Post-Ravelympics Ruminations

Ravelympics may be over, but the reminiscing has just begun! I was waiting for my BobicusMaximus Badge of Glory pin to arrive to get this post up, & as you can see by this photo, it's here! Next time you see me at a fiber festival, I'll be Ravelry representin'. Now, let the ruminating begin!

1. Finishing up during closing ceremonies, 2. Socky FO, 3. Poof!, 4. Finished 'Saddest Project Ever', 5. Spin Me Right 'Round 43/365, 6. Ravelympics Omen, 7. Still Life with Yarn, Basket 44/365, 8. Wrapped in Wred, 9. Finished Charity Blanket Square, 10. FO - Poppin' Fresh, 11. Matchy Matchy Hat in progress, 12. COLORBOMB 'Clown Pants' alternate, 13. Burly Spun, 14. Puppets, 15. Team COLORBOMBers Project Placeholder, 16. Sunny Stripes 48/365, 17. World Record Scarflette is DONE!, 18. COLORBOMB 'Retina Burn', 19. We Have Hat!, 20. I'm on Radar!, 21. Velma 014, 22. Team yarn in progress, 23. Sad No More Scarf, 24. Let the Games Begin!,
25. Gawd, I look like my mother. Except for the hat.

First, an accounting.

• Projects frogged = 4: Inflated Ego, UFO of the Damned, Bean's Bear, & Valentine Elf Topper
• Yarns returned to stash = 4: Plymouth Rimini Rainbow, Brown Sheep Burly Spun, Crystal Palace Poof, & Rowan Big Wool
  
• WIPs finished = 5: Sad No More, Veltrelac Socks, World Record Scarflette, Q-Tip, & Poppin' Fresh
• New projects made = 2: Matchy Matchy Hat & HH4H Square
• Yarns spun = 2: Acid Burn & Clown Pants
• Yarns dyed = 1: Tarzhay Wannabe

This garnered me the following medals:

• Aerial Unwind: 4
• WIPs Dancing: 5
• Flying Camel Spin: 2
• Stash Dance: 2
  
• Charity Curling, Downhill Dyeing, Hat Half-Pipe, Platter Lift, & Single Skein Speed Skate: 1 each

As a Team Captain, I also received this special medal, which I've posted with pride on my Ravelry profile page.

Not bad, huh? There's a big discussion going on over in the What I learned at the Ravelympics thread, which I have yet to weigh in on. But here are some stats I lifted from this post by Kimberli:

• total # projects tagged with ravelympics2010: 24,284
• total # projects tagged with ravelympics2010 and finished: 12,878
• total # Ravelers that finished: 6,296 (out of 9,538 participating)
• total # countries participating: 65
• total # of people posting into a Finish Line: 5,186
• total yardage used: 8,068,000 (yes…this is 8+ million!)
• total yardarge spun/dyed: 448,000

So, what did I learn at the Ravelympics? I re-discovered how good it feels to actually finish things. I was reminded that I work best under a deadline. And I learned that I love knitting! Oh, wait, I already knew that. How about: I learned that I really need to find a better way if I'm going to start dyeing self-striping sock yarn at a production level. Better?

I can't end this post without talking a little bit about my mates on Team COLORBOMBers. They really made Ravelympics for me, all 10 of them. I want to give a special shout-out to Knitzphat & Halloweentango for really helping me keep the conversation going over the course of the last several weeks. You two are almost as bigga loudmouths as me! In a good way, of course. ;)

As a thank-you to everyone that participated in Ravelympics as a member of Team COLORBOMBers, I'm sending each of you a $10 off coupon good towards your next purchase at www.colorbombcreations.etsy.com!

Tags: knitting, Ravelympics, COLORBOMB Creations

Poppin' FRESH!

I am feeling SO cute in this self-portrait, evidence of how pleased with myself I am with finally knocking off another UFO, with how much I love this hat, and with the fact that the rain stopped! What more could you want out of a Friday anyway?

