Hey everyone, Atomic Books is having the author of Weekend Sewing for a sewing demo this Sunday, 4-6pm!

Come by and meet the author, pick up some sewing tips and hang out.

Who's with me?  I have to be back in the Hamp by 5, so I'll venture out there for a while in the early pm to give myself a little time away from my tiring yet glamourous weekend o' hijinks. 

ETA: For those who aren't feeling spendy right now, there's informal lessons and demos every hour, a charity collection (run by my knit buddy from work!), Porch Knittin' (weather depending) and admission is FREE!

http://homespunyarnparty.blogspot.com/

We're thinking of having the author of the new Weekend Sewing in for a demo/workshop of some kind.

Anyone interested in sewing? Have any projects you'd like to see or learn more about?

Here's an interview with the woman who knitted the miniature clothes for the movie, Coraline.

Have you ever read Auntie Bubbopants on Ravelry? OMG spit-take. don't be holding anything you can't spill!

found on Ravelry:

http://www.freevintageknitting.com/mittens/615-mittens-pattern.html

Anyone interested in this project let me know! I think I'll be doing this and I can have materials dropped off to the store:

My company is located in the University of Maryland BioPark, and we have developed a partnership with the James McHenry School, a Baltimore City Public School located in West Baltimore, just a couple of blocks from the BioPark. James McHenry is an elementary school (K-5) with 252 students total; 98% of the students qualify for free lunch and 80% read below grade level. The students there have tremendous needs in a variety of areas, and we at Alba are doing what we can to scratch the surface on a few areas where we can help. On Halloween, we had all 252 students come through our office and a few other places in the BioPark building to trick or treat. They had a blast!


In getting to know the school leadership, one story from the school's full-time counselor plucked at our heartstrings: when the counselor asked a little girl why she was only wearing one mitten, she replied that they only had one pair & her brother wore the other one. We decided that one project we would embark on would be to provide a wool hat & pair of mittens for each student at the school. Rather than go buy a bunch of hats and mittens at Wal-Mart, we want to give it a personal touch, so decided to try to recruit local knitters to make this happen.


Our goal is to provide a hat for each child by Thanksgiving & a pair of mittens for each child by Christmas. We had each student trace their hands on a manila folder so the mittens can be custom made for each child. We have already enlisted the support of the Knitting Club at MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art), and they are moving full steam ahead with the hats. However, it will be impossible for that one club to be able to get all of this done in time to meet our goal.


So….this is where you come in (we hope)! We have already purchased all the yarn needed for this project. We also have the hand tracings already. Beyond paying for the yarn, we would be willing to pay a modest amount for each pair of mittens either to the club or to the individual knitters. Any amount of help would be great, and we can talk about level of commitment, expectations, etc. I would also appreciate any referrals to other knitting groups that you think might be able/willing to help keep these children warm.

There's an awful lot of ink out there right now about how "in these times" people are turning to handcrafted gifts to save money and to make more unique gifts.

I just have to say, handcrafted items aren't necessarily cheap or easy! And if you don't plan they can be an even greater source of stress than just buying presents.

Since most of us here have done the Xmas gift making, have any pointers for people thinking about this?

Here's mine: It's November. You're already behind the eightball for Xmas if you're just thinking about this now.

Following up, I've been in touch with Holly of Athlone Farms (aka pacamama on the Rav) to get some local alpaca silk blend for a planned gift on queue for my highly-wool-allergic sister. Holly will be bringing her lovely alpaca blends not to Waverly, but to the Sunday market (under 83 @ President St) craft section.  (eek - looks like her domain expired this week - see here instead for teh cute)

I'm doing mostly every other weekend and should be attending on these dates: Nov. 2nd and 23rd. Dec 7th, 14th, and 21st.
I'll be happy to spin up some alpaca silk blend.  Any idea what color(s) you might like?  I have some lovely natural grey, natural fawn, white (which can be dyed most colors), dark brown, or blends of the above.  Most of what I have right now has wool blended in, but I do have two skeins of natural fawn and soy silk in the weight you want....

Sixtyish days til the holidays. Just saying.

Yipes. it's time to freshen up those Ravelry queues....

ETA: and with that in mind, I've just written to pacamama on Rav to see if she'll be back at Waverly Market in the coming month.... if anyone needs an ugly/cuteoverload moment, I refer you kindly to here and here.

