120a - Shrugs, Dishcloths and Courage

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We once again welcome Guest Barista Susan, formerly of the Knitajourney Podcast. 

Latte: Susan is making shrugs and dishcloths; Abby started Romi Hill's Asterope and is making a Star Trek: The Next Generation sweater for Miss Kalendar's baby.

Grande: Susan finished a shrug from Berroco Floret, a yarn that is new to her, and unknown to Abby. 

Bitter Cup: Susan's planned argyle knee socks for her husband are in time out, but while she thinks about them, she's decided to knit the legs flat rather than in the round. Susan also related a sewing bitter cup about a marathon fabric cutting session that resulted in pieces that really didn't make the garments they were meant to make. 

Brewing: Abby feels like she is very skilled at matching yarn to a sock pattern she wants to knit, but she has some hand spun sock yarn she wants to use and finds it's harder to match a pattern to yarn than the other way around. What to do? Susan suggests a short, lacy leg. Abby thinks she might knit another pair of Brenda Petipa's Uptown Girl socks, or perhaps she'll design something simple. On the subject of knitting with hand spun, Abby mentioned Miriam Felton's Twist and Knit collection of patterns that can be knit for as long as your hand spun lasts in each project. 

We segued into a brief conversation about packing and decision fatigue. You can read more about decision fatigue here and here.

Sofa: Susan has discovered the YA (Young Adult) books of Kate Seredy and recommends them, especially The Good Master. Abby mentioned Norman Juster's The Phantom Toll Booth for anyone who loves language. Susan also sings the praises of Edie Eckman's crocheting books. Abby is not enjoying the last two seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer but will persevere to the end. Susan recommends the show Saving Grace with Holly Hunter. 

Tip Jar: Before giving her tip, Susan embarrasses Abby. Susan's tip is to take advantage of the wonderful places to go that are local to you. 

120 Spin Cycle

3 Ply sock yarn from Crown Mountain Farms "Touch Me"

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Latte: I am trying to finish the Clapotis, from Creatively Dyed Yarn. I'm still working on the Vanessa Antiopia socks and the Dressy socks, for which I learned the purled long tail cast on. 

Grande: I made a quick preemie hat from leftover sock yarn. I cast on 64 stitches, knit some ribbing, and then added the "Long Swinging Cable (page 90)  pattern from Barbara G. Walker's Charted Knitting Designs: a Third Treasury of Knitting Patterns. I also blocked Catkin and am loving it. 

Impromptu Preemie Hat

Stir: Lots of spinning this week! I finished a three-ply sock yarn from Crown Mountain Farms super wash merino in the color Touch Me. I also attended Spinning at the Winery at the Retzlaff Winery in Livermore, CA. There, I saw lots of friends, made some new ones. I also purchased my first supported spindle, by KCL Woods. Thanks to Miss Kalendar for showing me her supported spindle, and to Deebz for giving me a quick lesson. Playing around with this new spindle reminds me how much I enjoy spindle spinning. Bonus! You can see Deebz demonstrating Lever Knitting here. 

Brewing: I am "suffering" from Startitis and it seems to be my nature to have "too many" projects on the needles. I'm mostly being drawn to shawls, and I'm trying to choose among: Derecho, Faberge, Calliope's Odyssey, Carson, Taygete, Zephyr Cove, Rockefeller and Dreambird. I might cast on several!

I'm also thinking about sweaters, especially Lilium, Floriston, Brynna, Twigs & Willows, Buds and Blooms and the Askew Cardigan. 

Bite: Since I will soon be leaving the Bay Area, I want to spend a few days exploring San Francisco. Where do you think I should go? What are the "don't miss" places and things to see?

Sofa: Arrested Development. Season Four has arrived on Netflix. Do yourself a favor and if you aren't a fan, watch it from the beginning!

Wired: I talk about three apps: Springpad, Swiss Army Knife and Google Now. Are you using Google Now? If so, how do you like it?

118 Call Me Lemony

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Today's episode's title is an homage to Lemony Snicket and his Series of Unfortunate Events books.

Latte: I'm knitting the Gratitude Clapotis, and I cast on Dressy and Vanessa Antiopa socks.

Bitter Cup: The lovely Bumblebirch Grove yarn I purchased in Portland is most definitely NOT for socks! I don't know what I was thinking. It will, however, make a lovely shawl. I restarted them in Fiber Optic Yarns Foot Notes in the color Lavender Mist Batik.  Also….I knit several inches on the Vanessa Antiopa socks before realizing that I have to make them in size medium, not small. That never happened before!

