Big Sister

Plate o' shrimp*

Thrift score
Originally uploaded by Big Sister.

Today John and I wandered around the Mission for a few hours, spending a good long while in our favorite thrift store, Thriftown. Wow, how I love that place.  Occasionally I will score in the clothing department there, but it is really the second floor that is a browser’s paradise. Art, electronics, toys, kitchen gear, carpets, sport equipment, luggage, furniture, holiday decorations, videos, records, and books. I always scour the books in hope of finding a knitting book, which I never have—until now.

But first let me tell you that I found a copy of Color Me Beautiful, which is a total plate of shrimp because we just recorded a podcast (for 8/28) about color and how we can never figure out what seasons we were. And, Cirilia has been posting pages from the same book on her Flickr site.  Then, I found a like-new copy of Maggie Rhighetti’s Sweater Design in Plain English, which is another crazy coincidence since Jenny and I were also talking about customizing patterns and someone suggested this book! Woot!

After that we went to Dolores Park. I picked up stitches for the second sleeve for Josephine for the second time (don’t ask, just imagine a black cloud of squiggles over my head when I was trying to do it last night, thought I succeeded, then realized I had used the wrong. size. needle.). We watched a group of people practicing setting up their tent? jungle gym? Chupacabra preserve? for Burning Man, a couple making out, and some folks playing baseball with a GIANT bat. Then I got some ice cream.

Oh, and hey, I finished a complete draft of my thesis today.

*Any fans of Miller out there?

Summer craft

Summer craft
Originally uploaded by Big Sister.

I wanted to bury that introspection right away, so I am double-posting and dazzling you with photos of some things that I have made in the last few weeks.

First, does anyone remember this? Well, it turns out Rayna liked it enough that she commissioned me to make another for her friend who is expecting next month. I forgot to photograph it until I was on the train to Sacramento so all I have is this blurry photo on BART.  It is very similar to the others I have made. The customizations on this on were to use some corduroy from some pants that never, ever fit for the pockets and on the front. Then I cut out one of the elephant motifs and machine appliquéd it to the front.

Second is a Built by Wendy top, I think this was one of her original patterns. It was super, duper quick to make. I have worn it several times since I finished it at the end of July. Next time I am going to make the size up to give me a little ease. I am also going to widen the bottom. I ended up making mine much shorter, not only because my torso is shorter but also because the bottom was too narrow for my . . . bottom. Oh, also, I left out the sleeve elastic.

Third is a pair of Fetching (in the original color). I may be the last person ever to make a set of these, but wow what a fun little knit. Quick, simply to execute, and very toasty. These were a gift for Laura. I have plans to make at least two more pairs in the very near future.

Lastly is a little pouch that I included in a trade with Rachele. I sent her a skein of Koigu and a small cone of Artfibers Ming in exchange for some Japanese fabrics that I am excited to receive. I used some upholstery fabric that I have had in the stash forever and tried a different and better method for zipper installation than I usually use. I think I borrowed it from this tutorial on making box bags.

I’ve got some knitting in progress to show, too, but that is for another post.

I’ve been away so long. I go through this every summer. My blog posting goes down. My blog reading goes down. Yet I am still online, maybe even more obsessively so than usual. Last summer, I moved over to the world of sewing blogs and read them almost exclusively. This summer, it’s been all Ravelry; all the time.

Plus, in a huge way podcasting has taken over for blogging. I love podcasting. Jenny is an awesome co-worker. But whatever planning that I used to do for blogging has gone into planning the podcast ten-fold. This is not a complaint. There are things that the podcast provides that the blog doesn’t. One, a chance to talk about knitting in great depth not only with Jenny, but with an audience of passionate, intelligent knitters. Two, the opportunity to laugh with Jenny over our obsessions and foibles. Three, it’s a great excuse to do things like browse the web for resources to share, swatch yarns that I am not necessarily going to knit with, and talk to LYS owners, knitwear designers, and yarn makers about their motivations and interests.

What I miss about blogging is the opportunity to connect with the friends I have either through blogging or brick and mortar. I am going to try to do more to post little tidbits a la Ms. Rose-Kim, although I don’t think I could be as funny as she is, because it makes me a little sad to see that my last post was nearly a month ago. And frankly, I am sick of looking at that picture of my bust.