The Scarf of DOOOOOOOOOOM

Okay, so, I keep yarn scraps in my desk at work. So far, I've used them about six times. Lifelines, just need a bit of color, whatever. It's been useful, I tell you!!


(Stop looking at me like that.)

Anyway, I keep lots of yarn scraps. Half-balls of this, tiny smidges of thatk, and while I do use them from time to time, their numbers have been increasing at an alarming rate, and some of it... well, some of it looked unlikely to EVER be used.

Enter the Scarf of Doom.

Step one: at 9pm on the night before you're gonna knit, grab five random things out of your stash.


I grabbed a few more, since the thinner yarns needed to be held triple. And I had no idea I had blue-purple-pompom-with-black-eyelash yarn in my stash until I pulled it out of the Bag O' Scraps.

Then, the next morning (at a suitably hideously early hour), cast on:



Then you've got 2.5h to knit as much as you can. This is about an hour in:


Now this was all started over on WhoDunnKnit.com, home of the amazing Deadly Knitshade. Well, the spreading through the internet was started there. The actual tale that spawned the Scarf of Doom can be found on her blog here, complete with link to the pattern so you can make your very own Scarf of Doom, and there's some follow-up here, and all together, it's a bunch of knitterly awesomesauce!

Oh, and just so you know I finished, here's mine:


Here's a close-up, so you get a good view of the actual fibers involved. 100% synthetic, I assure you!


It's gonna be the other valance in my craft room. (The first valance being my over-seven-foot-long Clapotis. If I'm not going to wear it often, it might as well be out where I can see it!)

Geek Gold

My cousin got to see Carrie Fisher live during her "Wishful Drinking" tour (Carrie Fisher's, not my cousin's). She got me this (my cousin, not Carrie Fisher - but Carrie Fisher signed it!)




(And it's Carrie Fisher of Postcards from the Edge/Star Wars, not Carrie Fisher who was Carrie Underwood. Just thought I should make that clear.)

Scarf of Shadows

From the Offical Movie Site:


If you're a knitter and you saw "Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows", you saw the scarf. The scarf that actually managed to be part of the running story, which, for knitting in an action/adventure movie, is rare.


Image from hollywoodmoviecostumesandprops.blogspot.com
YarnYenta has whipped up a quick pattern so you can make your own Scarf of Shadows, and used KnitPicks City Tweed (from the look of it, Snowshoe (white), Larkspur (blue) and Tarantella (brown)). The Rav download of the pattern is here.


YarnYenta wins for one of the coolest props in a pattern pic!
The scarf is already showing up in non-knitting-related pop culture sketches. And it doesn't hurt that brown and turquoise is one of my favorite color combinations.

Image from totallynotabrony.tumblr.com; artist ??

inappropriatelyadorable.tumblr.com, artist Nicole (it's her site - and she does commissions!)

Yeah. I'll be making one of these. I may even have yarn that would work in the stash - but if not, I know where to get it!

Limited Celebrity

Heehee! Okay, this little ad only ran in my HPKCHC group on Ravelry, but *squee*! (Click on the ad to go through to the iTunes site.)


I noticed the Yarn Genie app (through a normal ad without my name on it) on Rav, and thought "hm, that might be useful!" so I got it. I've been playing with it for about a week now, and run through each part of the program. (The official Yarn Martian on Ravelry, Deborah, asked if she could put me on the above; my fellow Snakes have loved it, and more than a few have downloaded the app.)

1. Yarn Estimator - "Select the project you want to make, answer a few questions about the yarn and the size, and Yarn Genie will calculate the yardage you'll require." This would have been SO useful during the Not Enough Yarn episode during the Evenstar Shawl. I had 10 balls (2350 yds); the pattern calls for 1500 yds (with the original mystery calling for 1700 yards). With my gauge, though, the Yarn Genie says I actually need about 25% more yarn - another 600 yards or so, so I was three balls short! (Right now, Yarn Genie doesn't do circle/diameter calcualtions, but it gives *area* calculations, so if you have a circular shawl/blanket with area X, you can get a similar area calculation, and do small math from there. If circular isn't your strong suit for math (it sure isn't mine!) there's an area calculator here)) Luckily, I managed to (with a LOT MORE MATH THAN I WANTED) to figure out the "three balls short" on my own - but it would've been SO much faster with the app!

I'm totally using it to find out how much yarn my lovely Potions project thinks it needs: I'm making something that's either 50 square feet or 63 square feet; given my gauge (crochet, 3st/in (approximate!)) a 20 sq-ft (48"x60") needs 1260 to 2170 yards - multiply by 2.5 to get 3150 to 5425 OR muliply by 3 to get 3780 to 6510. I have learned to ALWAYS use the high end of the range... so I'm going to need 6500 yards of something for my upcoming OWL. (Wow, that's a lot of yarn. Maybe it should be Transfiguration after all - I'll be vanishing a LOT of yarn!)

