Wednesday, March 24, 2010

In which the Knitter of Shiny Things almost wins the Vericon art show

What could be more awesome than a laundry rack full of yarn and roving?
This is what I brought with me to the Vericon art show.

Side 1:














Side 2:















And a view from the inside:
















[Insert Wings Here]:


I managed to finish the skein I had been working on in time to bring it with me to the art show. I called it "[Insert Wings Here]" because most of the Vericon art has wings on it, and none of mine did, so I had to fix that.

I ended up selling 3 rovings and the [Insert Wings Here] yarn. I was only second to John Kaufmann for how much money's worth of art I sold. Though unfortunately this was due to not that many people buying art this year.

But 4 items is a lot for one art show for me, especially when I was already going to the con, and entering the art show only cost $5. For minimal effort I managed to get a few sales, and also lots of people admiring the shinyness.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Weather win

After 3 full days of non-stop downpours, it finally stopped raining some time last night. And today there was sun. And because of daylight savings time, when I got home at 5:30 it was still sunny out. Thus I could photograph my new wool on the porch instead of using the makeshift light box, which is made of sad. It does the job, but natural lighting gives me far better results.









So now I have pictures for the new update to the Etsy shop. I haven't added new wool in a while. But soon I'll be adding tons of wool, once my 27lbs of merino comes in. Yes, I did order 27 lbs of wool. It was with free shipping! How could I not?

Sunday, March 14, 2010

It's a tie!

Because Riv was lazy about blocking her shawl, I was able to catch up. I cast of last night, and then tonight we both blocked our shawls:




























Riv's is on the left, mine is on the right. I actually cast off too tightly, but I didn't want to re-do it. So my shawl is less pointy than hers. But it's okay, because it's done and I'm happy, and everyone who saw it today really liked it.

Now I'm in the annoying stage where I don't have any knitting projects going. I was concentrating on the shawl because I wanted it to be finished so I could wear it. But now winter is coming to an end, so I'm less motivated to make myself the warmer hat that I'd like to have. I might make another shawl, but I'm not sure I want to do that yet. And I'm a bit discouraged with socks because I tried to make a Hedera, but it ended up being too loose even on small needles, because my feet are small. I want to make socks with an actual pattern, since those are more interesting than plain socks, but that involves deciding on one first.

And I could start my sweater, but that's not such a portable project. I should probably start it anyways.

Maybe I'll just stick with the drop spindle for now, and spin up the baby llama I dyed for myself. Or sit at my wheel and spin the wool I pre-drafted. But the wheel is really not portable.

Must find project!

Thursday, March 11, 2010

I has a treasury

It's a treasury!

It's really hard to get an Etsy treasury. You need to know when enough lists will expire so that the number is down to less than 333. Then you have to be at the site and click to create it as soon as it opens up. They let everyone who is there in time create one, and then the number of lists goes up to ~900 or something ridiculous.

However, they do have a tool called Poster Sketch that allows you to prepare a treasury in advance, and will automatically save what you put in. Of course, there's no actual link to it from the main site; it is hidden inside a tutorial on how to make a treasury.

Seriously, Etsy, why don't you have a link to the poster sketch?

Hopefully people will look at my treasury and buy stuff from it (especially my yarn and Riv's earrings). Some of the things in my poster sketch actually were purchased between when I created the list and when I posted it, so I had to put in alternates. Maybe my list is good luck!

Screen shot since the treasury will disappear on Saturday evening:

Tuesday, March 02, 2010

In which the Knitter of Shiny Things loses the Knitting Olympics

I had intended on doing the Knitting Olympics this year. I was going to spin up this lovely baby llama roving that I dyed myself (Ravelry link) and knit an Alienor sweater (also a Ravelry link).

For the sweater, my main goal was just to cast on, because I've never knitted a sweater before and once I cast on it would become a lot easier for me to actually knit it.

However, life got in the way, and I wasn't even able to complete that modest goal. I had to finish a pair of gloves which were a birthday present for a friend. Her birthday was February 12, but I didn't finish them until last Wednesday. Part of this is because I actually had her try on the first glove a billion times so I could make sure everything was sized correctly. I wasn't using a pattern and I wanted them to fit perfectly, since what's the point of custom handmade gloves if they don't fit perfectly? Part of it was also when I was trying to decide whether it would be better to have the present be a surprise or to have the gloves fit perfectly. I asked her boyfriend, who said either would work, so I ended up sacrificing the surprise in favor of the fit. After all, a surprise is a short-term thing, while those gloves will last for a really long time. I definitely made the right decision.

(The second glove went much more quickly since it was the exact same thing as the first.)

So I never ended up casting on for the sweater. I should really get around to doing that. I really want to make my own sweaters, because I'm just not finding ones in stores that I actually like. And the sweaters that I own are getting to be too big, since I used to be a medium and now I'm a small. I really do need to make my own sweaters.

In other news, I might actually still win the Great Shawl Race that I thought I lost. One a technicality. Riv hasn't blocked her shawl yet. If I finish mine and block it before she does, then I totally win.