Once upon a time, this hat was called 'Wrong Number', after the Scraptastic handspun of the same name on the top of the hat (above left). But after spinning up yarn to complete it, a Singleton style in what I called 'Retina Burn' (above right), and subsequently finishing it last night, I realized that it reminds me of the hat worn by the Poppin' Fresh Pillsbury Doughboy & it needed a re-name: Poppin' Fresh was born!

This hat got started waaay back in May 2008, as a top-down beanie, but it got set aside (read: abandoned), and despite my best Ravelympics 2008 intentions, sat until I went to SOAR in October 2009. There I trotted it out and realized that I not only didn't have near enough yarn to finish it, but that it was pretty FUBAR: too many stitches formed a ruffle, & I don't know if you've noticed, but my head doesn't have a ruffle. But my friend Jimbobspins was there when I was thinking of frogging & stopped me with a design idea: what IF I did some rapid decreasing, & left the ruffle in as a design element? Intriguing.

So that's what I did! I spun up that 2nd yarn, left it unset and unbalanced so the stitches would bias for additional textural interest - 'cuz really, all that scrappy goodness on the top wasn't enough! This last photo shows the top to good effect.

So, in the waning days of Ravelympics 2010 I have earned another WIPs Dancing medal. Now I'm working on my square for the Handmade Memories charity blanket to benefit Haiti. Just me, some Cascade 220 leftovers, and Barbara Walker's Charted Knitting Designs. Happy Friday night, crafters!

Tags: knitting, handspun, ravelympics

Q-Tipping

Yet another UFO is U-Finished! Yay Velma! I'd had this crochet not-yet-a-hat lurking in my WIPs pile for-ever now, & it was on my list to tackle for Ravelympics, so I did! And, I've been watching lots of snowboarding, channeling some of that rawk-ous energy; can you tell? Here's me modeling it in a less, shall we say, 20-something pose.

I call this bit o' hat fluff Q-Tip, 'cuz of the fluffy white poofs sprinkled throughout the lavender, pink, & fuschia thick-and-thin handspun singles from Jenny Neutron Star (who has, it seems, fallen off the face of teh internets).

I used a 15mm/USP/Q hook and no pattern - just winged it, as is my wont when crocheting hats, 'cuz I can't follow a crochet pattern for crap. (It's not that I don't understand what is being asked of me, it's that I don't know where to put the frikken hook to make it happen!) Here's a shot from the side, so you can see it in nore detail.

Anyway, I like it pretty well (it is growing on me), although I've realized that one of the earflaps is bigger --too big-- than the other; that needs to be fixed. I suppose I'll have to be the one to do it, too! ;)

Besides another WIPs Dancing medal, I also had some happiness drop into my mailbox today: yarn porn! Isn't it pretty?!? It is a Colorwork Set from Play at Life Fiber Arts on Etsy; although *I* think this colorway should be called 'Velma Wets Her Pants in Happy Joy-Joy', it's actually called 'If Only' - also a good name. At a whopping 640 yards combined, it is designed to be used for colorwork: I'm thinking Dark Isle Socks by Julia Mueller, maybe. (Rav link) Worried that I might not have quite enough yardage for those, though, so I'd better email the designer & check before casting on.

Since I can't think of anything else, I'm gonna leave you to go spin some yarn!

Tags: crochet, Ravelympics, yarn

Craft or Bust Week 7

CRAFTASTIC! That's what this week was. I'm bangin' out those lingering WIPs & generally gettin' down to some seriously crafty bidness.

1. Finished three long-standing UFOs, garnering me 3 WIPs Dancing medals in Ravelympics:
   • Saddest Project Ever is now Sad No More
     
   • Veltrelac Socks do NOT make me look fat, &
   • My World Record Scarflette is D for DONE!
     
   
   
2. Made mine Matchy Matchy: Knit a MM Hat to go with my MM Cowl, medaling in Hat Halfpipe, Stash Compulsory Dance, & Single Skein Speed Skate events
   


3. Frogged-but-not-blogged my UFO of the Damned, Bean's Bear, & Valentine Elf Topper, adding three 'new' yarns to my stash!
   

