Wednesday Wonders #10: Yvonne P!

This week I have chosen to focus on another far-flung friend, whom I have really admired since I’ve known her, and whose writings I really enjoy. Yvonne P is a knitter in the Netherlands (yes, I have now actually featured TWO knitters in the same country outside my own…but I am now out of people who live there to feature). We “met” in 2007 either on Ravelry (online knitting community, for those of you who know me in some non-knitting capacity) or on a sock email list (Yvonne will probably tell me which it was!), when we were both knitting the same pair of socks, a pattern called Forget-Me-Not (and if you follow this Ravelry link, you will see both my pair and hers!). We chatted back and forth about the pattern, then started following each other’s blogs.

It turned out we were both similar in age and both getting married around the same time, so we had lots to talk about. I enjoyed looking at Yvonne’s Flickr pages and checking out her new house as it was being built, etc. After a year or so of reading about someone’s life, looking at their photos, and seeing all their projects, you get to feel like you actually know them! We both comment regularly on each other’s blogs, too, which is a great way to keep in contact.

What makes Yvonne a wonder is her generosity, in many respects. She generously shares her knowledge and ideas with so many people—she’s active on Dutch (and English) knitting lists and does all kinds of exchanges and swaps, too. I am impressed that she blogs in English rather than any of her other languages, so that we in the English-speaking world can also enjoy it. She persists in doing this even though most of her comments are in Dutch. It’s very educational for me, the former linguist, to figure out what some of the words are. I’m very good with the=het, sokkenwol=sock yarn and such. Yvonne has always encouraged me when my projects go wrong, and I appreciate that so much!

I had her on my list of potential Wednesday Wonders all along, but decided that this was her week, so I can share with you the contents of the fun package I received in the mail from her yesterday—a belated wedding gift! This beautiful sock yarn is special in more than one way (as she explained in her sweet note, on the back of the card in the picture). Not only is it hand-dyed in the Netherlands and from the Dutch yarn shop Wolhalla (a pun even I can understand), but it is an appropriately Dutch colorway—Delft Blue, as in the lovely pottery (click the link and you can see lots of examples from a cool shop in the US). The label even has a fabric sample in blue and white, to show you the inspiration for the yarn! Isn’t that neat? That is such a nice remembrance, and such a kind gesture! No wonder she’s a wonder!

The package also came with two tiny metal tags in a black bag (you can see them in the photo). They say “made for you” and you can put them in your knitted items that you give as gifts. Yvonne said to put one in the Rainbow Jacket (which I am wearing today even though I still haven’t blocked it, because we are having one last little cool snap here).

The moment I saw the yarn I thought of my sister, who collects blue-and-white china (as did my mother) and loves those colors. I know she does, because she sent me a blue-and-white bracelet for my birthday! I am sure my sister would love socks made out of this yarn…but, nah. She may have to live with one of my many other yarns in other blue/white combos. I may have to save this special yarn for myself, so I can think of my distant friend, whom I have never met, but is a friend nonetheless.

I LOVE the Internet. Thanks to it, you can find people you have things in common with, no matter where they are. I am so glad to have the chance to meet and get to know people like Yvonne, Dragonfly, etc.! I probably enjoy reading the blogs of everyday folks who just happen to be knitters more than the “famous knitter” blogs. I love getting a little slice of someone else’s life. You see how much we all have in common, and learn some fascinating differences, as well.

Hey, readers! Have you met any fellow knitter on the Internet and formed a friendship? If you have a moment, tell us about it in the comments!

More on Yvonne:

Her blog, Loisirs et Plaisirs
Yvonne on Ravelry (you need to be a member to see this)
Yvonne’s public Flickr pages

Mystery Solved - Happy New Year

OpArt Mystery

You may recall from last year (a mere two days ago) that I was perplexed about running out of black yarn on OpArt when I had only gotten to the size of the "small" version of the blanket. I became more perplexed yesterday, when I realized that my two remaining balls of white, plus a little extra, were not going to allow me to get my last stripe ten garter stitch ridges wide. The first ball only got me 7.75 rows (that's almost four complete stripes).

As I knit, I kept thinking, well, this is still plenty big, for being the small size. It will be OK. And by the end of last night, it was pretty clear that I'll get at least 9 stripes on the last row, which means it won't look too funky.

