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  <title>the string factory</title>
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  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/14410.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:03:56 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>recent events: webs, rhinebeck and not much knitting</title>
  <link>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/14410.html</link>
  <description>&lt;p&gt;First up, my meager soaker progress:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/amelialouise/4036494103/&quot; title=&quot;ecological wool soaker by amelia.louise, on Flickr&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2797/4036494103_deea9644a8.jpg&quot; width=&quot;500&quot; height=&quot;333&quot; alt=&quot;ecological wool soaker&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;It only took me, uh, two weeks to get that right cuff taken care of.  I hope to finish the left cuff before the kiddo&amp;#8217;s out of diapers altogether.  &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;What else have I been up to?  After apparently missing &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fibertwist.com/&quot;&gt;Fiber Twist&lt;/a&gt; again this year, Eve and I made it out to Webs for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ysolda.com&quot;&gt;Ysolda Teague&lt;/a&gt;&amp;#8217;s trunk show.  Eve was very excited about the walls of yarn:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/evebeaudry/3994166536/&quot; title=&quot;eve @ webs by eve.beaudry, on Flickr&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2505/3994166536_e5ac2b402c.jpg&quot; width=&quot;375&quot; height=&quot;500&quot; alt=&quot;eve @ webs&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;She was also really into Ysolda&amp;#8217;s talk.  Or at least, trying to go through everyone&amp;#8217;s knitting bag during Ysolda&amp;#8217;s talk.  Also, she was so excited to be there she pooped right in the middle of it, so that photo above is the only one I ended up taking.  Ah, well.  I will tell you that I had sort of a religious knit-appreciation experience looking at the seamless set-in shoulders on the red &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/vivian&quot; class=&quot;ravelry&quot;&gt;Vivian&lt;/a&gt; sample.  Damn, that girl can knit!  So inspiring!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Last weekend the family trooped down to Rhinebeck for the NY State Sheep &amp;#038; Wool Festival, which is a lot closer to home than I remembered.  I think the last time we went we drove down from the cabin upstate; this year we drove from home and it was only two hours, the middle of which we punctuated with a scenic cut through &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockbridge,_Ma&quot;&gt;Stockbridge&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Barrington,_Massachusetts&quot;&gt;Great Barrington&lt;/a&gt; on our way to the Taconic parkway from the Mass Pike.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I did a lot of yarn shopping but ended up not purchasing anything &lt;i&gt;because I left my wallet in the car&lt;/i&gt;.  I am such a dumbass.  That aside, it was awesome to meet some of the Ravelry crew in person!  Eve&amp;#8217;s festival highlight was meeting Bob:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/frecklegirl/4036184330/&quot; title=&quot;Eve giggles at Bob. by frecklegirl, on Flickr&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2472/4036184330_3c9957bc19.jpg&quot; width=&quot;500&quot; height=&quot;357&quot; alt=&quot;Eve giggles at Bob.&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (photo via&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.frecklegirl.com&quot;&gt; Ravelry Jess&lt;/a&gt;&amp;#8211;she took the best one!)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For real, I&amp;#8217;m pretty sure Bobsolda was the most exciting thing Eve&amp;#8217;s ever seen.  She loves doggies, she loves wool, and OMG A HUGE DOGGIE MADE OF WOOL?!!  OBVIOUSLY THE MOST EXCITING THING EVER.  My only regret is being unable to book Bobsolda for Eve&amp;#8217;s 1st birthday party tomorrow.  There is no way I can ever hope to top Giant Bob of Squishy Wool Love.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Speaking of Eve&amp;#8217;s birthday, she&amp;#8217;s turning one year old today!  Her cupcake-and-pizza party is tomorrow; in the meantime we&amp;#8217;ll be celebrating with a round of bloodwork and vaccinations at the pediatrician&amp;#8217;s office later today.  (Poor kid!)  I&amp;#8217;m hoping to make it up to her with her favorite purple ice cream.  Sadly, I will have no Bob.&lt;/p&gt;
Syndicated from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/recent-events-webs-rhinebeck-and-not-much-knitting/&quot;&gt;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/recent-events-webs-rhinebeck-and-not-much-knitting/&lt;/a&gt;.  Feel free to leave comments wherever you like.</description>
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  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/14185.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Sat, 19 Sep 2009 16:41:58 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>finished liesl!  also, i&amp;#8217;m not dead!</title>
  <link>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/14185.html</link>
  <description>&lt;p&gt;Hello, Intertubes.  It&amp;#8217;s been a while.  What&amp;#8217;s been going on, you ask?  &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The knitting front hasn&amp;#8217;t been nearly as productive as I&amp;#8217;d like.  Babywrangling has kept me very busy this summer.  However, I managed to not fall asleep immediately upon getting the kiddo to bed enough times to finish my &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ravelry.com/projects/amelialouise/liesl&quot; class=&quot;ravelry&quot;&gt;Liesl&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/amelialouise/3894342782/&quot; title=&quot;liesl front by amelia.louise, on Flickr&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2562/3894342782_d86bdf197e.jpg&quot; width=&quot;333&quot; height=&quot;500&quot; alt=&quot;liesl front&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Not without a lot of headaches, however.  First of all, I hated the yarn.  Hated!  The Yarn!  It was truly terrible.  I wanted a cotton sweater to wear over summer dresses, which makes sense except for the fact that I hate knitting with cotton.  Hate it!  I don&amp;#8217;t know why I was incapable for remembering this until it was too late.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Speaking of problems noticed too late, you&amp;#8217;ll notice the neckline of my Liesl is different than the pattern.  While I think the pattern mod is pretty and it definitely came out looking a lot better than I thought it would, I didn&amp;#8217;t go into the knitting process planning for it.  Oh, no.  What actually happened is that I made a mistake lining up the pattern stitches in the yoke of the sweater and I didn&amp;#8217;t notice it until i was 3/4ths of the way done.  &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Had I been knitting with a yarn that didn&amp;#8217;t make me hate life, I would have frogged the whole thing and started again.  However, I decided I wasn&amp;#8217;t going to do any more cotton knitting than absolutely necessary, and I had COME TOO FAR to turn back at that point.   I finished the sweater, and let the mistake lie.   &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I tried to be okay with the sweater at that point.  Really, if you weren&amp;#8217;t a Ysolda fan you probably wouldn&amp;#8217;t have noticed the issue.  It was small.  However, it was there, and I am far too anal retentive for my own good.  &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So.  Sweater surgery.  I threaded a yarn needle with fingering weight junk yarn and went back and inserted a lifeline through a plain knit row between pattern repeats, just below the mistake in the yoke.  And then, I cut off the yoke entirely.  With a big pair of scissors.  I was determined.  The yoke needed to die.  it was a gory, messy process, with little bits of cotton yarn flying everywhere.  &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;With the yoke finally gone and all the residual yarn bits removed, I picked up the stitches from my lifeline and added a plain 5 row garter stitch neckline. I added the eyelet row in the middle both as a decorative element and so I could adjust the size of the neckline into something that wouldn&amp;#8217;t slide off my shoulders.  &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Isn&amp;#8217;t it a beautiful sweater?  I&amp;#8217;m totally into it:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/amelialouise/3893558131/&quot; title=&quot;liesl front detail by amelia.louise, on Flickr&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2657/3893558131_f193a9af28.jpg&quot; width=&quot;500&quot; height=&quot;333&quot; alt=&quot;liesl front detail&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/amelialouise/3894351582/&quot; title=&quot;liesl back by amelia.louise, on Flickr&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2600/3894351582_2d888405c5.jpg&quot; width=&quot;333&quot; height=&quot;500&quot; alt=&quot;liesl back&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/amelialouise/3893568523/&quot; title=&quot;liesl back detail by amelia.louise, on Flickr&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3451/3893568523_68e40b2c70.jpg&quot; width=&quot;500&quot; height=&quot;333&quot; alt=&quot;liesl back detail&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The weather turned chilly before I got a chance to wear it, but I&amp;#8217;m looking forward to enjoying it next summer.  &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Here&amp;#8217;s the other reason I haven&amp;#8217;t been very productive lately:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/amelialouise/3776044875/&quot; title=&quot;cashew with fins, 9 weeks by amelia.louise, on Flickr&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3529/3776044875_8581ea81cc.jpg&quot; width=&quot;400&quot; height=&quot;305&quot; alt=&quot;cashew with fins, 9 weeks&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#8217;ve got a cashew on the way!  Well, I&amp;#8217;ve got another ultrasound in two weeks, at which point I&amp;#8217;m hoping to see something more baby-like and less bean-shaped.  We&amp;#8217;re looking forward to a fully cooked human arriving sometime in early March.  &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In the meantime, I&amp;#8217;m back to soaker knitting, because two little ones in diapers at the same time is a lot of diapering.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/amelialouise/3893574363/&quot; title=&quot;new soaker by amelia.louise, on Flickr&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3514/3893574363_cd1c417963.jpg&quot; width=&quot;500&quot; height=&quot;333&quot; alt=&quot;new soaker&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#8217;m doing that one in Cascade Ecological Wool, which is a yarn I absolutely love but I&amp;#8217;m not sure it&amp;#8217;s bulky enough for what I want in a soaker fabric.  It looks very bulky in the skein but it&amp;#8217;s light and airy.   I want to do a pair of longies in the purple Eco+ I have, but I&amp;#8217;m thinking I might knit them with the yarn held double.  I&amp;#8217;ve gotten down to the body of that soaker since I took the above photo, and I&amp;#8217;m using size 5 needles to get the fabric density I&amp;#8217;m looking for.  &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#8217;m also working on the epic blanket of mindless knitting here and there, but it&amp;#8217;s sort of in the background right now.  I like working on it when I&amp;#8217;m too tired to do anything requiring thought.  &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#8217;m hoping to squeeze in a pair of &lt;a href=&quot;http://ysolda.com/wordpress/2009/09/04/veyla/&quot;&gt;Veyla mitts&lt;/a&gt; at some point soon.  I bought some sexy sexy baby alpaca + silk yarn for them on Wednesday:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/amelialouise/3929718802/&quot; title=&quot;buckingham 1042 for veyla by amelia.louise, on Flickr&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3479/3929718802_d88ace30eb.jpg&quot; width=&quot;500&quot; height=&quot;375&quot; alt=&quot;buckingham 1042 for veyla&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#8217;t have any buttons yet but I&amp;#8217;m having a fun time thinking about them.  I love buttons.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Oh, one more thing:  I found a better photo of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.emporioarmani.com/item/realgender/Women/tskay/3FD17CD7/gender/D/women/fall-winter/Dresses/Dress-with-braided-weave/cod10/34132275KF&quot;&gt;Emporio Armani dress&lt;/a&gt; I drooled over in my &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/emporio-armani-a-line-cabled-minidress/&quot;&gt;last post&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.string-factory.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/armanidress.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;armanidress&quot; title=&quot;armanidress&quot; width=&quot;308&quot; height=&quot;516&quot; class=&quot;aligncenter size-full wp-image-144&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I love it.  And someday, twenty years from now, I will totally knit myself a cabled dress.   In the meantime, I was thinking it might be cool to try to knit one for the kiddo.  She&amp;#8217;s much smaller than me and requires much less shaping.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Anyhow, that&amp;#8217;s it for me.  I hope to update this a bit more frequently in the future, but with mommy-type responsibilities it might be a while.&lt;/p&gt;
Syndicated from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/finished-liesl/&quot;&gt;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/finished-liesl/&lt;/a&gt;.  Feel free to leave comments wherever you like.</description>
  <comments>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/14185.html</comments>
  <category>finished objects</category>
  <category>fashion</category>
  <category>wool soakers</category>
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  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/13827.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Thu, 28 May 2009 17:26:17 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>Emporio Armani A-line cabled(?) minidress</title>
  <link>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/13827.html</link>
  <description>&lt;p&gt;Attention All Knitting Pattern Designers:  I have seen the future.  It is this dress:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wwd.com/fashion-week/fall-ready-to-wear-2009/review/emporio-armani-rtw-fall-2009-2034057?city=milan&quot;&gt;&lt;img class=&quot;aligncenter size-full wp-image-138&quot; title=&quot;Emporio Armani Fall 2009 RTW&quot; src=&quot;http://www.string-factory.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/emporio-armani18.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Emporio Armani Fall 2009 RTW&quot; width=&quot;361&quot; height=&quot;526&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#8217;s from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wwd.com/fashion-week/fall-ready-to-wear-2009/review/emporio-armani-rtw-fall-2009-2034057?city=milan&quot;&gt;Emporio Armani Fall 2009 Ready-to-Wear&lt;/a&gt; collection and I want it.  I want it bad.  That being said, I&amp;#8217;m not sure how to construct the damn thing.  Lookie here at this close up of Anna Arendshorst modeling it:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img class=&quot;aligncenter size-full wp-image-139&quot; title=&quot;arendshorst-ea-fall2009&quot; src=&quot;http://www.string-factory.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/arendshorst-ea-fall2009.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;arendshorst-ea-fall2009&quot; width=&quot;287&quot; height=&quot;650&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I thought those swirly things were cables, but apparently they&amp;#8217;re braided bands of 1&amp;#215;1 ribbing that are somehow sewn together, with triangles of plain knit fabric filling out the body.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Hot damn.  I still want one.  I&amp;#8217;d knit one long enough to wear in public, or I&amp;#8217;d knit a short one like this and wear it with pants.  I wonder if it has sleeves or straps, and what they look like.    Regardless, I would totally wear the F out of that dress.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Oh, dress.  You are so dead sexy.  Be mine.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In other, knitting-centric news, I plan to cast on a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/liesl&quot; class=&quot;ravelry&quot;&gt;Liesel bolero&lt;/a&gt; later today, in the misguided hopes of finishing it in time for the Lamb&amp;#8217;s christening on Sunday.   (I have a wearable dress for the occasion, but nothing seasonally-appropriate to wear over it.)&lt;/p&gt;