So remember the 6-mo Baby's First Tattoo sweaters I started for twins as an overreaching newbie? My first attempt at seamed raglan (Oh, its the same thing, just smaller? Grrr... never realised how much fiddlier tiny knittin can be) Well, those twins are not yet in college, but marching on 2.5 yrs.  So what with the impending and bursting forth of many new little lives needing jaunty warmth, I thought it high time to get back to my UFOs, before I proceed on anything new for myself, and hopefully finish one by Saturday....

Sunday: blocked a few parts-in-progress to figured out where I was. Thought I had it figured out.
Wednesday: Thinking I had 2 sleeves, knit at the same time on a holder, 2 shaped fronts and something mysterious but surely this must be the back worked midway , I picked up and knitted away merrily while watching the Fiery Young/Old Democrats. However, I realized that the pieces start with almost exactly the same construction, then vary & taper accordingly from the bottom up to become their respective parts*. I thought I was making some headway.  And I was, but apparently the wrong kind as I NOW HAVE FOUR PERFECT BACKS.  That need FOUR right & left fronts each and EIGHT sleeves. (I have two fronts, but they vary tremendously as in one is WRONG-O)

Today: Started new fronts, to be knit 2-at-a-time in opposition on one circ. so they get exactly the same length.

Moral: A) This is why you should never put things down in the middle without leaving yourself a little note pinned to the damn thing. 
B) just because you despise straights does not mean you should substitute 5s  from your (2 yrs ago) spanking new Denise set for your perfectly good 3s or just bloody well buy them, because honestly, you realize now it should be a little tighter gauge/less floppy for fingering and you should just frog it all. But blocking is magical. Tightens everything right up.
C) The audiobook of Geek Love would be just the ticket right now.
D) this project will never freakin' end.
E) The Great and Terrible Chtlulu regneth over my UFOs with a hideous and cackling glee.
*much like a foetus, no? amusing.

I found Michael Phelps' diet!

From the NYPost:

"Phelps lends a new spin to the phrase "Breakfast of Champions" by starting off his day by eating three fried-egg sandwiches loaded with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions and mayonnaise.

He follows that up with two cups of coffee, a five-egg omelet, a bowl of grits, three slices of French toast topped with powdered sugar and three chocolate-chip pancakes.

At lunch, Phelps gobbles up a pound of enriched pasta and two large ham and cheese sandwiches slathered with mayo on white bread - capping off the meal by chugging about 1,000 calories worth of energy drinks.

For dinner, Phelps really loads up on the carbs - what he needs to give him plenty of energy for his five-hours-a-day, six-days-a-week regimen - with a pound of pasta and an entire pizza."

One Namaste Laguna and one ginormo Lime &Violet Sasquatch skein, appropriately enough, in soft greys, B&W, to ummm...save on shipping.  Here's hoping the really customizable cross-body balancing of the bag will reduce the back pain on super-shlepping days.  Yes, there's an inside pocket appropriately sized for files. So its a knit-commute WORK bag. Yes, yes it is. Let's hope that sock yarn translates nicely to self-striping endless glove yarn.

Cool little video of a new skate embroidery design by local artist for Art School Dropout.

Thanks everyone for coming, sorry about the bizarre black out at the end! It's all fixed now though. It was a circuit in the basement!

The mini donuts were from Brunie's Bakery, here's her MySpace for those who asked!

docjules knit overheardgirl a pair for her birthday!

I wasn't that into this idea when I first saw them on Craft, but seeing them in real life were awesome.

Ok, looks like it's a go for this coming Tuesday!

7-9pm (may go a little later) at atomic POP, 3620 Falls Rd.

Bring your yarn, fabrics, whathaveyou that you'd like to swap, sell or otherwise get rid of.

We'll have vegan donuts and other treats and drinks!

Even if you don't have anything to swap come and bring your projects to work on and just hang out.

Finally planning on a craft swap for real!

Thinking maybe the 27th? We'll have it at atomic POP. I have a TON of yarn, floss, fabric and stuff I just want to get rid of or swap.

We'll have snacks and drinks so even if you don't have stuff to swap just come down and craft.

If there's a better date for people let me know!

ETA: no errata posted, thanks everyone!


can someone without uber-Net Nanny check www.naughtyneedles.com errata for me to see if there is anything up for Straightjacket?  It's one of my plane/conference knitting projects, since the yarn is extra floofy & lightweight.

Merci!