Marnie, speak! Good girl.

Well, the rest of my site is different now.

I hope it's an improvement, but I suppose that's partially subjective.
Feedback is welcomed, and please bear with me while I sort out any oddness or problems.

Leo and I went to Little Tokyo in downtown LA yesterday to get some Chinese food (I know that Tokyo isn't in China, but some of the best hot and sour soup is in Little Tokyo, go figure.) sake and take some pictures for my submission to Mag Knits. All of it was great. We also walked around the city a bit, and checked out the newish Disney Amphitheatre which I've been in at night but have never walked around the exterior. It's amazing. The link above will show you some pictures, but you really have to be in the space to appreciate it.

We decided to take surface roads back home because the highways to and from the beach areas were packed. The temperatures were in the nineties, inland, but comfortably breezy and mild by the ocean. I'd been telling Leo about an automotive shop on Venice Blvd that had several glaring typos in their signage, that bring me to giggles every time I pass them.

For the first time, I have proof.

Yup, they repair "cluths". I am imagining what it must be like when the mechanic walks out of his shop, polishing a socket wrench with a dirty rag, shaking his head before informing the unwitting customer that her "cluth" is beyond repair but that he might be able to salvage one off of an abandoned vehicle he has out back.

But the problems don't end there.

The mofle will never pass inspection, and a replacement will have to be special ordered. If she wants to pick one up for herself, he'll install it for only the cost of labor.

Ok, made up story aside, I find this particular sign all the more grammatically humorous because it's apparent that the sign maker KNEW he couldn't spell "catalytic converter," but threw caution to the wind with "mofles." Note, too, that while he was diligent to check some of his spelling, "mofles" is plural (I assume) while "catalytic converter" is singular. If you are a grammar stickler, that should ruffle your feathers a bit.

Well, I've been finalizing my piece for the next MagKnits and spinning a lot.
I've now made two little two ply balls of yarn. Here they are in all their splendor and glory.

The bottom one, being swatched, is made with my first bits of spun yarn. As you can see, it's a train wreck. The plies are a roller coaster ride of valleys and peaks, and there are several knots throughout. On top is my second ball of yarn. The plies are a bit more consistent and there are no knots. No one is going to be beating down my door to buy this yarn, but I'm pleased that it's getting better.

Here's another pic of the slightly less scary yarn:


I want to give a public "thank you" to Miss Janice who took some time to give me some spinning guidance. Did you now that roving had a direction? I didn't? That little tidbit has been helping me get better results.

I decided to spin a little of my lilac fibers last night.
I was spinning along just fine, off in a corner, far from breakable items. Leo looks over to me at one point and says "You know, they make machines that do that."
Cute, no?

I'd actually spun quite a bit of my lilac roving but had a bit of a drop spindle calamity. I was spinning along when I had one of my regularly scheduled uncontrolled drops, only this time, the contents of the spindle made a run for it. I guess I had so much twist on my poor little fibers that the resulting bird's nest was irreversible. C'est la vie, I guess.

Being the persistent girl I am, I got back on the horse and spun some more.

As you can see, it's definitely not going to be mistaken for professionally spun yarn, but it is getting a bit better. The roving I chose was indicated as being "easy to spin" which I think has been one reason I haven't gotten too frustrated. I can only imagine what my yarn would look like if I'd chosen a more challenging fiber.

By the way, I love it when you all throw suggestions my way. Since I don't have any friends who spin, I feel like I'm flying solo here. It's obviously not rocket surgery, but there's some coordination and technique involved that just doesn't come naturally.

It's humbling to try something new. It's not that I thought the first go would be easy, that's why I ordered some practice roving, it's just that I didn't think I'd manage to mess it up this badly:



But I do a lot of teaching in my line of work, and if there is anything I've learned, it's that you cannot give up after your first try.

So above was day one. It's lumpy, it's bumpy, it couldn't even pass for "novelty" yarn. It's just a sad state of affairs.

Day two and three got a bit better:

I know the roving is dark, so it's a bit hard to make out what you are seeing, but it's definitely looking a little more like "yarn" now.

I'm nervous about trying to ply, more because I think some bits of this first go are quite thin and likely to break as the twist loosens a bit. I suppose it can all be dealt with, but I still foresee some challenges.

I actually bought the same amount of the same kind of roving in a light lilac color. I wanted to spin an equal length of that yarn and make a tweedy purple two ply.

Check it out!
We went to Ventura beach on Friday and caught a pod of dolphins swimming about.

Click to see a close up

Do you see them? It's just their fins sticking up in the water. I guess it's more exciting when you see them live and in person.



Panda had other things on her mind.

Ok, to answer a few questions from my previous post, a couple of you asked about the yarn I used. It's called Karaoke and it will soon be distributed by the folks at South West Trading Company It's actually not yet available for sale, but it's coming soon. If you want to see some of the color ways, you should take a peek at Jonelle's blog.

Janice asked if I grafted the ends. I did indeed.

Froggy mentioned rockin' to some old school Shakira and to that I just have to say that you are a woman after my own heart. If you haven't already, you should get yourself some Juanes. Mmmmm, Juanes.

The Cardi has to be put aside for a couple weeks while I work on a piece for Mag Knits. Obviously, no posts for that, but I did whip a little something out of the Karaoke, while I was pondering how to proceed with the cardi sleeves.





