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Photography

Rachel Schain

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DSC_6031_bw This is Rachel Schain, a local musician and friend who asked for some new photos for promotions, websites, etc.   The two hour shoot went very well and she came away with a TON of really great shots.   Musicians seem to make great models and are seldom shy of the camera lens.   This photo here is really my favorite shot out of the bunch, but I’ve added another color one below so that you can see her gorgeous red hair.   If you’d like to check out her music, you can go to her myspace page  or her facebook page.

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Opinion

Neighbors

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There’s always one in every neighborhood.  The weird ones who do weird things and get gossiped about over the fence.  You hope to Bob that this is not you, but might secretly take some sort of satisfaction that if it were you, you might be eligible for some sort of freak merit badge.

Thankfully, this is not us (sadly, no freak merit badge), but the favorite family in the neighborhood happens to be two houses over.  We live in an older neighborhood with some houses dating back to the late 1800s.  Most of the older houses had outhouses at one point, but they’ve since been removed ages ago in the name of oh, I don’t know, Modern Plumbing.  Said neighbors still have their little red brick outhouse in the backyard.  One morning, I awoke to sounds of construction outside.  Having dogs is always a good excuse to go out and investigate, so out we went.  While the puppies were sniffing all over the yard for any trace of squirrel poop to consume, I looked two yards over to see a man, on a ladder, chiseling old shingles off the roof of the outhouse.

…

I know.  They were re-roofing THE OUTHOUSE.  I could see if it was a deluxe model and they were repurposing the thing to be a shed, but really?  Four square feet don’t really constitute bonus storage space, especially if that four square feet comes with a bench that has a hole in the middle.  During the past two years, there have been so many memorable things, but this one definitely takes the urinal cake.

Socks

Socktoberfest wrap-up

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As promised, here’s the run down of the socks I knit during the month of October.

DSC_6369 Thrilling Jaywalkers
Pattern: Jaywalker
Designer: Grumperina
Needles: US 1 (2.25mm)
Yarn: Wollmeise Sockenwolle 100% superwash in colorway, “Thriller”
–Ravelry Project Link–
Still my favorite out of them all.   The yarn has already proven to wear like iron and the socks are comfortable too.   And, the colors are just so Halloween, you’ve gotta love it.
DSC_6353 Mystery Sock
Pattern: Mystery Sock  ’09
Designer: Kristen Kapur
Needles: US  2 (2.75mm)
Yarn: BMFA Socks That Rock Lightweight in, “Scum Bubble”
–Ravelry Project Link–
This is the first mystery sock knit-along I’ve participated in and it was a ton of fun.   I’d feverishly knit each new clue the day it was released, giving me time to knit other things during the week (you know, like, more socks).   The colorway is SO awesome and I’m happy with how it worked in the pattern as well.   Yum.   Scummy socks.   Love it.
DSC_6415 Diamond Rib Lace Sock
Pattern: Diamond Rib Lace Sock
Designer: Kathleen Taylor
Needles: US 1 (2.25mm)
Yarn: Twisted Fiber Art Kabam! in, “Minstrel”
–Ravelry Project Link–
Isn’t that dye job incredible?   Gotta hand it to Meg, she’s just a genius.   The sock pattern was originally meant to be a child’s sock, but with a small amount of tweaking, it sized up very easily to an adult’s sock!   And, I LOVE LOVE LOVE that zig-zag eyelet running down the leg as well as the cuff.
DSC_6112 Make-Up Sox
Pattern: Make-up Sox
Designer: Kristen Kapur
Needles: US 1 (2.25mm)
Yarn: dkKnits Technicolor Bounce in, “Teacher Teak”
–Ravelry Project Link–
These are toe-up which isn’t really a favorite of mine to knit, but the pattern is really so gorgeous (and the name so cute) that I really couldn’t leave them out.   The yarn is just the perfect color and SO cozy – it’s a great match!
2009 Knitting, Socks

October Knitting Wrap-up

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It’s that time once again.   This month absolutely FLEW by, so it’s time once again to update progress on my knitting resolutions.

3. Knit one pair of socks per month

DSC_6369 Thrilling Jaywalkers
Pattern: Jaywalker
Designer: Grumperina
Needles: US 1 (2.25mm)
Yarn: Wollmeise Sockenwolle 100% superwash in colorway, “Thriller”
–Ravelry Project Link–
This project is part of Socktoberfest, a celebration of knitting socks in October.   I managed to knit up four whole pairs of socks for Socktoberfest, but these are definitely my favorites.   Squishy and BRIGHT, plus the colors are just perfect for Halloween.   These are modeled by Abbie at the Fonthill Castle.

