deadline and impatiently sat back to wait. Finally, and unbelievably, we found that we had won the grand prize!

I'm so proud of my sister for the fabulous photo she took - and the vision she displayed in setting it up and making it happen.

Check out the full calendar - and all of the winning photos.

How I knit

For fun, I recorded how I knit on a wrong side row of the Lace Scarf I've been working on. This got me to thinking about a comment the Yarn Harlot made about how she is fascinated by watching other people knit. Wouldn't you know it, a search on YouTube turned up lots of examples. Here is my video and a few of my favorites. Enjoy!

Sorry about the pause at the beginning. I was waiting for hubby to say "Go!"



This is a fascinating knitting style. Notice the crochet hook-like needles.



This is a long one - but the manner in which the right needle is held kept me mesmerized.



I was taught to knit Eastern European style but re-taught myself to knit from a book when I found following knitting directions difficult. Interweave had a great article on this style in the Spring 2004 issue - unfortunately, this is no longer online.



Love the technique. Love the nails.



This rhythmic flick is hypnotizing.



Bet she's glad to get a moment to herself.



Great background music.



Silly. And makes me hungry for some reason....

Do you have a favorite?

Knitting poligamy and the lucious Lace Scarf

There are those who can love only one project at a time. They are the monogamous knitters. They don't have huge stashes of projects begun but not yet done.

Not me. I am a knitting polygamist. Did you ever wonder why there are so many different sized needles? The monogamist knitter would say that this is to allow for the possibilities of knitting in different gauges. The polygamist knitter knows that this is to allow for having twelve projects on needles at the same time.

I saw this amazing cover project by Tanis Knits in last winter's Vogue Knitting Magazine but did not immediately purchase the wool for it because:

1. my many other projects waiting to be completed were glaring at me


2. the wool for this project is very expensive


3. ever since the eighties, when all my knitting was done with yarn that should be glad I don't play with matches, I must must must use the real, designer yarn for my projects

In a moment of weakness (and due to the fall yarn sale at Webs) I succumbed to the lure of the Alpaca, pulled out my MasterCard and ordered the yarn. Two weeks of both instant and delayed regret followed as I waited for my pricey purchase to arrive. First to show up on the doorstep were the size 19 rosewood needles. What a tease! How cruel of them to send the needles and then tell me the yarn is back-ordered!

Soon enough a very large and heavy box with 20 skeins of yarn arrived (and more guilt). Once I laid hands on the first skein freed from the plastic packaging all regrets faded away. Have you ever held baby angora bunny mixed with downy chick fuzz and a little bit of fluffy cloud in your hands? The Blue Sky Alpacas Bulky wool is amazing, decadent, and all-around fantabulous. I gave serious thought to replacing my pillow with 8 or so balls of this heavenly stuff. Only the thought of having to hand-wash this wonder on a weekly basis prevented me.


I've made it through the first pattern repeat and figure that due to the enormous gauge, I should have this baby completed in a couple of weeks. The finished measurements have this scarf at over 11 feet long. I'm going to see how it goes - can't have my precious dragging on the ground.

Note to my currently passed-over projects, I'll be back for you soon!

Bots over Brooklyn

We had a wonderful visit to Brooklyn in July. Some of the high points:

Got to see brother Bill in a production of Hamlet in J.J. Byrne park in front of The Old Stone House. It was a perfect summer night, and the performance was very enjoyable despite the tragic plot. There are so many familiar quotes from that play - I'd forgotten where they came from.

Did you know there are fireflies in the city? We saw several playing hide-and-seek between folks spread out on the lawn to watch the play. Who knew?

As the city that spawned Etsy, it should not have been a surprise that Brooklyn houses a diverse and interesting artist community. We spent quite a while window shopping. Found a very friendly LYS (local yarn store) called Knit-A-Way and dropped some cash on a few skeins of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. Yum! Also found a cute pair of robot earrings. Joy!

At one point, we stood transfixed by the contents of an antiques shop window which was filled with amazing robot sculptures.



Yet another thing to save my pennies for (or is that buy lottery tickets for?). But which one? Ms. Jello, Simplex 3, or Spot?? Sigh....

Shopportunity

So no good deed goes unpunished, right? I loaned my sweet Avenue A | Razorfish USB flash drive out to a co-worker. Long story short, co-worker departed with the drive and says they mailed it back. A week ago.

Excuse to go shopping? You betcha!

Reason departed, and BOTH of these sweet mimobots will be mine! Let the Empire beware...

We have a winner!!! (sort of)

Way back in April, I submitted one of my Proto the Robo brooches to the TNNA/Piecework Magazine brooch contest.

While I did not win any of the fabulous prizes, my brooch did make the group selected for display in a special exhibit - and is pictured in this month's Piecework Magazine.

Super-wohoo!

Little proto can be spotted with his 52 new friends at the Embroiderer's Guild of America Museum in Louisville, Kentucky through September 23rd, 2009.

P.S. Take note ye who scoff at the social media revolution - I found out about this contest on Twitter!!