2. Hooks/Needles Size Converter -- "Use the converter to determine U.S., Metric and English sizes for needles and crochet hooks." It's like having the Craft Yarn Council Guide in your pocket, without actually having to carry a copy in your pocket.

3. Stash Basher -- "Instantly determine what you can create from the yarns you already have in your stash. Enter the gauge and quantity of the yarn you own and Stash Basher will provide a list of items to consider." I put in my calculation for my blanket above (3st/in, 6500 yds) and I think everything possible came up, including "one big huge honkin' 6'x5' blanket". I entered my new skein of Blue Ridge sock yarn (400 yds) and my estimated gauge (7st/in) and got a much shorter list of items to consider : hats up to 23" in circumference, socks up to a 10" foot length, a 20"x20" blanket, gloves/mitts up to a 10" hand circumference. So "I'd like to make these socks for my husband's 15" long feet" won't fly with this yarn, which is good to know!

4. About Us - handly links to YarnMarket.com, Knitch mag, the Yarndex, and BargainYarns.com. Between this app and Ravelry, I am now dangerous. Or at least more likely to be able to get through some of my (considerable) stash in 2012. Then, in 2013 (assuming the world doesn't end next December), I can run amok and get MORE yarn!!

In summary: Totally worth the download time for a small, free, and darned useful app!

But before the crawl, Miss Babs!

Whee, yarn happened - and other things, too! Last Monday, I had the day off - dentist (yay, I still have teeth) and plumber (boo, didn't show - how can an entire plumbing company call in sick, I ask you? I know they've got more than one guy), so, with the afternoon opened up, I was able to start my Yarn Crawl. (I'd not felt great over the weekend, which is why the first two days of the Crawl were un-Crawled by me. You know missing "yarn on sale" isn't natural.) But wait... some of the yarn I got last week won't make sense unless you see the yarn I got BEFORE then. You see, Fibre Space had a Miss Babs trunk show on April 2. I love Miss Babs yarn, you see, so HAD to go. I'd fallen in love with the "Russet" colorway, and had decided to get four skeins with which to knit my Rogue hoodie. (I had it half-done in acrylic, you may remember... and decided that NO, i was going to do it in wool. Plus, I'm much better at Celtic cables after taking Melissa Leapman's class at the TKGAcon last year.)

The Russet Yowza! was sold out (don't worry, it's on order), so, instead, I got (thanks to an unexpected gift certificate):

Some laceweight in Russet


Enough silver and green to make a $5 in Paris sweater


The remaining colors to make another pair of Winter Twilight Mitts, except with a sort of Winter Dawn and lots of lovely colors idea. And another skein of Russet Yummy Toes. Because I just love Russet as a colorway.


Of course, the silver and green up there is what's left after I started knitting a Slytherin House Crest bag as part of a between-terms knitalong. More on that next week (when, hopefully, it's finished).


Okay, really, TOMORROW we'll start the Yarn Crawl!

Miss Babs and the Color Workshop

Saturday, I got to attend a Miss Babs color workshop at Fibre Space in Alexandria. It was VERY cool. In addition to finding out about Miss Babs (a fellow MBA, and the yarn is actually the family income, which is really cool!!), I got to think about color-planning in a new way. I'm not going to give out the details, since I think anyone who can really should take this workshop - but I'll show you what I got. First up is the yarn (and needles) I got before the workshop. I forgot to picture the cool gadget - drat. But here's the yarn:


You can probably guess what I'm going to do with it. Anyway, one of the color exercises involved a stick, lots of little bits of yarn, and some double-sided tape. Here's my stick:


I looked around at other people's sticks, and spotted some Teal and Terra Cotta together. Two colors that hadn't really grabbed my attention, so I added them to the center of my stick. Then added some Obsidian, then a little Naked. I really like the way it looked - it said "southwest" to me. So, I ended up getting MORE yarn.


I don't know if you can see just how deep and vivd the Teal is - it's a dark turquoise (to my mind), and it looks great against the black and the terra cotta. I'm thinking it will be a 3/4-sleeve bolero, but we'll see. It'll be something, for certain, and soon. And without the workshop, I wouldn't ever have thought about it!


close up of Teal, so hopefully you can see the color better.
Back to this month's classes now - I still have Transfiguration, Potions & Herbology to finish up!

More photos, this time WITH yarn.

Well, OK, more vacation pictures, this time *with* yarn. As I think I mentioned (about a dozen times), I was able to get into the classes I wanted, and they were all amazing. I don't have a lot to show you, but I have some of the little things I made-in-progress. I highly recommend you take the classes, if you ever get a chance to do so!