What else? Oh, yeah, still continuing on with my Year in Pictures: Work in Progress blog. What with Spring springing around here, I've been taking flower pictures some. First daffodils, first bloom on our new plum tree, & quince blossoms. Love me some spring!

1. Quince 52/365, 2. First Growth 50/365, 3. Harbinger of Spring 49/365

I also did a lot of reading this week, although that's not so crafty; but so what! ;) I read 2 books this week, & sent 'em both out into the world via Bookcrossing.com - my favorite way to 'recycle' books. I read The Grief Stop, by Vicki Stiefel, and A Great Deliverance by Elizabeth George. Been in the mood for mystery. That brings my totals to 6 books and 3,033 pages read in 2010 - 12% of my goal of 52 books & 25,000 words!

That seems like PLENTY for one week, don't you think? And what about you, what did YOU do this week? Did you Craft or did you Bust?

Tags: knitting, reading, flowers, craft or bust

Today's Post is Brought to You by the Letter D

'D' is for Done! Yup, another WIP-turned-FO for Ravelympics. This one is my World Record Scarflette, made from my own COLORBOMB Creations WoolyBear Handspun in a simple seed stitch.

I knit about 95% of this at Sock Summit last summer, during the Guinness World Record attempt for most simultaneous knitters (previously set in Australia with 236 knitters). That's me there! Thanks to Leila Wice for letting me share her picture with all y'all. You had to use straight needles, and I never knit on straights, but this was a special occasion; I even used my Nana’s vintage Boye needles. We were 935 knitters strong! Hopefully, we won't have to wait for Sock Summit 2.o in 2011 to learn if we broke the record.

The reason it took me so long to complete is because I couldn’t hit on an ending I liked. I tried several different things, including adding on a section of my Scraptastic yarn, but ended up with just letting the yarn & the simple seed stitch tell the story. I found a vintage buckle at my fave local vintage housewares shop, Daisy Dry Goods, and paired it with my Nana’s bone crochet hook as a shawl pin combo.

Tags: knitting, Ravelympics, COLORBOMB Creations

Do These Socks Make Me Look Fat?

Haha, just kidding of course! I don't buy into that shit (at least, not usually), but entrelac does seem to bulk-ify my ankles, making them, as my mother would have said, 'cankles'. (Note to self: remember this when considering knitting an entrelac sweater.)


Knitting socks always seems like magic to me. More than other projects I've knit, I'm always astounded by the whole fabric coming out of simple sticks & string construction. This time was no different; in fact, entrelac knitting seems like an extra-magical experience. Trusting that the geometry will work out is key, especially if you are 'spacially-challenged' like me. But just look at the results!

The best part? Entrelac was easy - who knew?!? I expected it to be fiddly & difficult, but nope. Just simple stockinette done in wee blocks.

1. Knittin' in the Wild Self-Portrait, 2. V, KIP at Farmer's Market, 3. Smiley V, 4. Stockinetting at Purl 'n Hurl

You wouldn't know how easy they are by how long they took me, though. Sheesh. Started 'em way back in June '09 on my backpacking trip. Look at me, knitting on 'em in the Siskiyou Wilderness, at the Farmer's Market, at the Humboldt County Fair, and at Purl 'n Hurl - all last summer!

But they are done now, thanks to the kick in the ass motivation that is Ravelympics! Here are the details that I'm sure you are wondering about:

Project Name: Veltrelac Socks
Pattern: Annetrelac Socks by Sandy Beadle
Yarn: Schaefer Anne
Needles: US1/2.25mm
Size: to fit Women's 10
Cast on: June 13, 2009
Cast off: February 19, 2010

There are LOTS more pictures on their project page; feel free to go there and tell me how awesome they are! ;)

Tags: knitting, ravelympics, socks

Make Mine Matchy Matchy

First off, a BIG thanks going out to everyone that commented on my last blog post about knitting for my dead mother. I feel like the outpouring really solidified my feeling of turning a problem project into a positive experience; 'closure', as they say.