This morning, I got the bright idea to look on Ravelry to see other people's OpArt projects. Well. Once again I DO wish I would look at these things before the end of a project. There are all sorts of comments about the small size really being the one ending with 8 ridges, not the one ending with 10. So, I am actually almost finished with the large size, so it is not so bad to be just a tad short of yarn. And I am not the only one for whom the 6 balls of each color weren't quite enough. I feel so much better.

It looks like I'll finish OpArt tonight or tomorrow, but, no extra baby things from leftover yarn! That's OK, because I got another idea for making an organic cotton baby surprise jacket...or using some of that luscious Louet Gems I bought last week. I can always get more of that for mittens.

The plan is to be sure to take pictures of the blanket before and after blocking, because it really looks funny coming off the needles, but great blocked.

Knitting Resolutions

Everyone's putting their knitting resolutions on their blogs. I know I am a total failure at that, but I am trying to make reasonable plans for the year. I know times are hard, so I will have to moderate my stash aquisition. I also know I have a goodly number of projects lined up to knit (plus a couple I really want to finish--the orange alpaca sweater and Maelstrom, for example).

So, my plans are:

1. I will knit at least two items from my stash for every one item of new yarn. This is a minimum goal. I will try to knit primarily from my stash this year, but I know how the siren call of new yarn can be (witness the buying spree last week).
2. I will only buy sock yarn from independent dyers or limited edition others. Anything that will be around a while, I will wait for.
3. I will get back to concentrating on socks more and knit other stuff from sock yarn, too. Must use stash. (I actually have an idea that may work for making that Raglan Rust sweater I love in the current Knitter's from 5 or 6 different balls of Trekking rather than 3 each of two colors.)
4. I will finish the items I am working on. I hope to get one item, the orange sweater, done this weekend (so optimistic) and then I vow to spend at least some time each week on Maelstrom, then each other item until they are done. I will feel good if I do that.
   

Things I Wonder about on Ravelry

So, when I am not knitting, I often browse Ravelry for ideas and inspiration. I don’t spend a lot of time on the discussion boards—I usually don’t have enough time for it, and I’d rather spend spare time knitting, anyway. But I do try to keep up with all the new patterns that are posted. Sometimes, I get to wondering about those, however.

My main wonder is how in the world so many people got fascinated by making dishcloths. Every few days someone posts 20 or 30 new dishcloth patterns. I am sure that, if it is an interest, an animal, a place or a good cause, you can make multiple dishcloths in their likeness. Or in some cases, sort of in their likeness. I was glad about this when I needed to make a dishcloth with cherries on it, because, sure enough, there was one that fit the bill. I just now thought, hmm, wonder if there’s one with my favorite on it, the pansy? Why, yes there is (this is the link to where you can pay your hard-earned money for the pattern, since I know some of you still aren’t on Ravelry. But why? It’s fun and free!). That's it in the illustration--not a bad pattern at all! I must say I am sorely disappointed, however, to find no dishcloth with a tuba on it! I mean, what’s a band parent to do? I was thinking of making tuba boy a cloth to clean his instrument with a tuba on it, geez! OK, so really I wasn’t, but this was actually the first dishcloth search on Ravelry to come up empty. So, if you are one of those incredibly prolific dishcloth designers, please get to work on a tuba cloth. Band parents and grandparents worldwide are just itching to get started.

My other wonder was the recent spate of hilarious 80s sweaters that one company recently uploaded. Actually, I think it’s cool to have all their patterns from the past available, because some of them have interesting colorwork on them, if you can look past the shoulder pads and gigantic hair (and bangs). Someone took a LOT of time to put together all those patterns! I wonder if they hired an intern to do them, or what? It makes me feel good that a few pattern companies have taken it upon themselves to upload all their library of past items—this will be great for anyone interested in making things from out-of-print pattern books. I’m just amazed that they have the time to do them.

My final wonder is how some of these people have the time to write so many comments on so many forums. I guess I used to wonder this about attachment parenting types and breastfeeding advocates. But it’s the same thing: how to you find time to do your hobby, parent your children, or whatever, when you spend 8-10 hours a day on bulletin boards? (Yes, I wonder this about some of my email friends and some incredibly prolific bloggers, too.) Maybe they all just type fast. Yeah, that is the answer. Sure.

I am not being grumpy about any of this, just wondering.