Syndicated from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/emporio-armani-a-line-cabled-minidress/&quot;&gt;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/emporio-armani-a-line-cabled-minidress/&lt;/a&gt;.  Feel free to leave comments wherever you like.</description>
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  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/13579.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Sat, 23 May 2009 21:29:14 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>FO: Confection Baby Shrug</title>
  <link>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/13579.html</link>
  <description>&lt;p&gt;Hey, I finished knitting something!  This almost never happens!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/amelialouise/3557819592/&quot; title=&quot;confection baby shrug by amelia.louise, on Flickr&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2476/3557819592_ebae67aa5d.jpg&quot; width=&quot;500&quot; height=&quot;375&quot; alt=&quot;confection baby shrug&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#8217;s the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theshizknit.com/2008/06/free-pattern-confection-baby-shrug.html&quot;&gt;Confection Baby Shrug&lt;/a&gt;, although I did some number crunching in order to knit this up with Cascade 220 Superwash, which is a much finer gauge of yarn than the pattern calls for.  I&amp;#8217;m really glad I took the time to do the math, because the resulting garment is much lighter and seasonally-appropriate.  &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The finished shrug is too big and doesn&amp;#8217;t fit yet, but I took a couple of shrug-modeling shots with the baby anyhow:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/amelialouise/3557820568/&quot; title=&quot;confection baby shrug by amelia.louise, on Flickr&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3354/3557820568_707175d9d8.jpg&quot; width=&quot;375&quot; height=&quot;500&quot; alt=&quot;confection baby shrug&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/amelialouise/3557821498/&quot; title=&quot;confection baby shrug by amelia.louise, on Flickr&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3564/3557821498_27e6b0026d.jpg&quot; width=&quot;375&quot; height=&quot;500&quot; alt=&quot;confection baby shrug&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#8217;m thinking she&amp;#8217;ll be able to start wearing it sometime this fall, hopefully right when the weather turns.  I&amp;#8217;m looking forward to it!&lt;/p&gt;
Syndicated from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/fo-confection-baby-shrug/&quot;&gt;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/fo-confection-baby-shrug/&lt;/a&gt;.  Feel free to leave comments wherever you like.</description>
  <comments>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/13579.html</comments>
  <category>finished objects</category>
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  <pubDate>Fri, 08 May 2009 16:07:41 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>quick &amp;#038; dirty knitting update</title>
  <link>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/13364.html</link>
  <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/amelialouise/3512442243/&quot; title=&quot;knitting progress by amelia.louise, on Flickr&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3389/3512442243_44b9cd37fb.jpg&quot; width=&quot;500&quot; height=&quot;375&quot; alt=&quot;knitting progress&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I had been trucking along, happily finishing the second sleeve of ye olde baby shrug, when I noticed I&amp;#8217;d miscounted rows when I added my fancy little twisted stitch.  The cuffs don&amp;#8217;t line up, and I need to rip it out and reknit it.  It&amp;#8217;s a tiny little error, but on the scale of a baby garment it&amp;#8217;s really noticeable.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;After the cuff drama on the baby shrug, I went home and picked up the Epic Blanket of Mindless Knitting.  Oh, Epic Blanket of Mindless Knitting.   I love this project so much.  It&amp;#8217;s like an old friend, or a pair of comfortable old shoes.  I&amp;#8217;ve gotten into such a good groove with it I was able to work on it while watching House &lt;em&gt;in the dark&lt;/em&gt;.  I have &lt;strong&gt;never&lt;/strong&gt; been this comfortable with a knitting project in my life.  This WIP and I, we&amp;#8217;re practically at the point of farting in front of each other without comment.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#8217;ve got all sorts of other stressful stuff going on.  Mostly good stress, some WHOLLY AWESOME stress, and a small slice of bad stress.  It&amp;#8217;s so nice to be able to occasionally sit down and knit my own security blanket.  &amp;hearts;&lt;/p&gt;
Syndicated from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/quick-dirty-knitting-update/&quot;&gt;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/quick-dirty-knitting-update/&lt;/a&gt;.  Feel free to leave comments wherever you like.</description>
  <comments>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/13364.html</comments>
  <category>wips</category>
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  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/13151.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Thu, 07 May 2009 11:19:24 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>shoutout to eve&amp;#8217;s february baby sweater</title>
  <link>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/13151.html</link>
  <description>&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#8217;ve been meaning to post about this sweater for ages, and now that the lamb&amp;#8217;s nearly outgrown it I can&amp;#8217;t avoid it any longer:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/evebeaudry/3059327302/&quot; title=&quot;eve&amp;#39;s elizabeth zimmermann baby sweater! by eve.beaudry, on Flickr&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3145/3059327302_7ce50bb782.jpg&quot; width=&quot;375&quot; height=&quot;500&quot; alt=&quot;eve&amp;#39;s elizabeth zimmermann baby sweater!&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For the (as yet) uninitiated of you out there in my mostly-imaginary blog audience: this sweater is knit from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Zimmermann&quot;&gt;Elizabeth Zimmermann&lt;/a&gt;&amp;#8217;s legendary &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/baby-sweater-on-two-needles-february&quot; class=&quot;ravelry&quot;&gt;Baby Sweater on Two Needles&lt;/a&gt; pattern, otherwise known as the most popular baby knitting pattern in the known universe.  It&amp;#8217;s so popular, everyone on Ravelry is knitting an adult version of the sweater for themselves, aptly named the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/february-lady-sweater&quot; class=&quot;ravelry&quot;&gt;February Lady Sweater&lt;/a&gt;.   (And yes, I want one of those too.)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But I digress.  This particular sweater was knit sometime in the mid-1970s for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.madwomanintheattic.com&quot;&gt;my friend Jenny&lt;/a&gt;, when she was a wee human.  There&amp;#8217;s a tag sewn into it that reads &amp;#8220;Handmade with love by Elsie.&amp;#8221;    It&amp;#8217;s knitted in some sort of vintage sport-weight acrylic baby yarn, and instead of buttons there are eyelets with a crochet chain of cool minty-green yarn threaded throughout.  It&amp;#8217;s a pattern mod I&amp;#8217;ve never seen on this sweater, and it&amp;#8217;s an interesting (and probably safer) alternative to buttons.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;Dear Elsie,&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;You are an amazingly badass knitter.  Thanks for making the six months I just spent with your handknit hand-me-down even more exciting.  My well-dressed baby girl and I salute you!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Love,&lt;br /&gt;
Amelia&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
Syndicated from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/shoutout-to-eves-february-baby-sweater/&quot;&gt;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/shoutout-to-eves-february-baby-sweater/&lt;/a&gt;.  Feel free to leave comments wherever you like.</description>
  <comments>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/13151.html</comments>
  <category>baby knits</category>
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  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/13037.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Fri, 01 May 2009 07:06:31 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>the skinny on WEBS (yarn.com) promo codes</title>