Now, on to new projects! Two years ago I decided I wanted to make my first matching hat/scarf set. I made a cowl in an afternoon, a little number in Colinette Point 5 yarn that I successfully winged; dubbed Matchy Matchy Cowl, I had every intention of knitting the accompanying hat that same weekend.

But best laid Velma procrastinator plans, as usual. That was in 2008. Fast forward to now, & I added the hat to my list of projects I wanted to accomplish for Ravelympics. Four hours of my Monday night later: Matchy Matchy Hat was born! Yep, 2 years in the planning & only 4 hours to make. My favorite thing about it? My piggies stick out the top!

Come back tomorrow to see what else I finished this week...

Tags: knitting, ravelympics

Atop the Podium

I've received my first Ravelympics medals, & I am verklempt; talk amongst yer'selfs.

Completed my first WIPs Dancing event entry by finishing, after nine YEARS!, the simple garter stitch scarf meant for my mom. Begun when I was still a beginning knitter, I used 'ladder' yarn, which completely fucked me up. It is very slippery, & I tend to drop my knitting often (no, not drop my stitches, drop my knitting; I'm just weird, ok?). When I would pick it up, even one dropped stitch would have zipped its way back several rows, & at that time I wasn't very good at picking up dropped stitches, particularly with such finicky yarn. But, I had my friend Eileen around, the advanced knitter who taught me to knit, and she would fix it. Repeatedly. Ad nauseum. Finally, finally, I got to the end without further mishap, and was binding off; when I reached the penultimate stitch - I dropped it again, & ZIP! - undone stitches! I was disgusted, & stuffed the damn thing in a baggie to deal with it later.

And then my mom died.

I didn't know what to do with it. The scarf, I mean. I couldn't throw it away, and I couldn't, somehow, finish it. So I just left it in that damn baggie, stashed in the back of my UFOs pile. And there it sat, 'til yesterday.

Now, of course, I know how to fix things like this. No big deal, I just picked up the stitches back about a dozen rows or so, and knit on. I didn't even have a pair of needles the right size to hand, so I used one needle and a paintbrush, haha. And it took me longer to get pictures of the FO than it did to actually finish knitting it. But it's all done, and I think I need to change it's name from 'Saddest Project Ever' to 'Sad No More'.

I think I'll send it to my sister in Turkey.

Tags: knitting, moms, Ravelympics

Craft or Bust Week 6

Week 6 of Craft or Bust! was CRAMMED with crafty goodness, what with Ravelympics, a book signing for 1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse, and Valentine's Day all falling within it. All crafting, no busting!

I embroi-doodle-ry-ed yesterday to make Mr. Likevelvet a card, adding a heart to one of the designs in the Sublime Stitching Stitachable Stationary kit I won at Maker Faire last year. I used perle crochet cotton from the giant box o' threads I got from Kristy a few weeks ago; made it fast AND shiny! Cole loved it (as he should, lol!) and I got the obligatory box of conversation hearts to go with it.

And it wouldn't be Valentine's Day without heart-shaped bacon, right? Cole said it was an accident, but I'm not sure I believe him. ;)

Ravelympics occupied the rest of my crafty efforts this week, as this and this blog post can attest. In fact, between knitting, spinning, blogging, & posting all over Ravelry, I've developed an early wrist injury; good thing there is a First Aid Station for Ravelympics!

I continued to work on my Flying Camel Spin entry, Scraptastic yarn in colorway 'Go, Team, GO!', but as you can see by the photo, my painkiller-of-choice is beer, and that's never a good way to stay on-task, so I'm still not done with it after 2 spinning sessions, 1 Friday and 1 yesterday. Hopefully, I'll wrap it up today and be able to cross that finish line.

I received my first medal yesterday, for the Aerial Unwind event for frogging my Inflated Ego hat, yielding 2 skeins of the yarn below, Plymouth Rimini Rainbow; I've already found another hat pattern to use it, if I can get my hands on one more skein.

