Uli's Creative Corner

But first, what happens when you leave a box of rings (your chainmaille jewelry supplies) too close to the edge of the table......... even if the box had a snap lid and it was closed?

Friends and dear readers, I am learning the hard way and I'm still soring out rings.  One ring takes little space so you must realize that there are thousands of rings on that floor...............  Oh, I so love my little boy who is into everything. :-)

I just want to document, via pictures, my trip to the Victoria Fibre Fest from a couple of weeks ago.  You can see, there are no pictures of me, although somewhere in this blog entry in all the group pictures the Yarn Harlot took, I am in a 2nd row seat watching and observing the other knitters.

Here's a slightly blurry shot of Brenda and Stephanie.

And a nice one of Brenda having her book signed.

And here is Shelley of Fun Knits showing off socks with Stephanie - they weren't looking at me.....

That was Saturday night.  The evening was fun and the weather seemed to be clearing up but on Sunday morning, the weather for the Knit-Out was doubtful again.

You can see the clouds over the water!!!  The weather ended up very unpredictable.

Here's another shot of Brenda as we were helping Shelley with her Fun Knits tent.  I was trying to help put up a tarp to keep out the rain and Brenda was helping to put out the yarn.  All that yarn..... heaven.  Of course, I bought some stuff.  My next entry will be the stash enhancement portion.  I just need pics.

A the last two are a couple of parting shots of the knitout.  We last to just before noon as we had gotten an early start int he morning.  And home I went on the ferry back to real life, and children, and lack of knitting time.  I have, however, knit much, much more since my return than I was before.  My next blog entry will be all about that as well as the stash experience.

I have a new pair of stitch markers up in the store.  Come and take a peek.  They're called bumpy flowers and are bright and colourful.  I've also been a bit obsessed with crosses since I taught myself how to make these chainmaille crosses in a key chain and a delicate sterling silver and niobium necklace variety.

What else is coming up?  I'm behind in blogging so Little Miss had her Kindergarten graduation yesterday (very sentimental event) and I have some pictures of that coming, too.  Be back soon.

any knitting faeries out there?

If you know me well, you know I'm kind of a math freak............... let's just say that Math was my favourite subject in school, I got awards for the highest achievement in Algebra 12, won some stuff in a Math competition and was the "go-to-girl" in college when all my engineering buddies needed help with calculus.  Oh, and I loved Physics, too. :-)  Yup, so I can be a bit of a geek.

That math thing sometimes haunts me because I calculate things all the time.  If 10 stitches take me this much yarn, how much yarn will it take to make the whole sweater.  Or even just, how many stitches are in a darn sweater?  What else could I waste my precious time on?

So the math thing is really haunting me today because I got started on the KnitPicks Mitered Cardigan - it must not be on their site any longer because I can't find it.  You can basically divide the pattern into distinct pieces - the back will be 4 quarters - 2 large squares and 8 small squares (2 sets of 4X4 squares that will be the same size as 1 big square).  So, you have 4 definite quarters that should each take approximately the same amount of yarn.  The fronts are just half each of the back so another 4 distinct pieces.  2 sleeves and a collar.  The pattern called for 11 balls.  Lucky me, I have 13 balls of yarn.  Each ball is 50 grams.  I have completed just over 1/2 of the first quarter and only have 15 grams of yarn left on ball #1.  By my calculations, I will run out of yarn on the first ball before I finish my first quarter of the back.  Mathematically, one ball of yarn makes 1/5th of my back.  Thefore, I will need 5 balls for the back.  5 balls for the front.  If I only had 11 balls, I would totally be SOL.  I have 13 but my guess is that 3 50 g balls of fingering weight yarn done on 3mm needles will not make me 2 sleeves (I don't have tiny sticks for arms) and a collar and some finishing.  I'm not that naiive.

Correct me if you think 3 balls will make sleeves and finishing.............. I already went through the KnitPicks site and no more of that colour available.  It's Knit Picks Sock Garden 100% Merino in Pansy.  I won't even stress over dye lot (which is 60749) but if there happens to be anyone out there who is reading this and who has a lonely ball of that yarn kicking about (maybe even 2), I'd gladly pay for the transfer of ownership. :-)  Or can you tell me the flaw in my math?

BTW, I'm knitting to gauge.  The only other option I see is to lose a bunch more weight so I can rip and make a smaller size.  I'm so gung ho on this cardigan right now and now I'm trying to figure out if it's worth while continuing....

Back to my normal programming of some pictures of the Fibre Fest in Victoria tomorrow.

I have a new bracelet up on Etsy this morning. 

What is it about getting together with a whole pile of knitters and watching each other knit socks and many other things and listening to the Yarn Harlot speak about knitting and knitters that can refresh ones' sense of identity as a knitter?  I don't know what it is but I think it's the charisma of all the knitting needles clicking away in tune as a group.......

I went over to the Victoria Fiber Fest this past weekend.  It was a whirlwind trip.  I went from taking JR to the clinic to diagnose a severe ear and eye infection, to the pharmacy to get his prescription, to the Leisure Centre to see Little Miss in Ballet, to the ferry................. that's when I was able to take a deep breath and was able to look forward to the weekend.

I have no pictures today to show you the fun time that I had but I will just say that it was wonderful to meet up with my friend Brenda whose blog (Close to my Heart) again.  She came and picked me up at the ferry and we shared a hotel room.  How weird to be without children for once, especially over night.  Strangest feeling - I missed them but not all that much. :-)  Of course, I was also excited to see the person who can make my life very expensive, Shelley from Fun Knits.  How wonderful to be able to spend some time with two great friends who also share the passion for knitting.

Being a part of the weekend, aside from the crappy weather yesterday at the knit-out, was just what I needed to refresh my knitting spirits.  I've been having so much fun with my Etsy store and also spending a lot of time on doing work for it, promoting it, making custom orders etc. etc. that along with work and the kids, I really fell into a bit of a knitting burn-out.  But, as of today, I do feel refreshed with some new ideas and some new projects I want to get into.  Of course, this is in great big danger of leading into major startitis.

I almost finished the Regia Bamboo sock on the weekend.  Just one set of toe decreases and then a buddy to knit.  I also started a modular mitered squares cardigan from  a Knit Picks pattern that I got the yarn for last summer.  I made good progress on the ferry ride back.  The ferry ride back seemed to have attracted many knitters.......... I'm sure there was a much higher % of knitting travellers than usual.  It was all good.

The Knit-out itself was a bit touch and go because the weather wasn't that great.  I did come back with goodies and pictures though and I'll show those off in the next few days.  For now, I'll get back to work.  I just had to leave this quick update because I do have thoughts of knitting swirling through my head today.  Pictures tomorrow.   And to celebrate knitting, I listed another happy set of stitch markers this morning and have some to make with pretty floral beads.

See you with pictures of the weekend tomorrow.