Finished Shawls

Just thought I'd do a bit of an update with some silly finished shawl pictures. I'm hoping the friends that I made these for haven't discovered my blog yet...ha.

Here's my most recent finished product. I used a little less than one skein of Araucania Ulmo, which is a cotton yarn that I purchased at the Blacksheep Yarn Shop in Cockeysville, MD. The owners, Tracy & Joyce, are quite lovely ladies and their shop is equal in loveliness. They have a decent amount of finished garment examples, which I really like in a yarn shop. While checking out, I noticed this wrap, designed by CocoKnits. I favorited it on Ravelry as soon as I got home! The construction is really interesting. Tracy explained that she and Julie/"Coco" were college friends...maybe she said roommates? Anyhoo! I was a little nervous when I started weaving this because the weave was very holey... But it works! And what a cute dog, eh? Her name's Moxie.

Here's a black & white nostril shot:

And here is the first shawl that I wove, pictured in my previous blog post, modeled by the lovely Elianna. I especially love the babushka picture. After I took that one, my camera lost it's battery power.

Babushka!

And to switch gears a bit, I wanted to put in this link to a youtube video that was in my inbox this morning. It's from Knitting Daily and shows a pretty nifty technique for weaving in ends for fair-isle knitting WHILE you're knitting. So when you're done, you don't have to go back and take hours to weave in all of those ends! Brilliant! The video is also demonstrating how to knit a mitered scarf, which is kinda nifty, too.

And speaking of youtube videos, here is another one that I caught wind of through Purl Diva's blog. It is SO FREAKING COOL! There is a link from the youtube video to the making of the video. I think my favorite part is when the camera scans up the stairs. Pay close attention to what's happening on the wall. CRAZY!

Finally, I will close with some pictures of my new haircut! I cut off a little more than a foot! Feels good :)

Me and Turget. This is the first haircut I've had that was cut by someone other than my mother or my aunt.

Lots of hair.

There it goes!

Double the blow driers, double the fun!

Tah-dah!

Tri-Loomerific!

I arrived home from my New England travels a couple of weeks ago, and after recovering from the flu, was super pumped about the triangular package that had arrived for me. A while back, I took a tri-loom weaving course at the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival from a woman named Pam Kelley. Pam owns and runs Sunflower Fibers and her husband Jim makes their tri-looms. After taking the class, I thought, "Hey! I think I want to buy one of these thangs." So I did! Hence the triangular package patiently awaiting my return.

This past weekend was absolutely gorgeous here in Maryland and I decided to spend it outside, weaving my first project on my new loom. The yarn I used was Classic Elite Firefly (75% viscose/25% linen), which I bought at The Yarn Spot in Silver Spring. (The Yarn Spot recently opened last November and it's a really lovely shop.) The yarn was a bit too thin used as is, so, at the suggestion of a fellow spinner and knitter, I plied the two skeins together. And voila! I'm quite pleased with the finished product, especially the fringe :)

Ready for its closeup.

"You can learn a lot of things from the flowers..."

Fringifying!

I Could Be Famous

I was in a bit of a rush to finish yesterday's blog post and failed to mention something really cool about my trip through New England. Although I wasn't feeling in the best of health while in NYC, I did get to hang out with Daniel Yuhas AND do a photo shoot with him! You might think that, being 6'2, I may be a good candidate for modeling. And you could be correct, except for the fact that I'm just too darn goofy! I can't really get that "serious model look" down or the whole "smising" thing, as Tyra might say. (America's Next Top Model, anyone...anyone?) And my posture is pretty horrid, too. Anyway, I'm cracking up in basically all of the photos, which makes them rather candid I suppose. I can't post any of the photos because Daniel will be submitting the pictures and pattern to various knit-centered publications, one of which stipulates that the photo may not be published in any other way for a certain amount of time...yadda, yadda, legal jargon, etc. etc. But I'm pretty excited! I'll be sure to share a link to any online publications his pattern is chosen for. In the meantime, you should check out his website (linked above) and his patterns on Ravelry.