Arenda Holladay's gauge class was really nifty. And not just because of the free yarn she gave us (courtesy of Caron):


I got some Bamboo!
I learned how to set up to measure gauge on a stockinette swatch, thus:


... and also garter stitch, lace, and cables. She also gave us gauge worksheets, so we could survive gauge calculations once she wasn't standing over us. She's also amazingly prepared. I thought I was ready for class, but, as it turns out, the gauge ruler I brought with me didn't go down to 1/8ths of an inch (just 1/4ths) and my calculator wouldn't allow input past two decimal places (????). She had rulers *and* calculators, just in case. Also some gauge swatches, in case anyone had forgotten/lost their homework (it happens). Very cool!!

Next was Melissa Leapman's Celtic cables class. I finally figured out that I knit strangely. I mean, we all knew that - but really, REALLY oddly. I don't know if you can see it, but the bottom of my little cheerio-of-yarn goes, from left to right, flat purl, flat purl, VERTICAL stitch.


This is *so* not the way it's supposed to be; turns out I have to bring my needle around backwards from what I normally do, and sort of shrug things in the "wrong" direction, which is actually the correct direction, and then my stuff looks like everyone else's.

Then there was Margaret Fisher's amazing advanced finishing class. I can graft now. I practiced in class, then I practiced again. I marked the swatch, then cut it...



Yes, I panicked here.
.... and then managed to get it back together. And this is just ONE of the tricks we learned that will Make Life Much Easier in the long run!


(And did you know? Tubular cast on/cast off actually has little tubes in it!!)


Finally, there was Lily Chin and her Knitting Tips & Tricks. O.M.G. She talks fast, she knits fast, she dispenses knowledge faster than I can blink. And I've already used a bunch of it! I didn't have time to even think of getting a photo, but the Celebration Baby Shrug used two tricks she gave us, the Tilting Tardis Cowl used another, and I've already used more on my Potions & Herbology homework. Srsly! Her books are cool (I have two, autographed...), but her class totally worth it. I'm going to take her Crochet Tips & Tricks next time...!

Oh - she also knows how I knit, to the point where Everything Suddenly Made Sense. It's called "Eastern Combined Uncrossed", and knowing that's my knitting style means there's a quick set of conversions I can do when faced with a chart, and then everything will work out just peachy. It's kinda nice to know that there's enough folks who knit the same way I do that it actually has a name!!

And, while we're at it, let me point out the one thing I wanted that I didn't buy:


I'd have gotten the deluxe...
I didn't get it from:


They totally would've sent them to me, but I was hoping I'd need them before I got home (didn't turn out that way), and couldn't figure out how to get them on the plane.

To close, Mom is NOT in Time Out. She's the only person at the convention, though, that was TRYING to find a warm, sunny place to sit - even if that meant it was 90+ degrees where she was.


Me? I was over in the shade by the fan, taking the picture!

Thursday Miscellany

Whups, there were a few more photos I meant to share on Tuesday. Since there wasn't really room, I'm not that upset I forgot them. So, here you go!

	The seat cushion under the cool illusion/intarsia sun thing is actually a split-back (zipperless) pillow cover, with ties. It's all hand-stitched (I'm still scared of my sewing machine), and made from duck cloth - because it might be, say, sitting outside in a baseball stadium in the rain someday. I want it to hold up! I was a good bunny and actually pinned my seams before stitching so they'd be even. Yeah, that sounds basic, but you'd be surprised how often I don't pin and just hope I can eyeball it!
My boss, out of the blue, brought me some pretty Gerber daisies for my desk last week. They're still doing fine, and will probably make it into next week. I thought that was totally sweet of her!
	All that Project Runway watching during making all the sandwiches? I totally loved Heidi Klum's dress at the finale. There's got to be a way to work this neckline (a) with yarn and (b) onto my HoM O.W.L.-to-be corset. I think it would look SUPER cool.
The Hufflepuff-colored dish scrubbie was actually going to be bigger than it is. I even started the next row in yellow, then did the math: I was going to be crocheting over 6,000 stitches for JUST THIS ROUND if I kept going - and I was going to have to do more black on top of that. Exponential progression - YIKES!!! I pulled it out, and went with the lovely little object you saw previously. I'd still be crocheting it NOW if I hadn't!
	My friend JJ got some amazing - and expensive and very, very exclusive (like $200/skein!) yarn as a gift. She made an amazing sweater from it - yes, everything you see, even the sparklies, are all one yarn. It's a really, really lovely piece!!
Finally, the Giant Happy Flying Bunny is in its new home. And yes, I just now realized I have a Hufflepuff color scheme car. *Sigh.* I love it anyway.

Another reason Betsey Johnson rocks.

OMG, I love this dress!!


It's the Lace Up Bow Intarsia Skinny Dress, prominently in the store window in Georgetown. I so could not wear it (and look halfway decent), but I adore it and its concept. Betsey J is my favorite designer, and little numbers like this is why.

We direct your attention to...

