The Land of the KnitaSaur

Okay, so first things first. My blog buddy and I decided to do something a bit more fun than just linking to each others sidebars for blog-buddy-ness. So, we decided to do a week of photography. This week, we are doing “Expressions” as the theme, and Monday was the day for HAPPY! Now, despite it being the third sunny day in a row in the rainiest city in Canada, I couldn’t find anyone that looked happy. I mean, everyone in my family was happy, but I had a Plan. I was going to go out and find random happy strangers and take a ton of happy photos and post them as a collage type thing. BUT NO ONE LOOKED HAPPY. There were a lot of people out, which is rare here, but they all looked totally grumpy. Now its nighttime and dark and I’m the only one with a camera and I have this problem with taking happy pictures of myself. They all become those weird-angle-myspace-profile-emo-pics. Not too happy looking. So, I scrounged a bit. And found this:

That’s actually a photo from last year TWO YEARS AGO, but it emanates joy. I mean, I was leaving high school :p Happy times. Oh, and that’s my mom with me :D Go check out my blog-buddy g-ster, ’cause she may actually have a current photo.

Now, for something that made me happy today–the BF played photographer again :D


These are coming along nicely, one more to do and then the larger size. The testers are doing amazingly well and catching all sorts of things, including a line that made about as much sense as a monkey at the keyboard. I’m pretty excited.

Now for some older ones–the Dumber Than Snake Mittens finally got their chance at decent photographs. They are so bright and fun! I have no idea if I’ll ever actually wear them ’cause they are so bright, but I can definitely see me using the basic pattern and inserting another cable pattern in, with a decent yarn (not Caron Simply Soft Brites! in Limelight :p) Maybe the DNA cable? Oooh, that is totally happening!

And he got some good pictures of the Bronte’s Mitts that I did for the May KAL in FGF. They are so soft and warm and wonderfully pretty.


I’m looking forward to the June pattern–Merletto Mitts are so great-looking and KALs are fun!

And last one–I’m test knitting a pair of zig-zaggy gloves for Zortified . We are bit worried about the yarn choice, ’cause it may be too busy for the pattern stitch.

I’m getting my bf to take all pictures of knit stuff now. He’s good :D
It is definitely going to be getting a shorter version and a larger size :D Follow the testers progress on Rav here.

Isn’t it pretty! I was vaguely annoyed at being called away from the Neverending Kick-Ass Offer! thread on KYS, but that totally disappeared when the Canada Post person asked for my signature. Holding a big box with my name on it. And I knew that box just had to hold the Chunky Monkey Join Hands! swap package from Jenn (Swiggles on Rav.) We were both bad swappers and got sick and sent packages out late, but seeing as I’m a mod for Chunky Monkey I excused us both from going on the “Bad Swappers” list :p We just had a later deadline than everyone else, that’s it! :D Anywho, I’m betting you want to know what’s in there, don’t you?

Excuse the fuzzy photos. I was too excited to worry about taking good ones :D So, what’s in there? Super-soft, super-pretty blue Bernat Harmony, yummy Lindt 70% Chocolate (MMM!), the most delicious smelling body lotion EVER from Rainforest Cafe, adorable little butterfly soaps, a sling-shot/cup holder thing so I don’t to take those cardboard ones (COOL!), purse-sized Mary Kay satinhands hand cream, manicure kit, those toe-spreader things, fizzy minty foot-bliss things, nail polish remover, and a Mary Kay tweezer/nail clipper/general grooming kit in a cute little triangle! I’VE BEEN THOROUGHLY SPOILED! :D Thank you so much Jenn! What an awesome package to have come in the mail! I hope yours gets to you soon and you like what I sent you!

I decided to spoil me a bit yesterday, too, for the whole GETTING INTO DESIGN SCHOOL THING THAT I ALREADY MENTIONED! (Oh, yeah, for those of you who asked, the post below has a picture of my acceptance into design school. Here’s the photo shoot that my BF did of the things I made for my portfolio) Although, had I known that package would get here today, I totally wouldn’t have. That is an awesome swap package. :D

Yep, mmmMalabrigo. Yummy. It’s got the yardage to make my gloves, which I’ve done some modifications to, and am just tidying up before getting to the testers. Moved the cables around so they are prettier, need to get the thumb gusset fixed, turned out huge in the other pair. That’ll be pretty easy, and actually will make the pattern easier to read, too, ’cause I can make the gusset increases line up with the remaining cables.

And, yep, I now know that all the mmmmalabrigo fuss is about. That yarn makes me happy and all drool-y. I’m a quite thoroughly happy person right now :D

I’m gonna finish off with a few contest hits that I don’t want you to go to AT ALL. But, if you must, let ‘em know I sent you. Sigh.

veronikavery is giving away some luscious brick red Mountain Goat yarn that is hard to get in Canada. Contest has been open one day and there are 100+ comments. No really? I’m blogrolling her for the photography. Yummy.

LaVerna at Ridiculous Obsession is giving away some skeins of yarn, mystery what they are gonna be though. Just tell her what you like about summer!