  <link>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/13037.html</link>
  <description>&lt;p&gt;Ever since I installed &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/analytics/&quot;&gt;Google Analytics&lt;/a&gt; on my blog, I&amp;#8217;ve noticed I get a ridiculous amount of traffic from people looking for discount promo codes for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yarn.com&quot;&gt;WEBS&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Sorry, folks, I don&amp;#8217;t have any special super-seekrit WEBS discount codes here.  The reason why?  There aren&amp;#8217;t any right now.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Steve Elkins, one of the owners of WEBS, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/needlework-on-the-net/619948/1-25#22&quot; class=&quot;ravelry&quot;&gt;posted on Ravelry&lt;/a&gt; a couple of days ago explaining the situation with WEBS promo codes.  I&amp;#8217;m reposting it here for people who aren&amp;#8217;t on Ravelry:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;body forum_post_body&quot;&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Hi Folks, we don’t use promo codes a lot, but it was one of those things that came along with the new website. It’s the do it now thing because it will cost a lot more to add it later &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.string-factory.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif&quot; alt=&quot;:)&quot; class=&quot;wp-smiley&quot; /&gt; When we do use promo codes we always put them pretty prominently in emails, but we don’t have one going on right now. Just the Anniversary Sale (April yarns on sale ends Thursday (new ones coming Friday)), lots of great Noro and Rowan closeouts, Online Supersocke for $7.99, etc.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Hope that helps answer your questions.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Steve Elkins&lt;br /&gt;
WEBS&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So, straight from the horse&amp;#8217;s mouth: there are no promo codes available right now.  If you do want to know about any future WEBS promo codes, the best way to find out about them is to subscribe to the WEBS email list.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;To sign up for their email list, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.yarn.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/login.forms/joinEmailList/1&quot;&gt;go to this page&lt;/a&gt; and fill out the form on the right-hand side of the screen.  Check the box that says &amp;#8220;Send me email updates&amp;#8221; and click the &amp;#8220;Create Account&amp;#8221; button.   Happy shopping!&lt;/div&gt;
Syndicated from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/the-skinny-on-webs-yarncom-promo-codes/&quot;&gt;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/the-skinny-on-webs-yarncom-promo-codes/&lt;/a&gt;.  Feel free to leave comments wherever you like.</description>
  <comments>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/13037.html</comments>
  <category>shopping</category>
  <category>webs</category>
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  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/12646.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Thu, 30 Apr 2009 03:08:48 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>lovely spring lambs</title>
  <link>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/12646.html</link>
  <description>&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#8217;ve really been enjoying fiber artist/shepherd Barbara Parry&amp;#8217;s blog, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sheepgal.com&quot;&gt;Sheep Gal&lt;/a&gt;.   Barbara tends a flock of very photogenic  sheep and goats at her farm, producing wonderful &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.foxfirefiber.com&quot;&gt;Foxfire Fibers&lt;/a&gt; spinning fiber and yarn.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Barbara is in the throes of lambing season, and she&amp;#8217;s put tons of amazingly cute lamb videos on YouTube.  This one is my favorite:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;lj-embed id=&quot;5&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Hooray for happy healthy baby lambs!  Hooray for Spring!&lt;/p&gt;
Syndicated from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/lovely-spring-lambs/&quot;&gt;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/lovely-spring-lambs/&lt;/a&gt;.  Feel free to leave comments wherever you like.</description>
  <comments>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/12646.html</comments>
  <category>handspun</category>
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  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/12352.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Thu, 23 Apr 2009 05:48:43 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>knitted bunny in action</title>
  <link>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/12352.html</link>
  <description>&lt;p&gt;Last October,  I knit &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/finished-bunny/&quot;&gt;a super cute Jess Hutch bunny&lt;/a&gt; for a new relative who was still gestating at the time.   [&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jesshutch.com/bunny.html&quot;&gt;pattern&lt;/a&gt; | &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bunny-2&quot;&gt;ravelry link&lt;/a&gt;]   &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Both the new baby and the bunny came out fabulously, and my cousin recently posted some photos of them together:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/thethreebees/3436800504/&quot; title=&quot;Starting off on the right foot by thethreebees, on Flickr&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3388/3436800504_3492ba1497.jpg&quot; width=&quot;344&quot; height=&quot;500&quot; alt=&quot;Starting off on the right foot&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/thethreebees/3436801042/&quot; title=&quot;Hare hiding by thethreebees, on Flickr&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3372/3436801042_d109e6fc48.jpg&quot; width=&quot;361&quot; height=&quot;500&quot; alt=&quot;Hare hiding&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/thethreebees/3435994805/&quot; title=&quot;You&amp;#39;re in my personal space by thethreebees, on Flickr&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3358/3435994805_3d4da9f05a.jpg&quot; width=&quot;500&quot; height=&quot;333&quot; alt=&quot;You&amp;#39;re in my personal space&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;They look happy together, don&amp;#8217;t you think?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;On the knitting front, there&amp;#8217;s not much else to report.  I&amp;#8217;m a halfway through the first sleeve of my &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/new-wip-confection-baby-shrug/&quot;&gt;Confection baby shrug&lt;/a&gt;, and the Endless Baby Blanket is nearing 50% completion, having gone through two full balls of Paton&amp;#8217;s classic wool merino.  &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I did end up buying three skeins of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yarn.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/product.detail/categoryID/34A570BB-00D8-4FB6-8082-B2FB862781D3/productID/DBB596C4-1E3C-4095-B4FE-38B738FC095D/&quot;&gt;super cheap Cascade Eco+ closeout&lt;/a&gt; at Webs.  I ended up ordering it online and paying for shipping, however, so it didn&amp;#8217;t feel like such a crazy deal.   (I live an hour away from the warehouse/store in Northampton, so I always go in person.  But I wanted to skip the journey out to western Massachusetts with the baby, so I ordered in this time.)   &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The muted lilac color looks great in person, and the wool is nice and soft.  I&amp;#8217;m looking forward to working with it someday, if I ever finish either of my two current projects.  The baby is time consuming and I don&amp;#8217;t actually get to knit all that much.  She&amp;#8217;s damn cute, though:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/evebeaudry/3466840164/&quot; title=&quot;I backed under the couch! by eve.beaudry, on Flickr&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3496/3466840164_a12116bc3e.jpg&quot; width=&quot;500&quot; height=&quot;375&quot; alt=&quot;I backed under the couch!&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
