rope. tree. fan. spear. snake. wall.

Saturday, April 26, 2014

First German Wollfest in a while

So one of the Heidelberg knitters posted that she was driving to the Backnanger Wollfest on Friday the 25th and did anyone want to ride along, and I said oo! me! so that's what I did yesterday.

The location was the local Waldorf school and hoo boy, I'm a little skeptical about the Waldorf method, but if we'd had this available, I'd've sent my kids there, because LOOK!
Coolest school I've ever seen, I'll tell you what. After we signed in and got our nifty red rubber souvenir bracelets, we all scattered to look around at our own pace, and then some of us reconvened for lunch and to show off our purchases. At that point all I had was some new Holz & Stein needles to replace the ones Lilu and Fufu ate. Yes. They didn't eat them UP, but someone bit the point off one end of my ebony 2.5mm circs, and someone gnawed the other end quite ferociously, and I've been using them anyway for lo, these 6 years now. And while I was there anyway I got some rosewood 2.75s, because that's a size I didn't have yet. And they threw in a free pencil!
After lunch I took a class on photographing your knitting, which was all informative and stuff, but I am clearly a creature of habit because even though I couldn't wait to try all these neato tricks I learned, all my photos still look the same as they did before. Tja. At least I learned that my phone has a macro setting (and a panorama setting, which is not knitting-related but I have been complaining about this phone not having that for oh, must be nearly two years now). 

So then my cohort were all in classes, and I had oh, two hours to kill before it was time to head home, so that's when I did all my yarn-buying. I'm glad I waited, looked around, and made sure to have a plan for each thing I bought. The things I'm planning are not things I knew I needed, but that's okay. I know now. 

Drachenwolle has yarn you want to hug, in big shouty colors. I loved their red, but I'm never going to wear anything that color, so I chose some nice pale jeans-blue stuff to make this little jacket from Needles & Artifice. Which means the button-quest is on. 
Aaaand then there was Dye For Yarn. Holy cats y'all, I saw the Muknitters talking about it on Facebook and really didn't think anything of it. I should've known better. I must have visited their stall 10 times - partly because I needed several trips to decide what color I wanted, and also then because once I was closer to a decision I couldn't fight my way through the crowds. The colors? Are amazing, even apart from the names. I finally settled on "Giant Clam Closing Forever". My camera came close to capturing the intensity of the color, but my computer is totally letting me down here. You'll just have to come visit me once I've made a Featherweight out of it, but I'll warn you - you won't be able to resist hugging me. The color is just that fabulous. 

And then I simply had to buy the pattern for a scarf they had hanging around, and of course the yarn to go with it. Say hello to "Severe Cobalt Intoxication" in 100% Silk. 
I don't even know what to cast on first. My little heart goes pitty-pat every time I look at these. Also I have to go to the Dye For Yarn store. You should come with me!




Sunday, April 20, 2014

a possible step forward

I'm going to the Backnanger Wollfest next Friday, where I will be taking a "Photograph Your Knitting" workshop! Maybe that'll help me blog. I am not finding a good surface for taking pictures, my camera does not love me, and there is probably good light, but it's on the other side of some pretty filthy windows. I'm thinking of buying this dress form from eBay. I daydream about getting a better camera. I have no intention of cleaning the damn windows.

But I am making progress! I cast off a nice snuggly-warm wool sweater on this, the first really nice spring day of the year. I'm sure I'll enjoy wearing it in six or seven months. Photographing it is a different story. It's dark purple, textured, and impossible, and it is the project I will be taking to the photography workshop. I am fairly certain it will defeat the teacher.

Also, there are socks. The Jemisin design is now my official go-to sock pattern. I'm making a pair for a friend in Mannheim, and this weekend's Star Trek marathon meant real progress, so that's good.

AliƩnor... wow, I should really set up that test-knit, huh? But the sleeves are the perfect zero-ease size in plain stockinette, and then the lattice pattern is too ridgid around my Popeye-forearms (probably because of the yarn's high silk content) so I have to reknit them, AND I put in way too many short-rows at the bust so that has to be re-done too. I was stupid, I just plowed ahead and figured I'd fix it in the blocking, but reality must be faced. So I basically finished the sweater - okay, I actually finished the sweater, put it on display at the Brei- en Haakdag in Amersfoort last month, and now I'm frogging oh, about half of it. A little more than half. Argh.

None of this, of course, constitutes an excuse for procrastinating on the test-knit.

I know the Song du Jour of the Day is a feature of the other blog, but I'm on this blog today, and I have a song, so: Simply Falling, by Iyeoka.