Intentional Stones

Artist's weekend

My family will be out of town having the time of their lives.

And I'm staying home to have a party! (yes, I do feel like a teenager whose parents have left town for the weekend)

It's an artist's retreat at Simbelmynë's house!  I'll hit Costco and fill the house with food. I'm used to all sorts of eaters-picky eaters, carnivores, vegetarians, vegans, food sensitivities, OmNomNomNivores... Also I have hot and cold running WiFi, which is, of course, optional.  And, never fear, coffee.

Everything's ship shape with lots of room for big projects.  I'm not far from Construction Junction, really you could get pretty crazy. I'm planning to set aside areas for specific things, and we can adjust as people arrive with their projects and goals for the weekend.  I have lots of places to sleep, if you're from out of town or just don't want to leave.

The jewelry studio will be in full swing.  I have almost every type of equipment anybody could need-from torches to finishing equipment. I have tables and corners and quiet areas for writing, being quiet, meditating.  A park next door for walks and listening to the world around us.  A full crafting room with all sorts of supplies, if you forget anything.  I even have a macro photography studio, if you want to get some small photos.

We can swap, dump, laugh, play, work, meditate, trade secrets, teach, learn, whatever we want to do.

If you RSVP I can make sure I have what you need.  Or just show up, the more the merrier!

Stay all weekend or come and go as you please. 

Official Start is 7pm Friday, March 18 and end at 7pm Sunday March 20.

-Simbelmynë

(412)608-8986

235 Oakview Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15218

(Please ignore the photo it's from the highway, for some reason)

We're the last house on the left.

Making my world a little bigger

Could you all do me a little favor?

I've discovered Google Reader, and gracelessly I'm giggling with excitement.

I'm trying to build my blog list.  (and maybe help you build yours?)

Could everybody who has a blog of their own please leave me a comment? 

Last couple of day's crafting have been minimal-here's the record.

I'll be spending today recovering my household after the trip, blogging and making a dent in my craft backlog.  So new blogs to read will delight me.

Day 1

I promised a charm per day:

Started on the first sock

And my fellow little crafters were hard at work as well.

Knitting for Fashion

I'm not very fashionable.  And yet, I don't mind a pretty accessory sometimes. Wandering around here, I noticed that many people seem to be wearing scarves.  Since it's nominally winter, I guess we should be wearing something to keep warm?  Even though jackets are hardly necessary.  I got jealous and I was looking for a small, portable craft project for the road.  So I found some funky yarn and got started.  The first one, for me, isn't quite as long as I'd have wished.  I can't knot it fashionably around my neck.  But it's fun and goes will with my coat.  

Here, my daughter had a little elbow boo boo, and mommy's scarf made the perfect sling.

Now the kids want their own.  I've started on the Girl's.  But I've hit a glitch.  I really dislike this yarn.  It's a mish-mosh of fuzzy and thinner plies and I'm sure it's going to be scratchy.  But she LOVES the colors.  Hers will be longer, so she can be even more stylish.  I hope I finish before it gets too warm!

Alpacas?

Were we jetlagged?  Maybe, or maybe just tired, hungry and a little stressed.

There we were, on an unfamiliar highway.  And we needed lunch and a restroom.  I've recently developed a habit of following random landmark signs.  (All the fault of the US National Parks Service Passport)  I noticed that the way sign had a castle next to the town of Berrima, so there we stopped. 

What was the first thing we noticed upon arriving? 



A wonderful, homey little shop and café welcomed us under this sign.  When I'm super hungry, I tend to get a bit nervous about unfamiliar food.  What if I don't like it?  But I relaxed the second I walked in.  I've gotten so used to cafés in the US with mostly sweets to nibble with coffee.  This place offered quiches, sandwiches and savory pies.  All fresh and delicious looking. 

The more I wander about in Australia, the more I'm finding this to be common.  Real, hand made baked goods, not processed stuff!  Heaven.

Once the bodies were satisfied, we could move onto important things:
Handicrafts.

The little shop next to the café was a treat for us all.  Beautiful, intricate sweaters, weavings and rugs for me to appreciate.  Toys made with alpaca hair for the kids and local lore for Adam.  Adam started a conversation with the shop owner about alpacas in Australia and it turns out they've only been here for 20 years.  They also had roving and yarn.  I couldn't resist a little gift for a knitting buddy.

It turns out that there's wine country between Sydney and Canberra.  And we were right in the middle of it.  I'm going to have to come back for wine.

Berrima pushed me in many directions.  It's obvious that fresh food is abundant here, where winter is extremely mild.  I'm resolved to avoid packaged, pre-prepared foods for my family.  I'm working on my knitting and looking for projects that are quick and useful.  Maybe once knitting's more habitual, I'll be ready to spend the extra money on some alpaca yarn.  And I'm going to learn more about wines while I'm here.  We'll be sharing a bottle a week, even letting the kids have a sip if they want!