Syndicated from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/knitted-bunny-in-action/&quot;&gt;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/knitted-bunny-in-action/&lt;/a&gt;.  Feel free to leave comments wherever you like.</description>
  <comments>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/12352.html</comments>
  <category>finished objects</category>
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  <category>baby knits</category>
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  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/12145.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Thu, 09 Apr 2009 06:12:52 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>more yarn deals: Cascade Eco+ &amp;#038; Noro Silk Garden Sock on sale</title>
  <link>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/12145.html</link>
  <description>&lt;p&gt;Is it just me, or is there a lot of really excellent yarn on sale right now?  I just bought a ton of stuff at Webs 35th anniversary sale, but I just keep finding more excuses to potentially justify buying more yarn.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Exhibit A:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Noro Silk Garden Sock&lt;/strong&gt; &amp;#8212; I&amp;#8217;ve been interested in this yarn for a while, but I&amp;#8217;ve been balking at the $19.85 price tag.  Lucky(?) for me, online retailer Annie Amelia has &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.annieamelia.com/item.php?item_id=224&quot;&gt;eight different colorways on sale&lt;/a&gt; for $13.50 a skein, just over 30% off.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Exhibit B:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Cascade Eco Plus&lt;/strong&gt; &amp;#8212; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yarn.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/product.detail/categoryID/34A570BB-00D8-4FB6-8082-B2FB862781D3/productID/DBB596C4-1E3C-4095-B4FE-38B738FC095D/&quot;&gt;discontinued colors&lt;/a&gt; are at webs for $8.29 per whopping half-pound skein.  That&amp;#8217;s 45% off the already good price of $15 retail, people.  I&amp;#8217;m not terribly enthused about Tropical Sea or Prom Queen, but Lilac looks awfully enticing.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In other news, I finished cataloging my yarn stash and entering things into Ravelry last night and I was somewhat horrified to discover I own 38 balls of Noro.  (It&amp;#8217;s not SO bad, really.  There are three bags, and a handful of oddball skeins.)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;IT&amp;#8217;S OKAY, NO, REALLY, I CAN QUIT WHENEVER I WANT.&lt;/p&gt;
Syndicated from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/more-yarn-deals-cascade-eco-noro-silk-garden-sock-on-sale/&quot;&gt;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/more-yarn-deals-cascade-eco-noro-silk-garden-sock-on-sale/&lt;/a&gt;.  Feel free to leave comments wherever you like.</description>
  <comments>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/12145.html</comments>
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  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/12009.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Tue, 07 Apr 2009 23:33:48 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>new WIP: Confection Baby Shrug</title>
  <link>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/12009.html</link>
  <description>&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#8217;m taking a well-deserved detour from the Blanket of Epic Waiting&amp;#8211;it&amp;#8217;s a quick little thing for the Lamb&amp;#8217;s summer wardrobe.  She has a bunch of cute little dresses that don&amp;#8217;t have much coverage on top, so when I saw the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theshizknit.com/2008/06/free-pattern-confection-baby-shrug.html&quot;&gt;Confection Baby Shrug&lt;/a&gt; while poking around on Ravelry, I cast on almost immediately.   &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#8217;m using Cascade 220 Superwash for the first time and I&amp;#8217;m really liking it.  It&amp;#8217;s SO MUCH SOFTER than regular Cascade 220.   Right after I bought this skein at my LYS (Mt. Laurel Yarns in Sturbridge, MA) it showed up 30% off at Webs, but I like it so much I&amp;#8217;m not going to complain.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/amelialouise/3422312150/&quot; title=&quot;cascade 220 superwash by amelia.louise, on Flickr&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3307/3422312150_fa117d4f1c.jpg&quot; width=&quot;500&quot; height=&quot;375&quot; alt=&quot;cascade 220 superwash&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I did run into one roadblock&amp;#8211;according to the pattern, &amp;#8220;any worsted weight yarn&amp;#8221; is fine, but C220 is way too skinny to knit up nicely at 4 stitches per inch.  I much preferred the swatch I knit up at 5.5 stitches per inch, so I ended up crunching the numbers and rewriting the pattern for a finer gauge.  It was an interesting exercise, and I&amp;#8217;m glad I took the time to do it.  I like the fabric I&amp;#8217;m knitting, and I am enthused about the prospect of (maybe?) getting it right the first time.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/amelialouise/3421512185/&quot; title=&quot;confection: WIP by amelia.louise, on Flickr&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3601/3421512185_1cd1f201d6.jpg&quot; width=&quot;500&quot; height=&quot;375&quot; alt=&quot;confection: WIP&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In other news, I made a trip out to Webs on Saturday for my April foray into the 35th anniversary sale.   I&amp;#8217;ll post photos of my haul very soon.   In the meantime I am quietly living with the shame of having become somehow physically unable to leave the store without an entire bag of Noro.  (No, really.  This is the third trip in a row.)&lt;/p&gt;
Syndicated from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/new-wip-confection-baby-shrug/&quot;&gt;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/new-wip-confection-baby-shrug/&lt;/a&gt;.  Feel free to leave comments wherever you like.</description>
  <comments>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/12009.html</comments>
  <category>wips</category>
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  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/11135.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Sat, 28 Mar 2009 03:40:05 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>extreme sheepherding with LEDs</title>
  <link>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/11135.html</link>
  <description>&lt;p&gt;I found this awesome viral video on YouTube:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;lj-embed id=&quot;3&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#8217;s an ad for Samsung LED televisions.  AND IT&amp;#8217;S AWESOME.&lt;/p&gt;
Syndicated from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/extreme-sheepherding-with-leds/&quot;&gt;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/extreme-sheepherding-with-leds/&lt;/a&gt;.  Feel free to leave comments wherever you like.</description>
  <comments>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/11135.html</comments>
  <category>spiffy internet things</category>
  <category>sheep</category>
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  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/10954.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:58:28 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>yarn wedding cake topper</title>
  <link>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/10954.html</link>
  <description>&lt;p&gt;I had the somewhat-bright idea yesterday that despite my glacial progress on the knitting/spinning front, I could still keep this blog somewhat fresh by posting random photos.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Here&amp;#8217;s a snap of my wedding cake:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/amelialouise/3385494626/&quot; title=&quot;wedding cake, with yarn by amelia.louise, on Flickr&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3417/3385494626_655bc7daa8.jpg&quot; width=&quot;495&quot; height=&quot;500&quot; alt=&quot;wedding cake, with yarn&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Okay, I lied.  It&amp;#8217;s actually one of my, er, three wedding cakes.  What can I say? My brother-in-law is a pastry chef!  I knew I was in for something special, but he really outdid himself for my wedding.  Thanks, Ben!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The ball of yarn is constructed from a large ball of chocolate ganache (about the size of a softball) which was then wrapped with marzipan &amp;#8220;yarn&amp;#8221; and then garnished with a pair of vintage knitting needles.  Mr. StringFactory and I devoured the whole thing within a week of our wedding.  We were not sorry.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Later this week, I&amp;#8217;ll post a photo of my favoritest FO ever.  It predates both my ravelry account and this blog, but I have a picture and it&amp;#8217;s pretty fabulous.&lt;/p&gt;