They are garter stitch gauntlets knit lengthwise. I felt that working self striping yarn widthwise would tend to make arms look wider and shorter instead of elongated and graceful. These were very very easy to make, so I'll probably post a pattern shortly. It'll be more of a formula than a pattern because they should fit the wearer snuggly so they stay in place.

Have any of you heard the new Shakira song? Here's a quicktime video of it. I've been humming it all morning. It's in Spanish, a language I do not speak, but I dig it nonetheless.

This picture was taken today in Malibu


There are apparently people who will pay 50¢ more per gallon for full service. While the self serve isn't as high as the prices some have seen, it is evident that this station is staffed sufficiently to supply full service, which means someone is paying that price.

Warning: Rant ahead

Now, I realize that there are folks out in other countries paying significantly more per gallon for their gas, but most of what you pay is tax that goes directly back into your own economy. We, here in the states, pay some of the highest base prices for oil and put very little towards cleaning up our environment, providing better public transportation and finding viable alternatives to fossil fuels. In fact, I'd be fine with paying $5.00 a gallon if that additional price were a tax towards the above mentioned causes. Additionally, it was punish folks who buy monstrosities like this. If you knew what horrible words come to mind when I see this abomination....

Ok, rant over.

Last week, thanks in part to some help from my mom, I signed up for that knitware course at Otis. Wanna see proof?




Ok, it's a little hard to read, but you can take my word for it.

There is no consensus.
But that's OK, I got some great feedback from all of you and I've decided to go the middle ground that a couple of you mentioned. For now, I'll leave the current sleeve intact and knit the other sleeve to my alternate design once I decide which I prefer I'll rip out the one I like less and knit it to match. I'll offer both in the pattern. Yay.

In the mean time, I got a sample of the new yarn coming from the makers of Soy Silk. It's called Karaoke and it's amazing. It's a soy silk and wool blend that is entirely feltable. But even more exciting, it self striping like the Noro line of yarns. I can't stop playing with it and I keep knitting and ripping when I can.

I just don't know, folks, I don't think I'm liking the progress on the sleeve for my cardi. I'm reaching out to you guys for an opinion. Is it a keeper or should I rethink?
I leaning towards ripping out to the elbow lace panel (running sideways) and instead knit a simple a-line sleeve to the wrist. It'll just be a gentle flair, maybe doubling in diameter from the elbow.
I just don't feel this sleeve is ballanced with the overall look of the cardi. Heck, I've already ripped and reknit this portion of the sleeve a couple times. What's one more time in an attempt for perfection?
So here it is. Feel free to give your two cents.


And this is what it looks like off the body.


Sorry for the hit-or-miss level of photo quality.

Well, I promised a Panda heavy post and a Panda heavy post you will get. I suspect at least some among you would prefer not to see her, but, heck, she's my pup and it's my blog and it makes me happy.

Check out the girl with her most beloved toy, the squirrel. I know, I know, you've seen it before, but these are some real action shots.















Regarding the cardi, many people have asked if the pattern will be available. I think I'm going to try to write the pattern up and multi-size it. It may take me a while, but once I'm done with the knitting, I'll start in on the pattern writing. I suspect, for the amount of work it will take to write the pattern, that I'll need to sell it instead of offering it free.
Not much to show on progress since I did a lot of frogging this weekend. Hopefully I'll have something soon.

I love all the input from people on the length and closure and I've decided against i-cords and I might just keep the cameo. The length will also stay, for now. Thanks all.

Well, SP4 is over. It seemed so quick. It was my first time doing one of these secret pal thingys and I had a great time of it. We did the whole "reveal" this weekend. I was secret pal to Erin who was patient with the fact that I'm a bit dorky and revealed myself too soon and didn't check my super secret email address very often. My secret pal was Linda who totally spoiled me. Wanna see what she got me?


First there's this killer selection of Burt's Bees products. I love this stuff. I used the shampoo bar, lip balm, and hand salve yesterday.



And I did so while burning this great candle. It's Hawaiian White Ginger scent and it's lovely. I'd been burning the other candle she got me, during my daily bath but now I have two scents to choose from.



And check out the mug and tea. That's Jasmine Green Tea, and a perfect tea mug. I don't know if Linda's been stalking me or something but I've recently switched from drinking oodles of coffee to drinking oodles of tea. How timely!



This is one of those eye masks you throw in the fridge and make all the puffy and stress go away. You gotta know this is going to get used. Is anyone else sensing that I'm going to be pampering myself?



But I'm really excited about this. Linda knit me a cute little kerchief. I love it. It's knit from GGH Molina and it's great. There's just enough spring that it holds nicely to my head without sliding off or giving me a headache. The colors are right up my alley, too. It's shades of brown, blue and white, all my favorites. Sorry about the crappy image. Here's a picture of it laid out flat. And here's a close-up of it.



But this has me more excited than anything. Look, it's a drop spindle and some roving. But it's not just any roving, it's 70% Merino/30% Tussah silk. It's so nice, I hardly feel like I can use it. Seriously, you have to feel it to believe it. I decided that I really want to do the roving some justice, so I've ordered some cheap practice roving to teach myself how to spin, then I'm going to spin this stuff. I can't wait. If any of you out there have any suggestions for someone new to spinning, please feel free to pipe in at any time. I've been watching this. Look how effortless and easy that seems.


Apropos nothing in this thread, here's Panda enjoying a sun beam on the balcony. I just think she looks so content here. Expect a Panda heavy post in the near future.