(no subject)

[oyceter]

']=====on

,kkkkkkkkv

That's what happens when my rats venture on the laptop keyboard while I sit on the couch.

I am currently knitting. I have gotten a copy of Stitch 'N Bitch from Amazon, bought new needles and yarn, and I have started my Really Ugly Scarf (TM). Truly, it is ugly. But who cares? I'm having fun knitting anyway. I miss doing things with my hands sometimes... usually I spend so much time watching TV and reading and doing LJ that I forget I like crafty things as well (alas, my paper model of the Taj Mahal languishes in dust), and it's nice to have that sort of productive feeling. The best part is knitting rows and then stopping and looking at how long the scarf has gotten.

My cousin's grandmother (unrelated to me) taught me how to knit back when we first moved to Taiwan (I was around eight), and every so often, I knit a little bit of something or the other. I've never finished anything except a five inch long scarf for my toys, but it's nice watching something take shape in your hand. So, I can knit and purl. It sort of amused me, reading the beginning chapters of Stitch 'N Bitch, because I know half of the things she's talking about, and the other half I had to figure out all on my lonesome, just dickering around with the needles and yarn. I don't even know how to cast off properly. And it was funny reading how some people don't like the purl stitch when I've been doing that since I was eight, and how other skills and tools and knowledge that are very basic are completely foreign to me. I mean, there's an actual method to start new balls of yarn? I just tied a knot and let it stick out. Well, I never claimed to knit pretty.

My sister picked up a little off the internet last year, and she brought her very salmon-pink scarf back to Taiwan to work on during vacation. While we were on the train to Hualien, I watched her and started itching to do it myself, so we ended up trading rows. It was fun, and I was rather amazed by the fact that my hands somehow still remember to do it. Then several people on my FL started picking it up, most notably chi_zu, whose psots make me wish I could do the things she did, and thus the latent urge became... less latent. And now, I have a few inches of Really Ugly Scarf.

Speaking of which (or not), I mentioned it to my boss today on the commute home, and she said there's actually a knitting convention around here that she went to last year! And lo and behold, Google has confirmed this! Stitches 2005, coming to the Santa Clara Convention Center Feb. 10-13! I'm rather tempted to just drop by and check out the yarn market even though I'm a total dabbler. The yarns at Jo-Ann were really boring and all acrylic and there was no variety at all, and I'm not even anything resembling a serious knitter. So, I know there aren't many people around Bay Area on LJ that I know, but I was wondering if anyone may be going to this con. And if you are, let me know!

Comments

[chi-zu.livejournal.com]

Yay! This was a wonderful thing to wake up to! (I told you this would be very exclamatory) Isn't knitting fun?

I can't believe you mentioned Stitches West, my mom and her principal went last year and are going again this year. My aunt travels up from Southern California to go with them. I'm so jealous, it sounds like a good time. Yarn cons have a tendency to make people go crazy and buy way more yarn than they ever intended, but I've never heard of anyone who regretted it. ^_^ I was toying with the idea of flying out there for that weekend, but I don't think it will happen. I think I'm in tech that week. Regardless, I have it on good authority that it's a good con. And there's something so inspiring about seeing things knit up, touching them, being around people who love their craft. Sure, some knitters are fiber snobs, but I think you'll find that by and large most of them are just happy to share the knit love with anyone who gets it too.

If you're looking for yarn locally outside of the con, supposedly, the Michaels on El Camino in Sunnyvale has the best yarn selection of all the area Michaels. Sure, it's primarily Lion Brand, but it's the higher end of the acrylic market. I've made several things from their Homespun line that I love wearing. There's some wool and wool blend yarns too. They also carry the Bernat brand which is pretty good too.

There used to be a yarn store in downtown Mountain View, Knit Nook or the Knitting Basket or something but I think my mom said it closed. I can't remember what other stores I've been to over there. Mostly I've gone where my mom goes which is Michael's because it's cheaper and they periodically print 40% off coupons in the paper. She is notorious (amongst our family and the Michael's staff) for sloooowly acquiring yarn for one project, buying one skein at a time. You have to ring them up separately to get the discount so she'll buy one skein, take it to the car, go back, repeat. Sometimes she enlists the rest of us to each buy a skein. People send her 40% off coupons when they see them in the paper. She's a nut.