Syndicated from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/yarn-wedding-cake-topper/&quot;&gt;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/yarn-wedding-cake-topper/&lt;/a&gt;.  Feel free to leave comments wherever you like.</description>
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  <category>uncategorized</category>
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  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/10601.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:58:47 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>random/leftover/extra handspun yarn</title>
  <link>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/10601.html</link>
  <description>&lt;p&gt;Every once in a while I pull all the random little blobs of handspun yarn out of my sugar bowl, cookie jar, junk drawer, and all of the other secret forgotten places I hide it throughout the house:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a title=&quot;the slush pile by amelia.louise, on Flickr&quot; href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/amelialouise/3382549385/&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3594/3382549385_f7fe55bf5d.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;the slush pile&quot; width=&quot;500&quot; height=&quot;375&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#8217;t throw it away, because I made it all and even though I can objectively admit that a lot of it is pretty fugly, It&amp;#8217;s mine and I love it.  But what on earth will I ever *do* with it?   I&amp;#8217;ve previously entertained notions of getting into freeform crochet, but lately I&amp;#8217;ve been thinking of trying out a &lt;a href=&quot;http://rivercityweaves.wordpress.com/2008/10/25/rigid-heddle-loom-review-updated/&quot;&gt;Rigid Heddle Loom&lt;/a&gt;.  Because, you know, what I *really* need in my life is yet another fiber hobby.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;There is no logic in obsession.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In other news, the Tuesday Morning Knitters were in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.telegram.com/article/20090319/FLASH/903190543&quot;&gt;the local paper&lt;/a&gt;!&lt;br /&gt;
I know, I know.  Curiously enough, I have never eaten a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puffin&quot;&gt;Puffin&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
Syndicated from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/randomleftoverextra-handspun-yarn/&quot;&gt;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/randomleftoverextra-handspun-yarn/&lt;/a&gt;.  Feel free to leave comments wherever you like.</description>
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  <category>handspun</category>
  <category>weaving</category>
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  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/10473.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Fri, 13 Mar 2009 03:17:11 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>minimalist period</title>
  <link>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/10473.html</link>
  <description>&lt;p&gt;So, it would seem I&amp;#8217;m going through a Minimalist Period in my fiber arts career.   I&amp;#8217;m working two projects right now, and they&amp;#8217;re both undyed and plain:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The &lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: line-through;&quot;&gt;Waiting for &lt;/span&gt;Baby blanket continues, albeit very slowly as the only time I ever get to knit anything is 2 hours a week on Tuesday mornings, when I go to my knitting group full of other people who want to hold the baby.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a title=&quot;not a hat. by amelia.louise, on Flickr&quot; href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/amelialouise/3349938876/&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3632/3349938876_09be831420.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;not a hat.&quot; width=&quot;500&quot; height=&quot;375&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Everyone thinks it&amp;#8217;s a hat.  It&amp;#8217;s not a hat.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;One very neat thing about this project is that it&amp;#8217;s grown to the point that it can serve as its own knitting bag:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a title=&quot;it&amp;#39;s a knitting project!  and a bag for a knitting project! by amelia.louise, on Flickr&quot; href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/amelialouise/3349937144/&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3563/3349937144_a58c587bbe.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;it&amp;#39;s a knitting project!  and a bag for a knitting project!&quot; width=&quot;500&quot; height=&quot;375&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Now that, uh, five months have gone by, I&amp;#8217;ve finally hauled my spinning wheel out of its coat-closet sabbatical and set it up next to my work computer.  (When I&amp;#8217;m not babywrangling or thinking about yarn, I work at home doing &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mclane.com/newsletters/employment_law/newsletter-030409.html&quot;&gt;random&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.redcrossberkshirecounty.org/&quot;&gt;webby&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.campaignmonitor.com/&quot;&gt;things&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#8217;ve actually been getting a lot of spinning done.  Curiously enough, it&amp;#8217;s easy to pick up and spin for a minute or two between work tasks.  I am kicking myself for not realizing this sooner.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a title=&quot;yards and yards and yards of skinny white yarn by amelia.louise, on Flickr&quot; href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/amelialouise/3349105465/&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3423/3349105465_c557a08ef4.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;yards and yards and yards of skinny white yarn&quot; width=&quot;500&quot; height=&quot;375&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This spin is boring as all get out, but I feel like this is a very good exercise for me.   Spinning plain white roving lets you tune out the qualities of the fiber and just zone out on the actual spinning of it.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;You&amp;#8217;ll notice from the photo that at one point a couple of years ago I had a bout of paranoia in which  I labeled all of my bobbins on the &amp;#8220;TOP&amp;#8221; and &amp;#8220;BOTTOM&amp;#8221; because I thought if I put a half-spun bobbin on the wheel in the wrong direction it would mess up my yarn.  I have since realized this is not true, and feel sort of silly about it now.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This yarn I am spinning will be my first true three-ply.  I know, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/not-knitting-spinning-news/&quot;&gt;the last time&lt;/a&gt; I mentioned this yarn I was planning for it to be a two-ply.  But in the meantime, I found my fourth Majacraft bobbin!  w00t, as the kids say!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Anyhow, since I&amp;#8217;ll be plying three singles together, I&amp;#8217;m thinking it might be time to upgrade my ghetto handmade needles-poked-through-a-Corona-box setup to a real actual &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.majacraft.co.nz/accessories/lazy_kate.php&quot;&gt;Lazy Kate&lt;/a&gt; when I eventually finish spinning the third bobbin of this stuff.  Considering I started spinning this yarn last summer, I&amp;#8217;m hoping to buy it sometime before the end of the year.   &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.string-factory.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_razz.gif&quot; alt=&quot;:P&quot; class=&quot;wp-smiley&quot; /&gt; &lt;/p&gt;
Syndicated from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/minimalist-period/&quot;&gt;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/minimalist-period/&lt;/a&gt;.  Feel free to leave comments wherever you like.</description>
