Lanaterapia

Ack. It's like this: Correos de España lost my yarn from Interweave. So I STILL don't have it, so as you can well imagine I am a nervous wreck. So finally I have given up waiting and started on a new project, and here it is, still in the 6 million test runs stage. The "A" is for Ann, my stepmother.


The cuff is done in a new and utterly impossible technique which me and some girls from Ravelry have dubbed "Mensa Stitch" but which is also known as Backwards Crochet. In the small photo to the left you can see my new version of the cuff, now that I'm a bit more adventurous in Mensa Stitch. On the right is the button band, just waiting for some buttons.




At the same time, I'm sooo lost in Ravelry. What an incredible phenomenon it is. Anyways, I'm back now after the initial headlong plunge into Ravelry, and promise to post more often.



IMPORTANT UPDATE: YARN ARRIVED!

But it's a secret.

It's not like I've stopped crocheting, on the contrary I've been at it furiously since my last post. Only I'm not allowed to show you what I'm doing until it comes out in Interweave Crochet in Spring 2008! Wa-hoo!
It's been an exciting couple of weeks, writing and receiving emails from the amazing Kim Werker and feeling myself to be a Very Important Person indeed. She helps to decide on the yarns to use, and then, get this, she sends the yarn to you! And it hasn't arrived yet! So here I am, all my test runs completed, with my 3.5mm hook poised and ready to go at lightning speed as soon as the loot crosses my threshold.
And I got my Ravelry invite. So I log on and who do I find? Debolsillo, Danni, Ojos Verdes, Mae, Flavio, and Kim Werker too! What a strange sensation. It's like traveling to New York and running into them on Fifth Avenue.










And I ordered this exquisite, unbelievable, sock yarn from Colinette and am having trouble not eating it.
And I'm working on a new design for a vest which if I can actually figure out how to make is going to be beautiful-to-die-for. However, considering the number of test runs I seem to do before making anything, it may take a few years.
And Persones Llanes has announced the Lara Croft Tapestry Crochet Course. Somebody please sign up, so far there's only 2 people on the list. If I promise to bake cookies, will they come?
And I took the lolcat test, with this result:

Your Score: Lion Warning Cat

74% Affectionate, 57% Excitable, 42% Hungry

You are the good Samaritan of the lolcat world. Protecting others from danger by shouting observations and guidance in cases of imminent threat, you believe in the well-being of everyone.

Link: The Which Lolcat Are You? Test written by on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Whatever.

Blechh. Here's me, Lara Croft of crochet fame, so worried about stupid, unwoolly and unworthy issues that I can't muster up the wherewithal to post to my blog, despite the fact that I have much blogworthy news. This Leader of Men thing is not all it's cracked up to be. Distinctly Unwoolly.

Blgn, flgfd flbbl!...

Dlhj oioasd oio??? Voij nikjsp kpo o aoisj, noi djuuu!!!!
translation: I just got a letter from Kim Werker. So you will excuse my squeaky voice and garbled language. She's gonna publish my Troubador Socks in Interweave Crochet. I feel like I just inhaled 60 helium balloons. Unworthy, but happy!!!!!

Pick up a hook and yarn, and anything can happen.

Excuse: I hurt my wrist. So I made a tensor bandage. And then I just kept on going, without much idea of a pattern. Next ones will have a pattern though.

Now who might this be for?

This is insane. I hardly have time to crochet these days. I like doing 5 or 6 test runs before making anything pretty, but that's a luxury I don't seem to have these days. So my dear, I wish I could have made your birthday present a bit classier, but you'll have to be satisfied with this thing.
Meanwhile on the Administrative front, I have been reading books on "Management". You wouldn't believe some of the nonsense these Business people utter. "Big-impact items", "calibration of voice-of-customer verification" "client/server deliverables" "flywheel of revenue" "benchmarking against other companies"
I mean, for God's sake. What have they done to my language? "Deliverable" is not a noun. "Big impact" is not an adjective. Does grammar undergo some mysterious transformation when you hit the billion-dollar "benchmark"? Luckily my grammar is safe from that danger.

Señora Directora

And there I was hoping to become a professional Crochet Consultant. Turns out I'll be directing the conservatory where I work. These arrived today:


namely, 10-inch long dpn's for knitting rounds in groups of 3, a project which Luz and I were hoping to try out with the girls from BK.

Picture from the Finnish Craft Museum

Now that I have this new job, I'm pessimistic about my chances of getting back to BK meetups anytime before July 2008! Therefore I plan to sulk a bit before enjoying this cool new challenge.

Back to the Fun Part

And that's it, the whole knitted section, thank God. I have paid my dues, and I have proven to myself that I can knit. I can knit while watching CSI. I can knit with 2 strands, and even with 3 strands. Well, actually that last bit is not entirely true. 3 strands is not my strong point, as this nifty photo (yay for my iMac) of the reverse side demonstrates:
And the best part is, after removing the icky circular needle which made the thing look like a hula skirt, amazingly it turns out that it actually fits the DH!!
However, the experience while character-building did not change the fact that I find knitting very, very tiresome. I'm glad it's over, glad to be twirling again and finally done with all that Poking About with Pointy Sticks.

The end is in sight!

Maybe 6 more rows of this infernal knitting and I'll be back in the light: crocheting! Thank heaven. Sorry it looks a bit crumpled, that's because it is a bit crumpled. Well, at the present rate the DH should have this by Xmas 2009.

La Vera Perfezione del Disegno 1561

Luz, what have you done? This was like giving Gollum his precioussssss. Now I have to make more Troubador Socks. Indeed, Troubador mittens, Troubador bags, Troubador vests, Troubador Beer Cozies. I'll run out of 12th century composers before I run out of inspiration from this incredible text. And now here's one for you: the textile collection at the Cluny Museum in Paris. Talk about colourways!

Encyclopedia of Needlework

The Encyclopedia I mentioned in yesterday's post, "Ouvrages des Dames" By Therése de Dillmont (1846-1890) is available online on this page in the English version, via the Gutenberg Project. The first file is the Table of Contents. I find the Crochet section fascinating.

Have to try these!

I heart BK

The finest people in Barcelona are knitters and crocheters. That is the only possible conclusion one can reach after attending the meetup I attended today. Today I:
Met an amazing knitter, Luz, designer of the most beautiful jacket known to man.
Was given an octopus with orange eyes, item coveted by me for weeks. Proving that you don't have to be at all normal to be a part of this excellent group. Just brilliant.
Held in my hands and read an Encyclopedia of "Labores de Señora" (I think that was the title) written by one Therése de Montdill in the 19th century and which Rosa has been lucky enough to be consulting since she was a kid, which is no doubt why she can whip up a super-complicated lovely lacy stole in one month.
It's really late, gotta go. More tomorrow.