Field Trip?

Nina's is a cute little yarn shop in a newly-trendy little neighborhood (Wicker Park) of Chicago. There's a sort of "hip-knitter" vibe to the store and the inside is quite lovely -sort of Zen. Wanna go check it out? I know THIS is a long shot, but if we wanted to go on a Monday, I'd be in Chicago anyway and could meet up with people at the shop. Then I could help drive people home.

Or.... you could go on a Thursday (I couldn't go, obviously), but then you could hook up with the Windy City Knitting Guild's knitting in public at Letizia's. I'm pretty sure it's the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of the month.

Or, we could acknowledge that people have jobs during the week and go on a weekend like normal people. The hours (the last time I drove by) are:

Sunday: 11-6
Monday: 12-8
Tuesday: closed
Wednesday -Friday: 11-7
Saturday: 11-6

Let me know what you want to do.

More Nerd Knitting

I've done the "Squared Squares" afghan. Dave wants me to crochet a manifold -the math-kind, not the car-kind. Fortunately, my crocheting isn't up to that challenge. Sandi (C., not G.) is making a Tetris scarf. Oh yeah, we've got the nerd thing going on.

Here's the latest installment: knitted DNA. The amino acid base pairs are represented with different colors and with different kinds of joins. Alas, real DNA helices twist the other way, to the right, but it seems like that would be easy to fix. I seriously think this would make a cute, nerd-in-training, toy for an infant. I know a few, I'm afraid ;)

Here's a link to the pattern, not that you really need a pattern for this! Knitted DNA. Have fun!

Knitting in Public-Next Tuesday

This coming Tuesday, that is!

October 25, 2005
7:00 p.m.
Starbucks

Join us! Bring your knitting! Live dangerously; drink coffee in the evening. (I need to get out more, clearly!)

Sewing in a Zipper

Here's a good link, complete with pictures, for hand-sewing a zipper into your knitted garments: Sewing A Zipper.

The only step I'd add is to use a sharp-pointy tool (I use the tip of my good scissors) to make a tiny hole in both sides of the zipper tape at the very bottom. You can anchor your zipper to the sweater at the bottom by sewing through the hole. The reason to add this step is that's the place where zippers break first. Adding in some extra stability there can't be a bad thing. Trivia tidbit - that's frequently what theater costume shops do. Quick costume changes create mega-stress on zippers and it's generally frowned on to show up on stage with the zipper in your costume hanging open. Didn't you need to know that?

Making Beaded Stitch Markers

I don't know why I'm on such a rampage about this lately, but I love having pretty stitch markers. I was writing up a post about how to make them, and then I found this: Beaded Stitch Markers

Just do what SHE says ;) You have to scroll down to the bottom of the page.

Locally appropriate notes re: her article. Sandi has some beads that already have hooks in them at the store. And she has the pliers just out on the bead table. So, if you don't have the tools and buying them feels like a big burden, it seems to me that they're out for a reason.

Felted Pumpkins

Oh my goodness. How cute is THIS?

Here's a link to the pattern: Felted Pumpkins

I wonder if I could get one done on Saturday? it beats working on this hoodie that's making me NUTS!

Site Feed

I made a technical change in the blog. Now you can be notified when the site is updated by any member. (I'm not sure if it will inform you about changes in the "comments" field, but certainly posts will get noted.)

The thing is, you have to make a few changes as well. You have to be willing to subscribe to Atom, which is an aggregating service. I'll probably add BlogLines, too, since technically it's a little easier to understand. I'm waiting for a confirming e-mail from them. In any case, once you subscribe, any sites that you've chosen to be part of your "feed" will roll across the top of your screen much like yahoo-news or google-news does.

You'll see a link called "site feed" off to the right of the screen. Start there and see if you like what happens. You can always go back to just checking the site periodically. And if you get stuck, well... you know where I work!

More Sales

Jimmy Beans Wool is having an October sale. Every day there's a different yarn on sale 40% off. Look at the left side of the website. You'll see it. So far it's been novelty yarn that I wouldn't use, but someone might.

Four Seasons Knitting has Koigu fingering weight on sale for $8.58/skein. (The price will fluctuate based on the exchange rate from Canada.) I have no idea what their shipping costs are, but since it's hard for us to get Koigu locally, this might work.

Any other ideas?

The Organized Knitter

Needle cases are SO not up to the challenge of organizing me and my knitting. But they might help other people.

This site: The Organized Knitter is having a "secret sale". If you enter the code "domino" at checkout, you can save 20%. The offer is good until October 31, 2005. Go for it.

In the meantime, what do YOU do to keep your knitting organized? I'm afraid I have nothing to offer in this department. I think "leave piles of yarn and projects randomly all over the house" is probably not helpful advice.

You knit WHAT???!!

Probably most of you know about this website, but it bears repeating. One day, when you're bored, go here: What Were you THINKING?. It's good for a laugh.

Custom-Fit Raglan

This is interesting. It looks like it would be a good first sweater pattern for people. See what you think: Custom-Fit Raglan. There's not a picture, but you know what a raglan pullover looks like.

Yikes!

You should check this site out -with some caution. It might be too much excitement for late at night ;) It's a gathering of dozens of knit-a-longs that have been going on in 2005. 2005 KALs

I'm glad that I didn't know about this site sooner in the year. There could have been serious trouble in Andrea-knitting-world. Fortunately I'm not interested in too-too many of these groups -the ones I'm not already a member of, I mean ;)

Have fun!

Knitting Meme

Go here for a great explanation of a meme. On the one hand, it's a self-propogating piece of cultural information. On the other hand, it's all about ME-ME! Here's a knitting meme. You can copy the questions into a post and answer them -or as many as you feel comfortable answering- and then we'll know more about each other. If you reply in the comment field, everybody's answers will stay together in one thread. But if you don't, your answer will appear on the front page of the blog. Either way is fine by me.

Without further ado:

1. Are you a yarn snob? Do you avoid Red Heart, Lion Brand, etc... or is it all the same to you?
2. Do you spin? Crochet?
3. How long have you been knitting?
4. What other crafts do you like to do?
5. What are your favorite yarns to knit with?
6. What are your favorite needles to knit with?
7. What's your favorite knitting gadget?
8. What fibers do you absolutely NOT like?
9. What are your favorite items to knit?
10. What are you knitting right now?
11. What do you think about ponchos?
12. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?
13. Are you a sock knitter?
14. How did you learn to knit?
15. What is -and how old is- your oldest UFO (unfinished Object)?