Stoked. Completely and utterly. I’M IN I’M IN I’MIN!!!!

Oh, and I sold over a thousand dollars at work again today. Since I’ve started working there, there have been two times where a single employee breaks a thousand dollars in one shift. BOTH HAVE BEEN ME. I mean, sure, I call in sick on my first day. Sure I’m late almost as often as I’m not. But, I’m the one selling :p I frikkin rock :D

Oh, the pattern is coming pretty close to testing. I’ve just gotta finish up the hand, tidy the pattern itself up a bit and send it off to the testers tomorrow. Pretty exciting! My favorite part is how the cable turns into the gusset kinda-sorta


But I do quite like them in general. I’m a happy person right now :D

Okay, so as of this minute, there 60 comments on the contest post. Not all are entries, but that is a LOT of people. Thanks so much, guys! I can’t wait (oh, and can’t believe what I’m about to say) wait to do the averages and get them into the newsletter!. This is so awesome. You should all feel good for helping with research and bringing the world forward and such. Learned something cool from the comments–donnadb pointed out that

hands and feet mirror each other. So my feet are 9″ around at the ball, and my hands are 9″ around with the thumb. You might get good info by looking at average foot measures, which are probably better studied than hand measurements.

Okay, now that’s pretty cool. I knew that your fist should be about half the circumference of your neck and your waist is about double your neck, assuming you are perfectly proportioned. And that whole foot-forearm length thing. It’s all pretty neat. The human body is pretty cool. If you know of any more random facts like that, let me know! They fascinate me for some reason!

So, here’s why I’ve been collecting this stuff:
That is the work of this morning. Design is pretty well written up and I’ll be looking for some testers once I get it tidied. Braided cables, hitting just-about-the-elbow, tapering closer and closer together as they move towards the wrist. Then, one of the cables totally tapers off and the remaining 3 stitches become the beginning of the thumb gusset. A couple other cables continue on up the hand before ending in ribbing at the knuckles. Pretty well the coolest thing I’ve done all day. Maybe even all week :p
Look, here’s the cable:

I’ve also got a couple of pics of my cute little sis and the gloves I test-knit and a fuzzy, completely non-giveaway photo of a lacy pair of gloves I’m designing.

Seriously. And I want to design gloves. However, I want them to fit the average wrist, and mine are certainly not that. So, if I could enlist your help, that would be awesome. Here’s an outline (of my hand. Not stretched out or anything. My chicken arms and spider fingers are actually that long and skeletal.)

Now, you’ll notice there are some letters there. So, if I could get you to leave a comment here with your measurements, that’d be awesome.
The measurements (preferably in inches, but whatever :P Centimeters will also work. Just no weird unknown measuring styles, k?) (Ahem. Much thanks to Malena for pointing out that I meant circumference…):

A: (Not pictured) Circumference of arm just under the elbow
B: Circumference of arm halfway between elbow and wrist
C: Circumference at smallest part of the wrist
D: Circumference of hand, including the thumb
E: Length of palm, from wrist to knuckles
F: Length from wrist to the V between your thumb and first finger
G: Circumference of hand without thumb

Now, I’m not just gonna ask you to do this outta the kindness of your heart. Here’s a bit of an incentive: You can win YARN! YAY! So, if you leave a comment with ANY 3 of the measurements, and you get an entry (oh, mention if you are male or female :D). Leave a comment with ALL of them, you get two chances to win. Mention the contest on your blog/have someone leave a comment saying you sent them here, you get a third chance (note: they have to leave their measurements, too. they can’t just say “Hi, so-and-so sent me!” But, once they leave their measurements, they get entered and you get another entry.)

Okay, okay, here’s what you’ll win:

Well, not that exact skein, I’ve used that one already. Besides, it was Karma’d to me by the lovely knit2grow on Rav, and it’d be pretty weak to offer a skein of yarn that was karma’d. She’s responsible for the fact that I love this yarn, actually, so you can thank her for the fact that I’m offering a skein out to you guys! I mean, sure you have to work for it, but still!

It is Elsepeth Lavold Silky Wool. 192 yards of DK weight wool/silk blend. Super-pretty. Here’s the Rav link to the colorway. (05, in case you were wondering. No fancy name, as far as I know)

So, get measuring! You can have up to 3 chances in the drawing! The contest is open until Saturday, May 31, 2008. Make sure to leave some way for me to contact you! Oh, I can only mail to US and Canada only please! I mean, feel free to leave measurements for me if you aren’t from these countries, that’d be awesome ’cause I want as many as possible, but I’m sorry I can’t sent the yarn to you :(

And just to be clear–once I get the averages I’m going to be publishing them into the Fingerless Glove Fanatics Newsletter, but it will only be the averages. I won’t do anything with anyone’s individual numbers! If you aren’t comfortable with posting the numbers in a comment here, but still want to enter, you can email me at alariddathreman AT gmail DOT com, with contest somewhere in the title. :D

so, no fun title. But, look! Yarn!