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  <category>spinning</category>
  <category>wips</category>
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  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/10173.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Tue, 03 Mar 2009 23:07:23 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>Holy Crap, this thing&amp;#8217;s on?!</title>
  <link>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/10173.html</link>
  <description>&lt;p&gt;I was moving my Feedburner.com account over to my account on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com&quot;&gt;the digital oversoul&lt;/a&gt; today (&lt;a href=&quot;http://weblogtoolscollection.com/archives/2009/02/12/feedburner-is-dead-long-live-feedburner/&quot;&gt;Feedburner is Dead.  Long Live Feedburner.&lt;/a&gt;) when I noticed that there are 7 (SEVEN!) subscribers to my RSS feed.  SEVEN!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I am tickled magenta about this whole having-an-audience thing, as I have previously operated under the assumption that there is absolutely no one reading this blog.  So hello, magnificent seven.  Glorious, wonderful seven.  I hope none of you are that creepy guy from California who used to fedex random shit to my house.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In knitting news, I am still loving my Tuesday Morning Knitting Group. (TMKG.)  The Lamb and I have been attending on a regular basis and it&amp;#8217;s just grand.    I get free hands to knit for two hours, and Eve gets universally admired by the Ladies Who Knit.   Work on the Waiting-for-Baby blanket continues, albeit slowly, and I try not to let all the admiration go to my daughter&amp;#8217;s head.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Speaking of my TMKG, several of us are going to be exhibiting our knits as part of the Women&amp;#8217;s History Month art exhibit at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jacobedwardslibrary.org/&quot;&gt;Jacob Edwards Library&lt;/a&gt;.  I&amp;#8217;m contributing Eve&amp;#8217;s Noro longies, as she&amp;#8217;s recently outgrown them:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a title=&quot;noro longies by amelia.louise, on Flickr&quot; href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/amelialouise/3081797433/&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3146/3081797433_14399f3e0b.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;noro longies&quot; width=&quot;375&quot; height=&quot;500&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I have one other undocumented FO to share with you (all SEVEN! of you!):&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a title=&quot;curly purly soaker, extra tall by amelia.louise, on Flickr&quot; href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/amelialouise/3327070178/&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3381/3327070178_a0fd30aa6b.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;curly purly soaker, extra tall&quot; width=&quot;469&quot; height=&quot;480&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I apologize for the poor quality of the photo.  The Good Camera is tucked away in the baby bag, next to the baby, and it&amp;#8217;s my general MO to let sleeping babies lie.   Anyhow, much like &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/undocumented-fo/&quot;&gt;my previous undocumented FO&lt;/a&gt;, my delightfully fat baby outgrew this before I finished knitting it.  I&amp;#8217;m thinking I should stick to stuffed animals and toddler clothes for the duration of the year.  That is, if I manage to cast on anything in the first place.&lt;/p&gt;
Syndicated from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/holy-crap-this-things-on/&quot;&gt;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/holy-crap-this-things-on/&lt;/a&gt;.  Feel free to leave comments wherever you like.</description>
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  <category>finished objects</category>
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  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/9832.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Mon, 19 Jan 2009 23:23:09 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>undocumented FO</title>
  <link>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/9832.html</link>
  <description>&lt;p&gt;The Lamb remains fabulous, albeit demanding and time consuming.  There isn&amp;#8217;t all that much knitting going on.  I made the following newborn-sized hat:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/amelialouise/3210384519/&quot; title=&quot;undocumented FO by amelia.louise, on Flickr&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3505/3210384519_e8804625dd.jpg&quot; width=&quot;375&quot; height=&quot;500&quot; alt=&quot;undocumented FO&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;However, she promptly outgrew it.  I&amp;#8217;m sending it off to her brand-spanking new cousin later this week.  Happy 0th birthday, Baby Burgess!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#8217;m also about 50 stitches away from completing a third wool soaker, although I&amp;#8217;m nearly certain she&amp;#8217;s outgrown that as well.  Anyone else see at pattern developing here?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The &lt;del datetime=&quot;2009-01-19T23:16:51+00:00&quot;&gt;waiting-for-&lt;/del&gt;baby blanket, at least, is something she won&amp;#8217;t outgrow so quickly.  Although at this rate, it&amp;#8217;s probably going to end up being a 1st birthday present.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I think maybe this is why older ladies love knitting for their grandchildren so much.  As a new mom i am an infrequent and ineffectual knitter at best.&lt;/p&gt;
Syndicated from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/undocumented-fo/&quot;&gt;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/undocumented-fo/&lt;/a&gt;.  Feel free to leave comments wherever you like.</description>
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  <category>finished objects</category>
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  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/9646.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Mon, 03 Nov 2008 15:18:53 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>the ultimate FO:</title>
  <link>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/9646.html</link>
  <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/evebeaudry/2996666118/&quot; title=&quot;sleeping, finally! by eve.beaudry, on Flickr&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3288/2996666118_f713095f70.jpg&quot; width=&quot;500&quot; height=&quot;375&quot; alt=&quot;sleeping, finally!&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The Lamb was born on October 23, at 9:04 pm, weighing in at 7lbs 12.5oz, and measuring 19 inches long. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt; She&amp;#8217;s utterly perfect.  We are completely agog.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In baby knitting news, we realized when we got her home that all her hats were too small for her wee newborn head, so we made her a teeny hat right away.   I&amp;#8217;m working on a second teeny hat for her now, but it&amp;#8217;s been slow going with the incessant nursing she&amp;#8217;s doing.  I need to figure out a way to knit and nurse at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The wool soakers I knit for her fit well and work perfectly.  We love them.  They&amp;#8217;re much better than the PUL/plastic covers.  We had her in a Thirsties cover for a day and a half at one point, but we noticed her butt was starting to get red.  (The wool is breathable, so her butt is looking pretty great now.)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I will post a zillion baby-knitting photos eventually.  In the meantime we&amp;#8217;re sort of tied up with the getting-to-know you process.  Taking care of a newborn is much harder work than I realized, especially the nursing.  &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;News as it develops.  &lt;/p&gt;
Syndicated from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/the-ultimate-fo/&quot;&gt;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/the-ultimate-fo/&lt;/a&gt;.  Feel free to leave comments wherever you like.</description>
  <comments>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/9646.html</comments>
  <category>finished objects</category>
  <category>wool soakers</category>