Stir: Mary and I split a fleece at the Monterey wool auction and sadly, neither of us know which of her fleeces this is. Maybe you can help! See the photo below. Recognize it? Let me know if you do!

Taste: I review Crochet One-Skein Wonders edited by Judith Durant and Edie Eckman. It's enough to make me learn to read crochet charts. I mention Wrapped in Comfort by Alison Jeppson Hyde and also talk about crochet beaded bracelets. You can learn more about this type of crochet bracelet here and also here. 

Chai: I had the pleasure of seeing and hearing Clara Parkes at A Verb for Keeping Warm. She talked about her Great White Bale project, and you can read more about that here. I also finally met Wonder Mike host of one of the best podcasts that ever has been produced, Fiber Beat. Mike is organizing the next Men's Knitting Retreat, and if you are a knitting man and want to know more about it, look here. I think you can still download Fiber Beat episodes on iTunes.

Brewing: Inspired by Clara's talk, I think a bit about the future of yarn and what we can and perhaps should do about it. I also talk a bit about the convention of men's and women's clothing buttoning in opposite direction and I invite everyone to rebel and put the buttons and buttonholes on whatever side pleases YOU. 

Events: I will be at the Retzlaff Winery for Spinning, and the Black Sheep Gathering. 

Sofa: I continue to love Grey's Anatomy,  even after nine(!) years. I'm pushing myself through Buffy the Vampire Slayer's unfortunate sixth season. I recommend a very important book,  Far From the Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity by Andrew Solomon.

Menu: I was gifted with a big bowl of Meyer Lemons from which I made Super Lemon Ice Cream  from The Perfect Scoop and Lemon Curd Bars from The Joy of Cooking. 

117 Allicopitatase

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Latte: I'm working on the Clapotis and I'm getting ready to cast on a pair of Dressy socks out of Bumblebirch Grove yarn in the color way Mineral. This is yarn I acquired recently in Portland where it is hand-dyed. I'm planning to get back to work on several sweaters, especially my hand spun SPAKAL sweater. I was re-inspired for all things spinning by the latest Spin Doctor podcast. I'm especially excited about knitting with my handspun. 

Bitter Cup: I had a mishap while knitting the Twisted Flower Socks. I would like to be better able to read my lace knitting!

Grande: I did, however, finish the Twisted Flower Socks, by Cookie A. This is my second time knitting this pattern and it was a real pleasure. 

Brewing: I have been musing about reading books in general and knitting books in particular. This week, I'm re-reading Clara Parkes's Knitter's Book of Socks. I also mentioned her Knitter's Book of Wool  and Knitter's Book of Yarn. How is reading a knitting book like and different from reading a novel, non-fiction book, textbook or cookbook? While discussing this, I mention the book The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. 

I also have been thinking about creativity that is stimulated by various types of contstraints. I'm wondering how to limit something about my knitting with out "punishing myself". In other words, I'm not swearing off buying yarn or anything like that. I'm not sure where this is going, but it might end up having something to do with spinning. 

I also thought about my yarn buying habits: the good: sock yarn, the bad: buying a sweater's worth for of yarn with no particular sweater pattern in mind, and the ugly. Actually, I don't have any ugly yarn. 

Taste: A Tasting Menu this week, with reviews of Knitting Pattern Essentials by Sally Melville, Knit Your Own Moustache by Vicki Eames, the "Wife of Brian" and The Knitter's Curiosity Cabinet Volume II by Hunter Hammersen. 

Events: I will be at A Verb for Keeping Warm to see and hear Clara Parkes on May 15. I will be spinning at the winery and I am almost sure to be attending Black Sheep Gathering in Eugene, Oregon .

116 All Over the Place

Beth and Emma, at Happy Knits in Portland

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Latte: I am working fairly monogomously on Cookie A's Twisted Flower Socks out of Blue Moon Fiber Arts that Rock in Peek-a-Boo-Peony. 

Grande: I finished the knitting on Catkin. I still need to get buttons, weave in the ends and block it. I'm hoping to find just the right buttons at Stone Mountain & Daughter, my favorite fabric store ever, right here in Berkeley.

Brewing: I am very excited about the newest Twist Collective. There are many, many patterns I'd like to acquire, but the three I'm most taken with at this moment are Lilium by Amy Herzog, Floriston by Elizabeth Doherty and Sproket by Barbara Gregory. I'm thinking of frogging a partly knitted Kingscot in red Rowan DK and using the yarn to make Lilium. I will start by swatching.  I also recommend an article from Twist Collective: The Error of Our Ways: A Knitter's Guide to Fixing Mistakes by Robin Melanson.  