Other crafty doings this week include:

• FINALLY mailed off my swap package of handspun & goodies to filofee in France;
  
• got my One Skein Stole up to 33 inches before retiring it for Ravelymics
• picked out a stitch pattern for my HH4H blanket square
• created a Team COLORBOMBers roster image

Happy Valentine's Day, & see you in a week for Week 7!

Tags: Ravelympics, knitting, handspinning, handspun, Valentine's Day, Craft or Bust, COLORBOMB Creations

The 2nd Ravelympiad Has Begun!

And the theme for the duration is: PLAY! I concentrated on what I wanted to get out of my Ravelympics experience, stuck my hand in the bowl of Angel Cards, & pulled out this one. Couldn't have been a more delightful way to start my Ravelympic fortnight.

Spent all day leading up to the cast-on party during the Opening Ceremonies taking advantage of all the distractions provided by the magical Ravelympics2010 mods & Casey the Codemonkey on Ravelry. Watched a lot of the 'Ravelry Channel', aka the Ravelympics live coverage radar while getting some last-minute work done on my stole before needing to put it into 'hibernation' for the duration of the Olympics. You can see the Vancouver skyline on my computer monitor behind my needles!

Spent some time browsing through my Barbara Walker stitch dictionaries, looking for the perfect chart to use for one of my Ravelympics projects: HH4H Blanket Square, my contribution to the charity blanket that Handmade Memories, my McKinleyville LYS, will be auctioning off to raise money to send to the Haitian earthquake survivors. Found this mosaic pattern in Vol. 3, called 'Puppets', that I like. I haven't worked mosaic stitches before, so it should be a challenge; and I like the idea of using people, even if just stick people, as a symbolic motif. I was thinking blue & purple, but someone suggested 3 colors, & I liked the idea. Maybe light blue, lavender, & dark purple? I've got enough Cascade 220 (the yarn we are required to use for our 10x10 squares) for any number of color combos! I even managed to capture a picture of this photo as it came up on Ravelympics Radar!

OUR TEAM:

I also put some effort into revving up the troops on Team COLORBOMBers. I found this YouTube Olympic Theme video to share, and generally kept up a running commentary about of breaking news as it came into Ravelympics-central.

As much as I wanted to watch the opening ceremonies, have a little cast-on party for one, I had another very fun event to attend. As a contributor to 1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse, I got an invitation to participate in the book signing that took place at Northtown Books during Arts! Arcata! We had a festive Arcata 'launch' party, comprised of author Garth Johnson and contributors Claire Joyce and Monica Topping, plus the Northtown crew, Dante & Monika. After 2 jumbo gin & tonics, I was havin' a GOOD ol' time!

As part of the festivities, & to represent for my COLORBOMBers teammates, I spun up some of my Scraptastic™ yarn. Still need to ply it, but it is hot! Now, off to get some knitting done. Happy Ravelympicing!!

Tags: knitting, Ravelympics, 1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse

Ravelympics-osity!

Today's the day! Woohoo, Ravelympics here we come!

Only 10 more hours 'til Vancouver '10, and my team, Team COLORBOMBers, has 11 fun & friendly members, a very auspicious number that I think bodes well for us. Let me introduce them:

• Amy, aka toadyjoe, blogging at ToadyJoe, Srsly!
  
• Ellen, aka earthfae, blogging at Virtual Sketchbook
  
• Laurie, aka Camanomade, blogging at The Secrets of Yarn
• Leslie, aka henkeig, sadly blogless
• Luna, aka LunaTheFarmLady, blogging at Bluebell Mtn. Spindle & Needleworks
  
• Michelle, aka halloweentango, blogging at MichelleDarensbourg.com
• Miki, aka Knitzphat, blogging at Spinzphat's Blog
• Crystal, aka Silver, blogging at Quicksilver Crafter 2.0
  
• Susan, aka beadmomsw, blogging at WolfWeave
• Talia, aka Kneyda, blogging at International Fleeces
  

Between us, we have a BUNCH of interesting projects ready to be cast on or completed tomorrow. Talia is designing & knitting a hat; ace lace-knitter Leslie will be making Jared Flood's Willoughby Shawl; Ellen has some secret plans for her COLORBOMB Hickory Horned Devil roving; Miki is planning to make not 1, not 2, not even 3...but 10 projects!!! Other team members haven't gotten their projects tagged yet, but I'm confident their projects will also be the BOMB!