Definitely a good welcome to Australia

-Simbelmyne

The Project I just can't put down

Othello really annoyed that I couldn't get a shot I was happy with.

You'll notice from the picture, there's only 4 inches of the needle bare, and I haven't even finished the 48 row pattern once.  It's going to require another 3 and 1/3 repeats.  That's a 40 inch circular needle. 

I think I'm in trouble. 

Also note that this is the thinnest of the yarns, the wool.  The bamboo yarn barely fit on the needle 8 rows ago, before I switched, and every other row increases by 8 stitches.  I like the stripes and the texture, so I won't be just dropping the thicker yarn entirely.  The pattern is a freebie from Schaffer yarns, included with a silk yarn.  So it's not intended to cause this much trouble.  I'm going to love the warmth provided by the heavier yarn.  The flower pattern is not as light as many lace patterns I've seen.  If I'm going to acquire a very special yarn, I'd like it to be for a prettier pattern.

I've mentally given myself until the fall to be done with this thing.  And here I am, going steady with it.  Each row grows longer and longer, and it's gotten to the point where starting the row means a pretty big time commitment. 

Ravelry is great. there are three examples of this particular project there.  Mine, one who successfully completed the shawl, so I know it can be done, and one who gave it up.  You can even set your project status to "frogged."  This made me laugh.

-Simbelmyne

I'm making Lace!

See, you can see light through it!

It's starting to get big, increasing with every row.  I'm halfway through the chart, and I'm unclear about the directions after that...  I'll figure it out when I get there.  Do I need to go out and find a longer circular needle?

And I'm starting to see how the pattern will come out in the shawl. 

I know that I'm making mistakes.  The "flowers" are going to be very organic looking.  I can live with that.  And the colors are coming out in stripes.  I'm switching in the sock yarn every once in a while.  Ah well, I'll be very happy to wear it.  And I'll never do it that way again if I don't like it.

And here's a teeny preview of the jewelry piece I'm working on:

These green amethyst briolettes will be the centerpiece of a simple necklace.  I think I'm reworking the links in between.  We'll see how these polish up.

-Simbelmyne

Apologies for the blog vacation.  Lots been going on.  I'll post about it when it's clear what it all means....

My favorite part

I've always enjoyed any yarn project that created a long ropey part.  It reminds me of finger knitting back in first grade. 

I was pleased that I got this much done last night after dinner.  I picked up the stitches and the first setup row with stitch markers before I went to bed.  I hope I got the transition between the picked up stitches and the collar band attached right.  But, the next part was described on a chart and with stitches I've never used before.  It seemed like a good idea to put it to bed for the night. 

This project is much more complex knitting than I've tried before.  I'm intending to take my time and hopefully I won't make too many mistakes.  I'm also glad that I've chosen to use a combination of yarns, this one has some pairings of oranges and purples that I'm not sure of.  The individual colors I've chosen should work better for me. I'll use the variegated here and there just for fun. 

-Simbelmyne

Knitting bug

I've joined Ravelry, (username is Simbelmyne friend me if you haven't already!) and the big empty space in my profile was mocking me.  So I found one I think I'd been looking at in the Ooooooh!  Shiny!  yarn store.

The pattern came with an oh so nice skein of silk/camel blend yarn that was way out of my beginner's price range, but I found a copy in .pdf form on the net. 

Here's the problem.  It's rated as really difficult, and I'm a pretty new knitter.  I mean, I know the basic stitches and I have experience with knitting.  But I've never tried anything more complicated than a baby sweater.  And this is LACE.

But lace is what I want, and lace is what I shall have. 
here are the colors

tho they're not all showing up in the company's website image.  You can't see the purples very well.
I'm going to mix it all up, I got two skeins of the variegated as well as one each of the solid colors to match.  The craft store didn't have anything nearly as thin as that mighty fine silk.  So who knows.  This might not work at all.

I'm giving myself until next fall to complete it.  This one will not consume my entire time and prevent me from making jewelry.

Here's hoping!
-Simbelmyne

Math grade=C

But I like it.

(apologies for the cell phone photo, camera is hiding)

This is what happens when you put math in the hands of the carefree creative.  Starting out, I wanted to try for legwarmers.  But my guess as to gauge was a bit off.  I could have made a very large sized leg decoration.  Or, I could just let it decide to be a hat for a smallish baby. 

You can see where I have a k4 p2 section in the middle of my k2 p2 ribbing.  There's another one, not quite half way around the hat.  And you can clearly see the decrease stitching at the top of the hat.  I'm betting you can invert that somehow to make it invisible.  I haven't looked it up.  I also need to tie the pom pom tighter before anybody small gets their hands on it.  It'll come right out.

But, I thought for an impromptu project, with decisions made on the fly.  It's not bad. 

I think I'm getting faster at knitting.  One thing I was frustrated with as a kid was how slow it was.  And I make fewer mistakes.  I only had to tear out and pick up a few stitches.  tho I did just leave a couple mistakes, but once made, I was pretty good at leaving them be and working with them.