And back to the ever-fascinating topic of my knitting. Yes, I have been doing it. I went out at lunch yesterday and got two types of beads, the only ones I could find with holes that seemed large enough to handle two strands of Cash Irhoa. One set was wood and the other very interesting faceted glass beads that were blue with purplish-pink lining. The latter looked rather garish in the bag, but when placed on a background of navy blue Cash Iroha, they were absolutely perfect. They are not too big, nor too small, and not too dull nor too sparkly. I will be sure to get a photo of them.

Knitting Stuff Boggles My Mind

Just Finished, World Series Finale
Originally uploaded by sunasak

You can see what I did most of yesterday--I didn't feel too hot, so skipped all social obligations (except one, will mention later) to just knit or do knitting-related activities. And I vowed to finish those darned Redwood Pagoda Lace socks. I got them done before the World Series was over. And since they are "redwood" it's like I knitted Red Socks for the Red Sox. (I thought both teams were very good, though.) I like my idea of recording where I was and what I was doing when I finish a pair of socks. In any case, these are interesting, mainly in that I think my gauge changed from one sock to the other. The second one fits more comfortably and is longer, even though they have the same number of pattern repeats. Of course, knowing how often I messed up the pattern, sock #1 could simply have more mistakes in it. I really should do this pattern again in semi-solid or solid yarn. But, I love the colors and will enjoy wearing a decent pair of brown socks, at last.

Yes, I did get a little done on the other projects. Shedir is bigger and the lace scarf is well into the easy part of the main section. The Former Tangled Mess is very pretty.

Much of what I did over the weekend, though, was thinking, planning, and recording. I took pictures of the Rosebud Shawl, which is stalled at the moment, and of an old feather-and-fan baby afghan I made for Tuba Boy in 1991. Yowee it was made out of extra acrylic, but it held up well.

Then I took a deep breath, and since I have new lighting in the media room and the camera suddenly likes batteries, I began to photograph my commercial sock yarn balls. I just counted, and I photographed 36 skeins of sock yarn, predominantly Opal, Trekking , Regia, Meilenweit, and Austerman Step. Goodness. I got the info on all the yarn in my decorative "bowl o' sock yarn" plus the top layer of the "big basket o' sock yarn." This means there are probably at least 20 MORE balls of yarn in the bottom of that basket. Ai yi yi.

Anyone who's glanced at what I already uploaded to Ravelry (69 yarns so far) knows that most of my stash is sock yarn (with lace a distant but substantial second). I wonder if I will break a hundred skeins of sock yarn yet to be knitted, once I have them all up? (Noting that many of them are 50 gram balls, so a lot of the colorways have two skeins...yep, I may hit it.)

It will take me a while to edit all the photos, so just a bit of it went up today. Whee, something to look forward to. I am sure my poor parents are sick of going to my Flickr pages looking for pix of their grandchildren, only to see endless balls of yarn. I promise, it's almost over, and soon just a few will go up, as I buy stuff. And I am slowing down. Really.

I DO knit socks most of the time, but also other stuff. So I doubt I'll ever get to all this. That's OK, because as I have declared before, it's a collection, not a stash. Some of the yarns are valuable collector's items (like the test skeins and limited editions), and other are just beautiful to behold. So I declare that I feel no guilt about the extent of my sock yarn stash. It's an investment that may well increase in value, like other people's trading cards or Hummel figurines. Yeah.

Long Live My Sock Yarn Stash! I just ordered three more skeins from that enabling Loopy Ewe!

My personal news is that my wonderful Life Partner Man Lee bought me an engagement ring yesterday, with a genuine practically colorless practically flawless diamond in it. I can't wait to pick it up. I was careful to choose a setting that wouldn't snag on yarn too much. (I am old fashioned and got yellow gold, because I LIKE it, and a small dainty one, not a big retro style one--this should be in style the rest of my life, I hope.)

All Raveled Up

I have spent a lot of my spare time uploading information to Ravelry, now that I am actually in it! Mostly I am doing it for my own reference--it sure is handy to be able to quickly see where something I made came from, what yarn I used, etc., without having to plow through all the reference materials. It will also be nice to catalogue all my books, once that works (right now, well, not all the books I have are there, and I'm not talking about weird ones--I do realize that's not a high priority, and it's fine).

Also it's a bit altruistic. I like it that others can see my FOs, so they can decide if a project will work out for them, or read about what issues I (or others) had with a pattern or yarn.