Me? What am I planning to tackle? I'm gonna be a spinning, dyeing, frogging, finishing MACHINE! (Rubs hands together gleefully). 4 craptastic, abandoned UFOs to frog I'm entering in the Aerial Unwind event: this hat, this hat, this hat, and this teddy bear - think of all the 'free' yarn I'll get to add to my stash! Plus, there are 7 to finish for the WIPs-Dancing event: a scarf, a hat, a bag, another hat, another 'nother hat, some socks, and a scarf. I collected 'em all together HERE for easy following along (&, 'cuz I'm anal). I can do all this in 17 days, right? Oh, yeah, and the dyeing, and the spinning, and I'm going to make a blanket square for the charity blanket that Handmade Memories is going to raffle off as a Haiti fundraiser. What, too much?

Although I'll miss most of the opening ceremonies (I'll be heading to Northtown Books to do a book signing for 1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse with Garth Johnson of Extreme Craft during Arts Arcata! for most of the evening), I'm planning to watch the lighting of the Olympic flame, the official Ravelympics kick-off (or, more accurately, cast-on). I'm hoping to quick-like-bunny finish this scarf in the 45 minutes between the torch bit and leaving for town; it's the scarf I worked on during the world record attempt at Sock Summit. It's made from my COLORBOMB Creations WoolyBear™ handspun yarn, so it is perfect for my first Team COLORBOMBers project. I want that to be the first thing I finish! You can see if I met my goal by checking its page in my projects.

I also added my name to the list of Yarn Harlot's 2010 Knitting Olympics participants. Gotta pay homage to the originatrix of the whole she-bang.

So, if you are a Ravthelete, have a great opening ceremonies. And, if you are going to be in Arcata tomorrow night after 7pm, stop by Northtown Books & say howdy - I'll have my spinning wheel with me, and I'll be spinning up some of the kick-ass art yarn featured in 1000 Ideas. Come say hi and let me sign your copy!

Tags: knitting, Ravelympics, COLORBOMB Creations

Go, Team, GO!

Didja hear the news? I'm captaining a team for the Ravelympics & I want YOU! Team COLORBOMBers: there are prizes (!), a discount in my Etsy shop, a personalized Ravatar, & even a custom BOMBits colorway in our Official But Optional Team colors, (orange & pink) available only to Team members! There are 8 of us on the team so far, but the festivities don't start for another 2 weeks, and we'd love to have ya - join us today!

I also put up this NEW skein of handspun art yarn in the shop, 'Spruced Up', one of my Tufty™ style yarns with tufts of fiber wrapped like little presents of love and sprinkled throughout.

It's a whopping 132 yards of snow-on-evergreen goodness, in undyed BFL wool with silky green hand-dyed mohair locks from my friend Janet Heppler's Nebo-Rock Textiles in Covelo, CA, plied in with a coordinating cotton thread. Weighing in at almost a quarter-pound, I daresay there should be plenty enough for a hat or other small project, even a pair of matching kids hats!

This last pic I'm throwing in 'cuz it makes me giggle: this is my Day 26 Year in Pictures entry from yesterday, entitled 'Busy Week at the Bomb Squad.' Seems bomb threat #2 of the week wasn't any more threatening than the first one (which turned out to be a bicycle light, not a bomb). Maybe this chin-stroking Humboldt's finest is contemplating what this one will eventually prove to be?

Tags: Ravelympics, COLORBOMB, handspun, yarn, Arcata