I just noticed that Ravelry now allows you to organize your projects into sets. I’m unreasonably excited about this. I’m debating whether I want to organize by date or by type of item. I feel like type of item makes more sense but sometimes I want to view stuff by date. Ah, Ravelry, such a time sink.
ravelry
things I’ve learned on Ravelry
This week I learned something totally unrelated to yarn on Ravelry: You don't need butter or marshmallows to make rice crispy treats.
I followed a recipe for Brown Rice Crispy Treats that called for brown rice syrup, which I didn't have, so I used agave nectar. I think they might need more time in the fridge to harden because of that but they still taste good. In face, Niels' friend who is over for a playdate declared them, "the best thing ever" and asked me to give his mom the recipe. Of course, how could I go wrong with peanut butter, sweetener and chocolate?
Yum. Thanks, Ravelry!
knitting, just a bit
I've been busy recently, just not knitting that much. Oblique is pretty much done, but I'm not entirely happy with it. I need to fix a few things, namely the bit where the two fronts connect is weird. Also, I think the ribbing needs to be longer and tighter, I did it on larger needles because I wasn't sure I wanted it pulling in, but I don't like it. Here's one not so great picture.
I am almost done with a February baby sweater. I'm using Maizy in the Fruit Ice colorway and I think it's very cute.
The rest of what I've been up to is no knitting related. I've been sewing! (I know, shocking!) I am helping to teach a textiles class at Niels' school and the kids made quilt squares. My mom put the squares together into a top for me and I made a back, trimmed the top to be more even, cut the batting and made a pillow from the two extra squares we had. Tomorrow, the kids will start quilting it. I have a second quilt in yellow and black to put together for next week.
Last, but not least, I finally made use of my too-small Ravelry shirt. I was going to make a grocery bag out of it, but then I realized that a drawstring bag would actually be more useful, so that's what I did.
My mother loaned me her travel sewing machine (a Janome) for all of this and I love it. I am seriously considering getting one of my own. I want to make myself an apron that is actually comfortable and at least one Amy Butler bag pattern. Just what I need, another hobby, right?
more stitches goodness
I guess I posted too soon about my Stitches haul! I went back today for a while and remembered that I wanted to get some gift yarn, enough dk weight organic cotton for a kid sweater for a friend. It's the same yarn that I bought myself one of yesterday. I love this color but have a feeling I couldn't pull it off, but my friend's daughter can.
(I have no idea why this photo isn't showing up.)
I also had a hank of Sea Silk just jump at me and I had to buy it to defend myself. Okay, it didn't jump, CJ picked it up and handed it to me. It's pretty though, isn't it? I think it is going to become a scarf sized Sarcelle. I think it will be gorgeous!
Yesterday evening, Cookie IMed me to tell me that she found my avatar on the Ravelry thingy. I had no clue what she was talking about. I somehow had not noticed that the giant Ravelry icon on the wall next to their table was a composite of avatar photos! Lucky for me, mine was easy to spot. Although, you might have to click over to Flickr to see where it is.
I got to have a yummy Indian dinner out with some of the BobaKnitters, including Kristi, so that was good. The food was really good and so was the company. The only downside of today was coming home to a pukey Stefan. It can't all be good, eh?
stitches goodness
I got to go do knitting stuff for almost four hours this afternoon/evening! This may not sound like news to some of you, but it was pretty exciting for me. I went to some Stitches West events. First I went to the Ravelry meet-up, which was fun. I only managed to take one picture of people, of course. It's Lori, Rachel, Jeni and Kristi (and wine)
Then, I picked up my badge (thanks to Margit of Fiber Fiend for signing me up as a worker in her booth!) and went into the market preview. We (a group of BobaKnitters) stopped first at the Ravelry booth and bought Ravelry schwag! (Click over to Flickr to see what everything is.)
As you can see, that's not all I bought. I also got some Longmeadow yarn from WEBS. Now that I have it home I'm wondering if I should go back and get six or so more of the red to make the Auburn camp shirt. I'm not sure. I got the two linen colored ones thinking I'd make a tee and use that as an accent. We'll see. I got one hank of Blue Sky Skinny Dyed cotton yarn. I want to try it out. I also bought a log cabin pattern from Bella Knitting. I've been wanting to get that one for a while.
Ah, Stitches. I got all of my stamps in my Ravelry passport except for from Blue Moon Fiber Arts, because they were too busy to do stamps tonight. Foo. Speaking of the Ravelry Passport, it amused me that it so closely resembled the Dutch passport. (What can I say, I am easily amused.)
I'm planning on going back for a bit on Saturday, so that I can hang out more with Kristi. Yay, yarn, yay Kristi!
Ravelry forums
I hate to say this, but the Ravelry forums are starting to make me not want to go to Ravelry. The problem starts with me, I always end up reading controversial threads or going to the "Big Issues Debate" forum. Of course those places are going to irritate me! Why am I surprised? I kind of wish there were a way to block myself from going to certain boards, or perhaps any of the forums.
On the knitting front, I've mostly been working on my mindless socks which turned into Foxglove socks from New Pathways for Sock Knitters. I really need some more socks and I have all this sock yarn. Of course, I also need to finish weaving the ends of Erik's sweater so he can wear it.
12 miles of yarn
Someone on Ravelry posted a link to a yard to miles converter. I exported my stash page to Excel, totaled the yarns column, entered into that converter an learned that I have 12.2454 miles of yarn, or 12 miles and 432 yards of yarn. I thought that was a lot until I noticed that everyone else who had replied had more than me and one woman has 72 miles! Yikes!
In any case, I think I have hit a limit. That stash calculation isn't actually everything I have. There are things in my bins that I haven't put into Ravelry yet. Not a lot, but they are there. I know that I am way behind but I am going to declare that I can only knit from my stash for the rest of the year. When January rolls around I think I will allow myself a purchase or two and then reevaluate. I keep buying sweater quantities of yarn and not finishing the sweaters in question! Unacceptable. The stash is also spreading around the living room. Ideally I will be able to fit it somewhere in the office, once the grand reorganization is done, but for now it has to be in the living room and I would prefer it if it didn't take over.
We'll see if I can stick to my resolution. Wish me luck.
ravelry
I could very easily be addicted to Ravelry. Kristi sent me an invite and I didn't do much with it at first. I started to add my stash after hearing Jenny and Nicole rave about it on Stash and Burn. Adding stash lead to adding projects. Then I heard Brenda Dayne rave about it on Cast On so I added her as a friend and she added me back! Be still my heart!
In any case, I can see myself getting really into Ravelry. I've added all of my All Seasons Cotton and a few of my projects, including my current works in progress. I have this urge to get out my entire stash and photograph it ball by ball to catalog it all. That is either really unhealthy obsessive behavior, or a good way to keep better tabs on what I have. I really should do that with needles. I feel like I'm constantly losing track of needles and then buying something similar, only to discover the old one. I shoudl probably start with the needle card instead of photographing yarn.
the sheep free knitter 