Girl on the Rocks

Skein Lane is going out of business July 31, 2006

I am a little late in telling you about this, but yes, skein lane is going out of business. I got an email announcing their sale, which started on Thursday the 27th. The discount is pretty much 20% off of everything. Here is an excerpt from the email:

THE RETAIL OUTLET IS CLOSING AND YOU ARE THE FIRST TO KNOW. All of the merchandise, store fixtures, furniture, equipment, and draperies must be sold. So, this SPECIAL INVITATION is being extended to you, our loyal customers and our wonderful Skein Lane community to come to the store on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, July 27th through August 2nd, one week before this sale is publicly announced in the newspaper. Feel free to bring a friend or relative who
did not receive an invitation as your guest. You will have the FIRST OPPORTUNITY to shop and save on the entire inventory before many items are sold out.

I went Friday (the second day of the sale) and there was still a lot of yarn around, and 75% off of most embroidery and needlework items. Remarkably, the store was in better shape then when it was in business. the aisles were clear and there was room to shop. They chose their last few weeks of business to adopt a price tag system as opposed to the truly evil “list” of prices located in booklets that you had to hunt down. They also had staff that was actually working on preventing the skeins of yarn from getting all tangled up, and there were no baskets of tangled yarn in front of every shelf. i would have shopped here more often if it was this nice before! True to form, when I asked some of the staff how much an unmarked item was, I was given a different answer from everyone (and the cashier quoted the highest price of them all!).

As a wise shopper once told me, 20% off is barely a sale. You hardly get a discount after sales tax is added. Others were quick to point out that the sale coming up at stash (announced to their mailing list) starts at 30% off. All of the embroidery materials were 75% off, so i stocked up on embroidery floss. Now that is a discount.

Related posts

• I am an enabler (1)
• You are about to fall in love with Mosaic Knitting (2)
• Winners (7)

Tiny completed objects July 29, 2006

While at work i found myself with an hour to waste and I was desperate to make something. I found some acrylic yarn in my office and a crochet hook in my pencil cup, and i whipped up this little guy…

photo courtesy of teapotgirl

he is a little amigurumi droplet. we thought he looked like melted mochi so we put him in the mochi tray. I am also working on crocheting some bacon - you can see it in the foreground.

I also whipped up a prototype baby beanie that is supposed to look like a buckeye. The pattern needs some improving, so i will probably give it another try.

i will be sending it off to my cousin for his new baby that is due in a few weeks.

I have also made some progress on the the only big knitting project that I am working on right now, the clapotis. I have 3 dropped rows!

and finally, the results of my solar dyeing adventure

whew! That is some bright green.

Related posts

• What’s Cooking? (0)
• recent knitting and spinning (0)
• One baby sock complete (1)

Blame it on the heat July 22, 2006

I couldn’t help but notice that admist the recent heatwave, everyblog and their brother has been complaining about the heat. “It’s too hot to knit,” they cry. And while I understand that the oppressive temperatures preclude knitting a giant sweater on your lap, I am a little disappointed in everyone. Where is the innovation and creativity of the knitter? In the spirit of ‘when given lemons…’ I have decided to use the heat to my advantage, and do a little solar dyeing. I mean, shoot, if it’s already 90 degrees outside, I’ll let the sun do the work of dyeing my yarn for me.

I have an old roaster tray that I use for dying. i lined it with foil and made two foil trays to separate it into two parts. I soaked my yarn in some water and vinegar, rang it out a little bit, and put it in the trays. then i added the dye. next, I covered the roaster pan with saran wrap and sealed it with tape - the more like a greeenhouse, the better. I have collected several candy thermometers at garage sales, so I decided to dedicate one to to dyeing and I put that through the saran wrap so I could have an idea of how hot it would get inside.

I watched the temperature climb about 10 degrees every 15 minutes, and top off at about 120 F. i left it out there for several hours (maybe 3-4?) until the all the dye had been absorbed from the solution.

excuse the crappy camera-phone picture

I had a little dye leftover so I thought I would do one more skein to use up the dye. Only, the sun had moved to the other side of my apartment building and there was no more sun on my fire escape. you know how knit bloggers talk about how their neighbors must think they are crazy because they see them taking pictures of yarn outside… well, here is where I have them beat. I took my yarn to the hottest place I could think of. My car. Parked in the rock-star space right in front of my apartment building, i thought I could make a quick dash there without getting the neighbors attention. Wrong. i ran into two of them on my way to my car with a roaster full of yarn and then started taking pictures of it.

Wow! this really did the job. 2 hours later when I went to get the yarn out, the handles of the roaster were so hot i had to use oven mitts! the thermometer read 145 degrees. sweet.

I am pretty happy with how the yarn looks so far. Usually i use an immersion technique, not a paint on the dye technique, so there are some flaws in the first batch. I didn’t really work the dye through the yarn, and some of the yarn in the middle has white patches. i think will look nice in the end though. Look for dry, reskeined yarn photos soon!

Related posts

• What’s Cooking? (0)
• Tiny completed objects (3)
• Stuff for me. (6)

Probably more than you want to know

At the request of my secret pal 8 leader, I am going to answer a bunch of questions for my secret pal (who rules, by the way). Read on if you choose.

(more…)

Related posts

• Hello Secret pal… Are you out there? (1)
• You are about to fall in love with Mosaic Knitting (2)
• Winners (7)

Dilly Beans July 20, 2006

Last weekend brent, a giant pot of hotwater and I turned this

click through to flickr to see notes

into this

Dill Pickled Green Beans. Now only two more weeks until we can enjoy the deliciousness.