I continue to be excited by color and color schemes. I recommend two sites to generate palettes, as well as some apps. I especially like Colourlovers and design-seeds. You can see color palettes generated from great paintings here. Colourlovers has an iPhone app, and there are color apps from places ranging from Pantone to Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams. Pinterest is also a great source for generating color palettes. 

Menu: I have been obsessed with making ice cream. To date, I've made Strawberry-Sour Cream, Green Tea, Lavender Honey and Aztec Chocolate flavors. All of the recipes can be found in The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz. 

Sofa: I talk about three TV shows and a book: Mad Men has not (yet) pleased me this season. Project Runway, on the other hand, is making me really happy! I also enjoyed Top of the Lake, a mini-series that aired on Sundance Channel. See if you can find it online or on demand. I have also fallen into the guilty pleasure known as RuPaul's Drag Race. Yes, I'm late to the game, but laughing like crazy. The book: Where'd You Go, Bernadette?  by Maria Semple. It is hilarious! I also rediscovered the joys of browsing in a real, bricks and mortar bookstore, in this case Mrs. Dalloway's.

Chai: I have been to many yarn shops! In Portland, I "only" visited about four, and I loved Happy Knits, Pearl Fiber Arts and For Yarn's Sake. I purchased some Grove from Bumblebirch as well as some Cashy Wool from Knitted Wit. In Portland, I had the amazing pleasure of dining at Park Kitchen. If you can get there, well, what are you waiting for? Closer to home, I visited K2Tog, A Verb for Keeping Warm and Lacis. 

K2Tog

Events: I will be at the Clara Parkes reading from her new book The Yarn Whisperer  and talking about The Great White Bale at A Verb for Keeping Warm and I am also almost sure to be at Fleeces Food and Fun: Spinning with the Treadles to Threads Guild. I hope to see you at one or both. 

115 - Many Happy Returns

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Latte: I'm working on a Clapotis for a friend and otherwise I have been very monogomous working on Catkin. I have gotten to the slip stitch portion of the project, and it's very enjoyable to create color work this way. You can read a great deal about "slip stitch" or "mosaic" color work knitting here and here. Barbara Walker's A Fourth Treasury of Knitting Patterns also has a very large selection of these patterns.

Taste: I review Knit to Flatter by Amy Herzog. I think this book is an essential addition to EVERY knitter's library. Hurry up and get yourself a copy! Don't miss Amy's website, here. During the review, I also mentioned a very useful book about getting sewing patterns to fit: Pattern Fitting with Confidence by Nancy Zieman. 

Brewing: I talk about color theory and why you might want to play around with it. Grab yourself a color wheel and enjoy! Inspiration? Look to nature! The beautiful fiber colors of Crown Mountain Farms are inspired by nature. Get some colored pencils, markers, paint, colored paper or just fool around with a paint or drawing program on your computer. Make friends with color. If you want to know more about Pantone, look here. For books about color theory, look here, here or here. 

Sofa: I welcome back several of my favorite TV shows: Call the Midwife, Game of Thrones, Doctor Who and Mad Men. 

Tip Jar: When you gift someone with a book, include your own notations/marginalia. I did this when I gifted Mary with The Daily Soup, my favorite soup cookbook ever. 

114 - Complicated

It's springtime in Berkeley!
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Latte: I continue to work on Catkin and Clapotis. 

Brewing: I made an ill-fated attempt to teach someone to crochet, which proved to me that knowing how to do something is not the same as knowing how to teach it! 

I think out loud about the complications involved in actually producing a knitted garment. If you have succeeded, please congratulate yourself! In this segment I mention Ysolda Teague's Little Red in the City and Maggie Righetti's Sweater Design in Plain English.  

Bite: Questions for you: What should I do with a pill, raggy looking sweater? I loved knitting Carol Sunday's Acorns but after one wearing, it looked like a rag.  Corollary: How do you feel about Knit Picks yarns? Have you used Zauberball or similar singles sock yarn? How have these socks held up for you? I've been wanted to knit these Alchemist socks by Janel Laidman but I am somewhat leery about knitting socks with a singles yarn. 

Sofa: Alert! The second season of Call the Midwife is upon us, and the first season has just shown up on Netflix. Don't miss it!

I talk about two non-knitting podcasts that I enjoy: A Way With Words, and All Songs Considered.

I recommend the upcoming record (and the old ones too!) by Vampire Weekend. The new record is called Modern Vampires of the City, and the new track is called Diane Young. I also recommend the group Explosions in the Sky and an offshoot, Eluvium. The new record from Eluvium is called Nightmare Ending.