Connecticut's Not So Bad After All

I had a great time traveling home to Maine at the beginning of the month. I devised a business trip of sorts around an indoor ultimate frisbee tourney in Orono, Maine. I've been playing ultimate for the past five years and I'm on a co-ed team based out of Portland, Maine called Mogwai. Living in Maryland hasn't really gotten in the way of this yet as our season doesn't really start til, well around now. (I actually joined a winter league in DC. Our team came in 3rd out of 6.) So! It was REALLY nice to be home in Maine and playing with people that I am familiar with. Things seem to click a lot better than when playing with complete strangers! And...my team won the tourney! Here's a pick of all of us.

So the business part of my trip was to stop at yarn shops along the way in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. I was fortunate enough to stay with some families I met while working at the Medomak Family Camp as a lifeguard and counselor. Staying with these people helped me realize and reflect on how blessed I really am. I'm lucky to know and be welcomed by such kind, generous people.

I wasn't able to make it to all of the shops that I wanted to get to; however the ones I did visit were quite lovely. It is rare (although it does happen) to walk into a yarn shop and have a bad experience. A couple of my favorite shops in Connecticut included Yarn LLC in New Haven, which was kind of like a small co-op for fiber artists, and Madison Wool in Madison. The owner there was actually familiar with the little town of Washington, Maine--the town where Medomak is located! She has family there. Weird. It's a small world after all. "It's a world of laughter, a world of tears..." I also really loved The Yarn & Fiber Company in Derry, NH. They've got quite a large shop with some really great yarns and locally dyed fiber. Between my trip north, and my trip back south, I visited 16 shops, made it to a knitting meetup in Boston, and visited the Nature Conservancy in Rhode Island (to chat with a woman about an ecology retreat that Medomak hosts). I'd say it was a success.

And I learned that Connecticut isn't such a bad state to drive through when you're stopping at fibery shops along the way. I also managed to get a quick stop in at the beach in Madison, CT and took some pictures of the sweater I'm working on...

And here's another...

The only hitch in my trip was catching a flu-like thing from an adorable child named Natalie. Unfortunately I was ill while staying with my last family in New York City. So very sad. Ha. I made it back to Maryland though! And have recovered nicely.

On the Eve of Great Adventures

Tomorrow I shall set out on the road to yarn shops not yet explored! First stop? Connecticut! Whenever I drive through Connecticut on my way home, I have to call my friend Kristen and vent to her about how much I hate Connecticut and how I want to "punch it in the face." It's just that there's a lot of road between New York and Massachusetts and I have never simply cruised through it like I do through, say...New Jersey. (New Jersey is a mother to drive through, too, but you can go around 75mph and don't really hit much traffic.) It is pretty much an impossibility to fly through cities like Hartford, but! I think I will rather enjoy my travels through Connecticut this time around. I've got 10 CT shops to get to on my way north! Yeehaw!

Then on to some Massachusetts shops and a knittery meetup with the South End Knitters of Boston at "The Pru" on Thursday night. Friday I'll be continuing my travels toward home as I hit up a few shops in New Hampshire and finally...Portland, Maine! Ah Portland.

I've conveniently scheduled this work trip to coincide with an ultimate tourney this weekend in Orono, Maine. Sneaky sneaky :) So I'm looking forward to running around (indoors) after a plastic disc with some familiar faces and some much missed friends. It'll be good to be home. And to see family, too.

Then Monday, I'll be making my way back down south, of course stopping at shops along the way. I'm looking forward to being in NYC next Tuesday night and all day Wednesday! Will revisit some shops, eat some tasty food for sure, and hang out with Daniel Yuhas! Woohoo! And I must say, I am very fortunate to be staying with some lovely people along the way.

Now, to make my post complete, I will include this picture of the progress of my first ever sweater!
Woops! That's not it. Let's try this again...
Ah. There we go. I had intended this to be my Ravelympics project, but I didn't finish in time. I'm hoping to get it finished by the time I get back to Maryland next week. But that's probably wishful thinking.