Becca's Blog

Little twin sweaters.

This evening I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of the very young ladies for whom I knit these sweaters. They are two weeks old today, so have a while to grow into their sweaters.  And they're darling.

Wooty woot woot.

On tap for next month:
REM concert on June 1.
True Colors Tour on June 29.

That eats up most of my "economic stimulus rebate," but it is money damn well spent. A good antidote to the persistent low-level sadness about Orange Boy's and Josie's failing health, and good incentive to keep the chin up during this month's deadline insanity.

Stocked up.

You dug deep into your stashes, and I’m very, very grateful. Thanks to contributions from Nanda, Teresa, Síle, Kate, Kate, and Carolyn, I have a solid supply of needles and hooks, and enough quantity and variety of yarn to let my students go “shopping” for just about any kind of yarn their hearts could desire. With a selection ranging from solid-color worsted wool to tiger-print chenille, I think they’ll be excited to choose something that suits them exactly, and be excited to get started. You know the feeling... A heartfelt thank you to each of you for making that happen.

I want to say a special thanks to Kate G. for going out of her way to procure the perfect new-knitter needles, and for being my guide to the wonderful world of SCRAP.

My needlecraft students need supplies.

I've been teaching knitting (and a bit of crochet) at the Women's Daytime Drop-In Center for about five weeks now, and it has been incredibly gratifying. Every time I do it, I leave happier than when I arrived, because I've had a chance to share something I love with people, and watch them get enjoyment from it.

I haven't had many repeat customers yet, but I don't feel that's a negative at all--I feel that I'm offering some enrichment to whoever wants to partake, in any way they want to. Often that means that I get someone started on something small, and at the end of the session, they take it with them. As a result, the knitting and crochet needles that I've brought and the odds and ends the center had are rapidly dwindling. We've gone through a lot of yarn, as well.

I'm going to start scavenging for more needles this weekend, starting with a trip to The Legacy in Sebastopol. A North Bay knitter named Fina tipped me off to it last fall at the Nordic Knitting Conference, but I haven't been yet. So I'm going to combine a nice little weekend drive with some supplies hunting. If I'm lucky I'll run across a couple of good thrift stores in Sebastopol and Petaluma as well. Next I'll hit SCRAP in San Francisco and the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse.

And I'll happily accept any and all donations of supplies--or tips on good sources. If you have needles that you don't care for, I'll take them off your hands. Super-small needles aren't great for beginners, of course, but I'll accept pretty much anything else. I've got plenty of yarn to donate in my own stash, but I'd be happy to give yours a good home as well (and yes, acrylic is very fine for this purpose!). Leave me a comment if you've got stuff I can take off your hands.

Special request of Bay Area folks.

Hi Bay Areans, and particularly San Francisco folks: I just got a call from Blood Centers of the Pacific because I've been donating whole blood with them for 20-plus years. It's very unusual to get a call requesting blood on a Sunday, but their supply of whole blood is just about depleted due to a single surgery that took 23 units.

If you are in the vicinity of one of their centers and you're eligible, willing, and able to give blood, please consider making an appointment in the next few days.

I don't live or work near a center anymore, but I will probably try to make some time to get over to the city and give. I hope you'll join me.

A couple of other expenditures.

One other small thing I popped for a couple of weeks ago was a donation to Ravelry. I figure that it's worth much more than $5 per month to me, so I donated $30, and in a few months I'll donate that much again.

And last night I had such a good time knit night at Stash that I bought a couple of skeins of Jitterbug. I know it's not free to keep a store open and staffed, and the vibe was extremely mellow and welcoming. So I purchased a little bit o' yarn as a way of paying some dues. Plus, it's really pretty yarn.

Kitty is behaving strangely again and howling a lot. So he's been to the vet a couple of times this week and been through a couple of rounds of blood tests. We won't know for about a week why the calcium level in his blood is elevated. He's going to be 17 at the end of this month.

Sometimes it suuuuucks to be a grownup.

I got a nice bonus a few weeks ago, and ever since I've been fantasizing about how to spend it: A real, grownup bedroom set? Yeah, I've wanted that for a while. Down payment on a new car? Yes indeed, I want that. Long overdue big vacation (destination of *my* choosing)? I think I want that most of all.

Here's where the money's gone so far: Teeth cleaning for Tina (damn); deposit to IRA (double-damn); extra credit card payment (triple damn). The majority has gone into savings, and the secret, childish part of me believes I'll never see it again, and certainly not in the form of fun. I don't believe I'll get to choose how the money gets spent; I believe I'll get told.

Twitter is turning me into a lazy blogger.

... as if I wasn't already. When I can plop random thoughts into Twitter, and I know they'll appear on my blog page, it kinda blunts my motivation to sit down and organize multiple thoughts into a coherent post.
... which reminds me that I have to write a post about some Twitter-related apps for my company's blog. I'd better get on that--I think it's due tonight.

Small successes.

Today I got two ladies through the knitted cast-on and their first two rows of garter stitch. And I had a helper, who taught another woman the long-tail cast-on.  I hope they come back next week.

What my students want...

is someone to teach them to crochet. I need to study up, because I can barely crochet with two hands, a map, *and* a flashlight.

Edited later to add: I must say that Lion Brand has some great, free knitting and crocheting instructions. Very helpful.

Using my powers for good.

I'm kind of excited because a couple of days ago I found out for sure that I'll be leading a knitting group once a week at a center for low-income women in my neighborhood. This will be the first time I've taught knitting in a formal setting, although I taught my niece, and ages ago I taught my best friend in college. I really didn't know what I was doing, though, and she was lefthanded. I didn't know from continental-style knitting back then.

I don't know exactly what will happen, what I'll end up teaching, or what supplies I might need help rustling up. I do think I'm going to hit up Knitty for permission to reuse of a couple of simple patterns, though.  I'll keep you posted!

The Stitches West haul.

Finally, here's the roundup, roughly in order of acquisition:
Mission Falls Simple pattern book

and SWTC Karaoke soy wool (nine skeins! half-price!) from Full Thread Ahead. I think this is going to be a cardigan of some kind. And I must stop buying greige yarn now.

I felt like I was really going overboard at the Hemp for Knitting booth, but spent all of $22, on three patterns

and one swatching ball of Hempwol.

I should have bought more.  They had a sample in the booth of a very pretty cardigan in the Hempwol, so it's on my wish list.

At the Yarn Barn of Kansas booth I bought a set of 5-inch size 7 dpns, for knitting the thumb of my Maine Morning Mitts on the train home. Of course I didn't get that far, but they did come in handy while I was finishing them.

And I bought a silly gadget that I've always been curious about. (Just $4! No shipping! I'd be stupid not to!)

(I just learned that this is called a teleidoscope.) You can get them from KnitPicks, among other places.

I was fine while browsing through the Habu booth, and Webs, and that alpaca superstore behind the Webs booth, but as it grew late and I got a bit tired, my resistance wore thin, and I found myself at the Brooks Farm booth.

I have to say this was quite tangly while I wound it, but it sure feels nice to handle. It will be interesting to knit up.