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  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/9271.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Tue, 21 Oct 2008 17:37:29 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>waiting-for-baby blanket</title>
  <link>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/9271.html</link>
  <description>&lt;p&gt;My due date was Saturday.   Today is Tuesday.   I feel great physically, but am sort of disappointed to discover that Frauline Fetus has already picked up  poor time management skills from her parents.   I skipped out on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sheepandwool.com&quot;&gt;Rhinebeck&lt;/a&gt; for this!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Hey fetus-lady!  We&amp;#8217;re dying to meet you! You are welcome to join us at your earliest convenience.  Really.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Since there is literally nothing left for me to do in terms of baby prep, I&amp;#8217;ve been knitting something mindless:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/amelialouise/2962077416/&quot; title=&quot;waiting-for-baby blanket, cont&amp;#39;d: by amelia.louise, on Flickr&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3210/2962077416_56937bd536.jpg&quot; width=&quot;500&quot; height=&quot;375&quot; alt=&quot;waiting-for-baby blanket, cont&amp;#39;d:&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#8217;s a baby blanket, knit in stockinette stitch from the center out.  There are ten evenly-spaced m1 increases, worked every other row.  That&amp;#8217;s it.  My plan is to just zone out on it until it&amp;#8217;s big enough, and then add some sort of decorative border to finish it off.  There&amp;#8217;s a leaf border in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/Nicky-Epsteins-Knitted-Embellishments-Appliques/dp/188301039X/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;s=books&amp;amp;qid=1224610460&amp;amp;sr=1-12&quot;&gt;Nicky Epstein&amp;#8217;s Knitted Embellishments&lt;/a&gt; I really like.&lt;/p&gt;
Syndicated from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/waiting-for-baby-blanket/&quot;&gt;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/waiting-for-baby-blanket/&lt;/a&gt;.  Feel free to leave comments wherever you like.</description>
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  <category>baby knits</category>
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  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/8983.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Fri, 17 Oct 2008 20:22:47 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>finished bunny!</title>
  <link>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/8983.html</link>
  <description>&lt;p&gt;I FINISHED HIM AND HE&amp;#8217;S WICKED CUTE!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a title=&quot;finished bun, with squash by amelia.louise, on Flickr&quot; href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/amelialouise/2949337883/&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3199/2949337883_8abbf926f7.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;finished bun, with squash&quot; width=&quot;375&quot; height=&quot;500&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;My favorite part of him is his butt:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a title=&quot;bunny bum by amelia.louise, on Flickr&quot; href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/amelialouise/2950191014/&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3245/2950191014_f8370f7a67.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;bunny bum&quot; width=&quot;500&quot; height=&quot;375&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Mr. StringFactory made it for me, so I&amp;#8217;m still technically a pom pom virgin. But I really like how it came out. It&amp;#8217;s so cheeky and cute. Nice butt, Mr. Bun!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#8217;m still pregnant, alas.  I don&amp;#8217;t want to start a new knitting project requiring all that much thought until after Baby&amp;#8217;s out, so later today I&amp;#8217;m going to cast on some sort of very easy baby blanket I can work on while I&amp;#8217;m waiting for her to show up.&lt;/p&gt;
Syndicated from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/finished-bunny/&quot;&gt;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/finished-bunny/&lt;/a&gt;.  Feel free to leave comments wherever you like.</description>
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  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/8384.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Tue, 30 Sep 2008 20:49:12 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>At long last: Finished Longies!</title>
  <link>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/8384.html</link>
  <description>&lt;p&gt;I apologize for the radio silence.  Not much news to report; I&amp;#8217;ve been busy getting ready for the baby and knitting here and there when I get a chance.  I finally finished my longies today:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/amelialouise/2902946310/&quot; title=&quot;finished Curly Purly longies by amelia.louise, on Flickr&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3065/2902946310_caf68c9e58.jpg&quot; width=&quot;500&quot; height=&quot;375&quot; alt=&quot;finished Curly Purly longies&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Cute, no?  I am trying to decide whether I am okay with the asymmetrical color patterning of the leg and cuff area or if I want to rip back one of the cuffs and make them match.  I am leaning towards the former in an attempt to eschew my anal retentive tendencies, but it&amp;#8217;s a tough call.  I want everything baby-related to be perfect, even as I realize that it&amp;#8217;s somewhat unrealistic to do so.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In between knitting the longies (three whole weeks!  I can&amp;#8217;t believe they took that long!) I knit a super quick lace ribbon scarf as a giveaway gift for my baby shower:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flickr.com/photos/amelialouise/2872918322/&quot; title=&quot;THE POOP SCARF by amelia.louise, on Flickr&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3259/2872918322_6d9f82e2c7.jpg&quot; width=&quot;500&quot; height=&quot;375&quot; alt=&quot;THE POOP SCARF&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Unlike the longies, this scarf was a stupidly quick knit.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.yarndex.com/yarn.cfm?yarn_id=2932&quot;&gt;Classic Elite Playful Weekend&lt;/a&gt; + size 15 needles + [*k1, YO, k2tog*] + a couple evenings of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Netflix and I had a finished handmade gift.  &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Nota Bene:  If you ever end up knitting anything with this Playful Weekend stuff, BE SURE TO WASH IT before you wear it.  I couldn&amp;#8217;t believe how dirty this yarn was when I handwashed the scarf before blocking it.  I just used a mild lavender shampoo and soaked it a while, but as soon as the scarf hit the water it turned the sink into a stinky brown morass.  (Had I known, I would have washed the yarn before I knit with it.)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Next on the agenda:  a pair of those cute &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.jesshutch.com/bunny.html&quot;&gt;Jess Hutch bunnies&lt;/a&gt;.  I&amp;#8217;m making one for my cousin&amp;#8217;s baby shower in three weeks, but I love the pattern so much I decided I&amp;#8217;m going to make one for my own kid as well.  I bought Lamb&amp;#8217;s Pride Bulky instead of Worsted, so I should be ending up with a bigger bunny than the one in the pattern.  I plan on needle felting the details on the faces; since these are going to (hopefully) be well-loved by babies, I don&amp;#8217;t want to mess around with buttons or safety eyes.  I know I could embroider some facial features, but I find embroidery sort of tedious.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Anyhow, it feels good to have finished something!  &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Now, back to the grind.&lt;/p&gt;
Syndicated from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/finished-curly-purly-longies/&quot;&gt;http://www.string-factory.com/blog/finished-curly-purly-longies/&lt;/a&gt;.  Feel free to leave comments wherever you like.</description>
  <comments>http://stringfactory.livejournal.com/8384.html</comments>
  <category>finished objects</category>
  <category>baby knits</category>
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