I now have 87 projects catalogued and 37 balls of yarn in my stash photographed and described. Uh, yowzer, I still have a LOT of that stuff left. Who knows when or if I will take pictures of all that sock yarn?? I have run into old friends, made new ones, and learned things on the forums, even though I am no Miss Violet, who seems to post on EVERY forum.

Why am I going on about something many of you can't see yet? I'll tell you, but first go there and get on the waiting list. You do not have to categorize everything you own. There's lots of ways to use it. But if you don't sign up, you will only be able to browse once it goes live, not contribute. The waiting list is moving along briskly now, so you won't have to wait long to join! (And there are no special favors. "Famous" bloggers and designers had to wait just as long as everyone else if they didn't sign up immediately.)

You see, once upon a time I consulted with a company that built online communities. Did a lot of work for them. Helped them tweak the user interface, helped them tailor the content to the particular audience, wrote a zillion-page wiki help system for them...and it really seemed like it could be a nice community. They had guidelines, nice reasonable ones, and lots of options that, if they were used, could really enrich the lives of the intended users.

But, it didn't turn out that way, for various reasons internal to the politics of the organization where I worked. Now I hear of so many people refusing to use the community because they think the developers were spying on their private groups, or it was made by the wrong bunch of people...and that all made me sad.

So I was thrilled to get to participate in Ravelry. There are no private groups, and though that might cause some problems for people who worry that their interests might offend or upset others, it does avoid other pretty unpleasant potential issues. It's a heated debate right now, but I think the developers (sweet 30-year-olds with a cute dog) made a good decision to be as open as possible.

I have not stepped up and said, "Hey, I used to be an online community developer," because I have had enough nasty feedback and over-inflated expectations, but I do wish the volunteer editors and helpers well, and am happy to see all the support the knitting and crocheting community is giving. That is what I like to see in an online community. People who appreciate the chance to have one, and will help out if they can. By being able to contribute, you get ownership. That's a good thing.

I'll be out of blogging range for a couple of days. Please think good thoughts as I try to knit Shedir, finish that cardigan, and if possible, get close to finishing the Redwood socks!

Completed Surplice Top, etc.

Completed Surplice Top
Originally uploaded by sunasak

The hated and tedious sewing up is finally complete, so here is the surplice top, before blocking (hence wavy border and lace sections).

As a reminder, this pattern is from Nashua Handknits North Designer Collection #4 and was made in the yarn called for, Natural Focus Ecologie Cotton, in color logwood.

It actually fits, though is low cut enough that I will probably wear it with a cami in public.The color is a bit too close to my skin color to be very flattering, too. But, it's nice and light and for once, not too big. There is a photo of me in it on Flickr and Ravelry, but it's so unflattering that I decided to not put it on my blog. Maybe I'll get another photo once the top is blocked.

At least it is NOT too big and DOES fit. I am proud.

I think Mr. Greenjeans in Red (next project, top down cardigan) will fit fine. I somehow am getting a smaller gauge than usual by going down two sizes, so I will just make the increase section longer and make sure there are the right number of stitches when it comes time to do the cable rib bottom. On that one, I am almost through the yoke on that one, thanks to having a "sick day" yesterday and just sitting on the couch sleeping and knitting. I'll have a picture tomorrow--the black/red color is beautiful.

As for socks, I got halfway up the foot on Diamond Waffle and decided the Knitivity yarn in Redwood did not like it. Too busy a pattern and too busy a yarn. So, the yarn is staying and I am trying Pagoda Lace by the usual Wendy Johnson. I am still on the toe, because I mostly worked on the Greenjeans sweater after frogging the Diamond Waffle sock.

I have decided that the purple-ish J. KnitsNew Jersey yarn would be a better choice for Diamond Waffle. It is more of a semi solid, and I do not have many of those right now. Oh, if only I knew someone dyeing up some semi-solids that I could make socks out of. Oh wait, supposedly I do. DYE SOME YARN, Jody!

I have 34 projects up on Ravelry, and 16 stashed yarns. Lots of typing and photographing still left to do, but I already have found the site handy for looking up official names of patterns and yarns!

Ravelry Invite Came--Don't Let Me Get Too Sucked In

The above says it all.

I am SunaSAK on there. That's because I am sunasak on practically everything.

I haven't set anything up yet, but will later today.

If you aren't on, they appear to be moving really quickly now, so you'll be on soon. They are letting the huddled masses on now!