So, a nice batch of stuff in the mail. BUT STILL NO STIKKIN ACCEPTANCE LETTER. And now it’s a long weekend, so no mail ’till TUESDAY. This is getting kinda annoying! The BF got his ages ago!

Finished the lacy Alpaca mitts, wore them once and decided I didn’t like the rolling, so I decided to give an attempt at blocking. I hope it’ll help! I also started and finished test knitting a pair of gloves for Kaya on Ravelry, which are going to be published in a teen magazine a bunch of them are doing. Pretty cool.

Except for the whole lack of acceptance letter thing, it’s been a pretty good week.  That up there is some serious yarn acquisition. Add that to the kick-butt sales I mentioned in the last post (although, I’m less stoked about that after finding out that my “commission” isn’t actually worth putting any effort into sales at all. I mean, not that I’m gonna stop, ’cause it’s kinda fun, but there is no monetary incentive to speak of.) and the fact that I WON the most recent hockey game. Won as in, scored the ONLY goal of the game. And the newsletter was a success, except for poor Maerchen and Ganiggle. Can you believe I managed to LOSE their article between the website and my laptop?  It still exists, it just didn’t make it into the paper and I feel really bad!  Definitely going into the next issue with a HUGE I’M SORRY! next to it.  I’m also looking into getting a fingerless glove pattern I’m desiging into a book, but not too worried about it if it doesn’t.  I mean, that would be so totally cool, but the pattern was meant to be in the next issue of the Fingerless Glove Fanatics newsletter. Well, that was the original thought for it. But, whatever works :D

Is done! Out! Available!

Click HERE to get it! It’s a PDF download from box.net :D

I’m pretty stoked. It came from the Ravelry group–the Fingerless Glove Fanatics. They wrote some cool articles, a lot of interviews, 4 awesome prize donors, a contest!
Oh, yeah, if you want to vote, on pages 6-7 is the photo contest, and you can vote here.

Oh, and I’m sure you want to see the prizes, right? One is going to one of the contributors, one to the photo contest winner and two to two of the members who participate in a little quiz-contest based on the newsletter.
In no particular order:

From FearlessFibers (http://fearlessfibers.etsy.com/, http://fearlessfibers.blogspot.com/)

FearlessFibers has generously offered to donate a skein of her laceweight merino and the Orchid Lace Mitts by Anne Hanson to one of our lucky members. Check out the forums to see how you could win! This is a top quality 100% merino wool laceweight yarn. This is a 2-ply yarn that runs toward the heavier end of a laceweight, providing for a comfortable knit and excellent stitch definition.

~~~~

from trivimp (http://trivimp.etsy.com, http://trivimp.blogspot.com)

100% merino wool
100 g. / 440 yds.
Colorway: Plum Crazy
Note: This yarn is not superwash; it will felt. Hand wash, dry flat.

~~~~

From Lykkefanten (http://www.lykkeogloekker.blogspot.com/)

A little skein of handspun silk/merino. I adore the shine that the silk gives this yarn, and it is sooo soft. It’s DK weight and approximately 170.6 yards.
The yarn for the contest was just so beautiful as fibres
that I just tried to give it justice by spinning it into something quite thin but still soft and airy. I hope I succeeded (but will let the winner decide)

~~~~

From CrazyMonkey (http://crazymonkey.etsy.com/)

This yarn is 65% Superwash Wool, 35% Bamboo Rayon, in the colorway of “Sweet Red Wine”. 100g, 490 yd of soft shiny fingering-weight goodness.
The “Color Story” of this yarn is that I started with the deep deep red-brown color and added black (which turned into a great charcoal grey), a silver grey, and a fuchsia which reinforced the redness of the red-brown that I started with. When re-wound, the colors reminded me of the reds of a sweet wine, swirling around its glass.

Check out the thread on the boards to comment or just hang out!

Random life note: At work I was reminded “Customers first! Let’s get those sales up! You’re new, so the really low numbers you have are okay for now, but you are about a hundred bucks below the store average.”

Then, this shift, my HOURLY sales were about 30 bucks lower than the sales they wanted me to have for the SHIFT. I sold nearly QUADRUPLE what they expected from me. I rock a bunch of different levels.

And it doesn’t even involve knitting. What this post is is me telling you to go somewhere else. Not for good, mind you, I happen to be quite fond of readers and comments. But, I think I’ve found another blog that deserves reading :D It’s called Labels are for Jars and it has pictures of one of the cutest kids ever. This is coming from the girl who will stop reading a blog if it has too much showing off of kids. I’m not generally fond of children. I plan to never have any of my own. I tend to not really care about other people’s children. I do happen to be quite fond of my kid sisters and their friends, but random people’s kids just don’t interest me. So the fact that I’m recommending a blog about a kid is saying something.

It is written by megincl on Ravelry. I’m gonna steal her quote from there:

Blogging about raising a boy who pushes back on many social boundaries thrust on him. Muddling my way through the journey. Come visit!

I don’t really know what else to say, so I’m gonna finish by giving you a link straight to her first post, where she explains the purpose of her blog. (Ahem. I wasn’t paid to post this. I actually do think you should go there and am totally not just advertising.)