If you can't find a good local supplier, there are some good websites that discount the higher end stuff. <http://www.elann.com>elann.com is a good one. Right now their Peruvian Highland wool is very affordable. I've never worked with it, but a lot of people seem to enjoy it.

Hurrah for knitting! And hurrah for the RUS (Really Ugly Scarf)! You may end up loving it as I now love my muppet pelt poncho. I gave up on the lacing thing for now and wear it like a shawl. What are you making the RUS out of?

[oyceter]

Yay! Knitting!

I'm getting quite excited about Stitches West now, even though my only project is the Really Ugly Scarf! Eeee, I can't wait until I know enough to make clothes! Clothes! Whoo!

And thank you so much for the yarn recs! I'm still sort of being bowled over by knitting as official hobby -- I keep wondering about things like gauge and needle size and yarn size and all that. I will probably get more fussy about things like that once I do more. And, oooo the yarns on elann.com are so tempting! But I must first stick with my scarf.

It's the garter-stitch scarf pattern from Stitch 'N Bitch, and by that, I mean warped out of recognition ;). I couldn't find an extra-bulky yarn (I think), so I just got a very fuzzy chenille (Lion Brand) in three colors. So it's going to have khaki, ivory and deep red stripes. Haha! I am knitting a Gryffindor scarf! I think the yarn is a little too thin for the size 17 needles, and I am totally not used to the needles so my stitch sizes are totally off and weirdly bumpy and ugly, but oh well! The red chenille is particularly pretty (though not as I knit it, hee).

[chi-zu.livejournal.com]

Heh heh, the RUS sounds fun though a little bizarre. But I am also a person who knits things that makes others look askance at my design or color combinations. i.e., the muppet poncho or a turquoise tank top trimmed with red, etc.

If you do go to Stitches West, I hope you post about it and all its wooly goodness.

When I first started knitting I really didn't think too much about gauge, I just dove in and plowed ahead. I'd check along the way to see that I wasn't too off, but mostly I knit recklessly and merrily along. It actually worked out pretty well for me.

Now I'm much more interested in technique and stuff and am probably going to start doing proper swatches for some things (like complex cabled sweaters) especially if it would hurt too much to rip them out. I say do what's fun!

[oracne.livejournal.com]

Ah, but can the rats also knit?

[heh]

[oyceter]

Hee! I can just see my rats investigating the scarf and quickly deciding it is rightly their property and peeing on it.

[leaina.livejournal.com]

Oh, you definitely should check out the yarn market at Stitches West! My knitting group went last year (when it was in Oakland, much easier for us to get to) and we're going again this year. The market is amazing--so much yarn that you'd never get to see in your local yarn store. (And if you ask around, you might be able to find out where the good local stores are. I know some in SF but not in the South Bay.) Also, if you go, check the newspaper in the days leading up to it--last year the Chronicle had coupons for $2 off admission (it's only $7 anyway, but it's still nice to save).

Glad you're having fun knitting--I love it for watching TV too. It's nice to feel like you're not just sitting there doing nothing.

[oyceter]

Eeeee, I'm getting all excited now! Haha, and I don't even know how to do anything outside of rectangles!

But yes, I am going and just ogling at all the yarn there. Whoo!

[kchew.livejournal.com]

Yay! I got Stitch n' Bitch a few weeks ago, and am making my own Very Ugly Striped Scarf (blue/green and white fuzzy acrylic yarn: like an eyelash yarn). I have no idea what I'll do when I'm finished, but it's good practice. I've only had to rip it apart and start again three times...

I knit a bit when I was young too (I come from a long line of crafty people), but gave it up until I decided I needed something to do with my hands while childminding. It's a lot of fun...next project will involve purling (which I've never done), and cotton yarn (if I can find some).

[oyceter]

Oh, cool! I'm making the very first pattern -- the striped garter-stitch scarf! Mine is ivory and khaki and red chenille, very fuzzy. Unfortunately it's also very bumpy and loose and uneven, but it's fuzzy! And I'm too lazy to rip it apart. I think there'll be enough yarn leftover to try and make a vertically striped ribbed scarf after this, hee hee.