Related posts

• Who, me? (7)
• Vegas Trip (4)
• Thrifting Down Under (1)

Is that contagious? July 17, 2006

I caved - i am making a clapotis. Did you know that it is actually pronounced clap-o-tee? Around here, we (=me) prefer to call it the clap-twaaaa and finish it off with a snooty french noise.

I am making this as a gift and I wanted to use some nice yarn, so i turned to my friends at Brooks Farm yarns. I picked up some of their stuff at Stitches West and could hardly leave the booth. It is just so nice to be surrounded by their yarn. I chose the ‘Four play’ 50/50 wool silk blend in the color ‘gypsy heart 5′ and i got right to work.

i must admit that i am a little disappointed in the color. It really seemed much lighter in the photo online. But hey, i am giving it away so I am not going to worry about how much I like the color.

On an unrelated note, a good review by a real blogger of the knitpicks needles! i can’t wait to check out kate’s at knitting circle tomorrow.

Related posts

• Tiny completed objects (3)

Socks for lunch? July 14, 2006

You know how sometimes late at night you find yourself reminiscing about your childhood…. Next thing you know you are on ebay looking at monchichi’s, atari 2600’s and ewok villages trying to figure out if you can afford to buy yourself everything you wanted as a kid. Next thing you know, this shows up on your doorstep.

Oh wait… I am I the only person that does stuff like that? Well, I did. And I have dragged this less-than-mint-condition lunch box around through several apartment moves. Many of the metal lunchboxes on ebay are pricey, but if you are willing to take one with a big honking dent, it’s a steal. When I saw this month’s whiplash challenge, i thought I might be able to dress ‘er up for the fancy category.

You see, I decided that i just can’t keep abusing my sock knitting projects by throwing them in my messenger bag. they have suffered interactions with unclean coffee travel mugs, gym socks, velcro and worse. i thought the lunch box was just the right size, so I decided to line it and add some accessories catered to sock knitting.

I put in a zippered pocket for securing little things like stitch markers, and loops in all of the corners for tying in scissors and tape measures and the like (If i don’t attach it to the bag, i will lose it). I made some shrinky-dink strawberries and glued them to some super-powerful rare earth magnets. They are decorative, and do a good job of holding up my sock pattern. since I didn’t like the way the lid opens all the way up, I added a fancy ribbon with handmade copper hooks and eye and adjuster slide for holding the lid up. I put in a divider to keep things from rattling around too much when the box isn’t full. The divider snaps in so i can remove it when I don’t need it.

Here it is in action with my in-progress chuck’s socks.

click through to flickr to see all of the notes i added to this photo

Lately I can’t figure out which I enjoy more - knitting the socks, or admiring my handiwork

Related posts

• Zakka Napkin (15)
• Whiplash entry - Poke me in the eye (1)
• Two quick tidbits (3)

A girl, a plan, a thrift store July 13, 2006

It is hard to find a good thrift store in my town, but I have one that I have made friends with. It is in a small room in the basement of a church, and is only open 2 afternoons a week. The old ladies that run it are very selective about which items they will put up for sale, and they have a very unique pricing structure. For example, they find doilies very valuable, so a doily might cost you a few dollars. however, that is the same price as a toaster oven. Interesting, huh? My favorite thing there is the 5 cent button basket.

Kate and I made lunch plans this week just so we could stop by the thrift store on the way back. and let me tell you, we cleaned out the the 25 cent craft drawer.

Click through to flickr and mouseover to see notes about everything. I put those 25 cent needes right to work. more on that later…..

Related posts

• Winners (7)
• Two Finished Baby Items (6)
• Thrifting Down Under (1)

Presents in the mailbox rule July 6, 2006

First off, a big thanks to my secret pal!

She (?) sent me some sock yarn AND a nerd rope!! yessss…. And they match each other. Perhaps i shall design a nerd-ropey sock pattern for the yarn…. What would that be like? Anyone have any ideas…

I started another sock project shortly before receiving this yarn. It is the Chuck’s Sockspattern in Louet Gems yarn.

Wow. It’s really photogenic. I figured the pattern will be too big for my foot (I have munchkin feet) and the yarn i am using is pretty fine, so I thought using smaller needles would size the pattern down for me. Even though I was focussing on keeping the floats loose, when I started with the brown, the sock got tight. So i sized up the needles, and ditched the DPN’s for two circulars and that helped a lot. Unfortunately, I am coming pretty close to not being able to get this one on my foot. i should have ripped it back, but I couldn’t bear to do it, so I will just have to yank this one on. Hopefully the second sock will be better.

Related posts

• The good, the bad, and the beach (5)
• You would think (0)
• Vegas Trip (4)

Ahh, Summer holiday July 3, 2006

A few days ago I was the lucky recipient of a package from my Dye-o-rama pal, KnittinBritinWi.

Isn’t it lovely?! It is made from Louet Gems Pearl which I have never used, so I am excited to try knitting it up. My package also included a yummy smelling soap and some lovely mohair bland Fiesta Yarn. Another new yarn to try! Thanks Pal!!

I took the day off today and am busy cooking up deliciousness for a 4th of July Beach BBQ tomorrow. I am baking some beans and making cucumber salad. Already chilling in the freezer is a batch of Aunt Weasies Bourbon Slushies (recipe below for those that are interested). I will use this as my number one defense against the beach sun and heat, which in northern California is not that bad. But last year it kicked my butt. what can I say, i am a wuss.

Click “more” for slushie recipe
(more…)

Related posts

• This was just practice, but I like it (5)
• Why I am still saving my junk mail (4)
• The perfect project for the yarn (4)