Cool item of the week from months ago - someone on one of the blogs I read (and I read lots of blogs... and I'm not sure it was one I stumbled upon, or one of my regulars, so if it was you, speak up so I can link you!) finished some lovely little slippers, and put the *cutest* little pawprint things on the bottom to give them traction. They're Regia Sock Stoppers.Aren't they cute?


Nifty thing of a few weeks ago: Heels by Number, pointed out by Helen a while back.

Best Real-Life MacGuyver I: While researching how to wash house windows properly (thank you, This Old House!), I found something I'd like to find. LIFESAVING TOOL: Window washer Jan Demczur used an Ettore squeegee to free himself and five others from an elevator shaft in the World Trade Center during the September 11 attacks. The blade was lost, but Demczur's squeegee handle is now enshrined at the Smithsonian. I think that particular squeegee handle would be something interesting to see. (Cousin dearest, I'm looking at YOU to find this object and photograph it for posterity - or at least find it so I can go see it, too.)

Nifty thing this week, found over on the Mason Dixon knitblog: The Clover Pom Pom Maker! I want some!! (There's one that makes HEART SHAPED pom poms!!)

(Turns out Clover has lots of useful videos, here.)

Nifty thing for next month: I get to take classes with these guys!


You can tell I don't really have any knitting progress to report, can't you. Drat. I was hoping the pom-pom maker video would distract you....

Fun things I found to share

Spiffy New Thing for all the stitchers out there (you know who you are): Kniterdone of Meet me in the Dayroom fame pointed out the new Stitching 'n' Junk podcast, which is a hoot. Clicky on the picture to listen, free!


You can also subscribe through iTunes (which is what I did). it's kicky, it's offbeat, it's fun, and hey - you can listen and stitch at the same time!


As long as we're discussing Spiffy New Things, I spotted this at A.C. Moore weekend-before-last:






Yep, Debbie Stoller, of Stitch 'n' Bitch fame (TAKE THAT, people in NYC who tried to TM the phrase! Ain't gonna hold up!), has her own line of yarn. Read all about it on the StitchNationYarn site! Looks like the Full O Sheep is a good felting yarn; I'm sure there will be a felting class (or, hey, a felting O.W.L.) in my future at HPKCHC, so I'll keep that in mind. But yay, Debbie! Yarn!!

Also, added this to my library: Shirley Paden's Knitwear Design Workshop: The Comprehensive Guide to Handknits. Wowza, this is a great resource - and it's spiral-bound, so it actually lies flat!! (I'm all about spiral-binding. I took the spines off of most of my sheet music complilations & spiral-bound them so I could actually put them on the music rack and play. Spiral-binding is a wonderful, wonderful thing.)


If I hadn't already known about this book, I'd have picked it up on the basis of the sweater on the cover alone! However, I found out about it from The World's Best Knitting Video Podcast, Let'sKnit2Gether. If you're not already watching it, you should check it out!!

Okay, that's enough fun new stuff for this week....!

And the O.W.L. has begun!

There was some knitting this weekend, but it sure wasn't on Saturday. I missed most of Saturday. Friday night, though, I was able to get earflaps on the three Jayne hats. And yes, they're hanging off my exercise bike. They're not on the seat, so it doesn't really hurt anything!!


I was hoping I get them done by the end of the weekend - preferably BEFORE my 3pm-on-Sunday Girasole Crash Course at Fibre Space, because, suddenly, I have a whole BLANKET to knit, half of which must be done by the end of June!!

Speaking of, the Jared Flood class at Fibre Space was FANTASTIC!! He's a great teacher, and we learned a lot of cool stuff in our two-hour workshop. For one, I need never have a hole in the crown of my colorwork hats/circular shawls EVER AGAIN. For two, I can spit-splice now, and I have faith it'll actually work. For three, I HAS A SIGNED PATTERN. Wheeee! I got to see THE Girasole (pronounced gir-ah-SO-lay, evidently; I've been saying it wrong):


That's my yarn in the lower left, so you know I was actually THERE and close enough to touch it!
By the time I was in the car on the way home, I had a pretty good start on my O.W.L. The center, of course, goes pretty quickly; we'll see how much it slows down by the time I'm on Chart D - which is waaaay the heck in the future, evidently.


At the end of the weekend, which for me was Monday night (due to the Being Sick thing, which I'm pretty sure I wasn't at the workshop, or I'd not have gone), I had worked through over half of Chart C and had switched up from my 16" circs to my 24" circs. I'm going to try to wait until I've got the 640 stitches at the end of Chart D before I switch up to the 36" needles. Anyway, here's that really cool Girasole Tracker I found. It's an Excel spreadsheet, and tells you how far in you are at the end of any given row:


... which means I have a whopping 12.4% of the shawl done. YIKES! It's been a lot of knitting already; I guess this really IS an O.W.L.-worthy project!!