4. Spin four ounces of roving per month.
This just didn’t happen.   I maybe got in about an ounce, but I spent the whole month knitting socks and really doing nothing much else.

That’s really it for the knitting resolutions this month.   I’ll put together a post later this week going over all the Socktoberfest knitting!

Fiber Festivals

Rhinebeck 2009

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Wow, what a weekend.   I’ve definitely got a bad case of the post-fiber-festival-shock in that I have to be back in the real world instead of oogling knitwear, squishing yarn, and snorgling sheep.   The fiber festival world is SO much more fun than this everyday kind of crap.

The haul?   I did well.   Fell off the budget wagon a touch, but I think it was well worth it and I can see all of what I bought being knitted before MDSW.   (Disclaimer: Just because I can see it happening doesn’t mean that another pattern won’t queue jump and ruin that plan)
3 skeins – Socks That Rock Lightweight, Mill Ends
2 skeins – Socks That Rock Lightweight, Rare Gems
1 skein – Holiday Yarns Sock Yarn
1 skein – Silver Moon Farms sock yarn (770 yards)
1 skein – Silver Moon Farms Laceweight (1375 yards)
2 skeins – Bijou Basin 100% Yak Laceweight (400 yards)
1 skein – Briar Rose, Charity (900 yds worsted)
Firebird Sock Kit from the Tsock Tsarina
4 oz – Targee Top from Mountain Colors
4 oz – Clover Leaf Farms Merino Roving
4 oz – Holiday Yarns Merino Roving
4 oz – Little Barn Linsi-Woolsie Roving
4 oz – Little Barn Alpaca Roving
Book – Vintage Baby Knits by Kristen Rengren (signed!)

I realize that means nothing to you non-knitters, but suffice to say, I got what I wanted, and then a little more.     🙂   Abbie and I did very well in terms of getting in early the first day, getting what we desperately wanted, and generally had incredible luck on our side when it came to just being in the right place at the right time.   For example, the Chicken Pot Pie line is known for being epic.   People usually wait a good half hour for this incredible chicken pot pie.   Us?   We got in line right when there were only a few people waiting.   Granted, had there been a half-hour-long line, we probably would’ve found something else to eat, but it was nice to finally get a forkfull of that yummy pot pie.   Then there was the Ravelry party, Saturday night, which was awesome.   The vanilla mead went over well, but I still managed to come home with a good amount left in the keg.   Sunday was rainy, but we managed to go through all the barns/buildings, grab a few things that we missed on Saturday because we had enough of the crowds really early on.   Sunday though, the grounds were rather empty, there were no lines, and much more room to browse around without getting bumped.   Finally got home to Pennsylvania around 8pm to my two little snugglebutt dogs who were thrilled to meet me.   The husband had left for a class in Texas, but had baked this incredible chocolate ganache/praline cake and left me a bouquet of flowers on the table.   Perfect end to a really spectacular weekend.

I will leave you with a photo  from Rhinebeck  and link you to my whole set from Rhinebeck on Flickr.   To all of you tweasels  who I met?   It was really, honestly great, and I hope to see you all again next year!
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Charitable Causes

Donating Clothes

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The husband and I have become pretty big on volunteerism,  domating to causes,  and donating stuff we don’t need/use to someone who does have a need.   I finally got the urge to clean out one of the two closets my clothes occupy and rid myself of some career clothing that I no longer wear – I’ve not been in a corporate environment where I need business casual for two years now.   Two closets, you ask?   Yes.   That’s what happens when you move from a new apartment with a GINORMOUS walk-in closet and into a newish house that was built from design plans from the 1970’s.   The closet space here is SEVERELY lacking, so I ended up with two closets full of clothes instead of just one big one.   Besides, I am going to the New York Sheep & Wool Festival and need more space for yarn.   Yes, yarn trumps clothes.

Anyway, I go through the spare closet of items I don’t wear often and realize there are a LOT of pretty basic items that are still in good condition, current as far as style (mostly basic stuff – black pants, solid color button-down shirts), and I really can’t bear to think of throwing a bag of very wearable, nice  clothes into one of those clothing donation bins.   So, I call up the local community services organization and they point me to Wings for Success.   Wings turns out to be a non-profit organization that helps women returning to the workplace after some sort of hardship (addiction, domestic violence, crime, homelessness, etc).   I called, made an appointment to drop off clothes, and selected two huge paper shopping bags (the ones you get when Old Navy is having a sale and you actually attempt to buy out the whole store in one go) of the nicest items to bring with me.   When I arrived, I was given a tour of the space which is really impressive.   Volunteers do most of the work, dressing new clients and sending them home with a week or two worth of clothes.   There’s a whole room dedicated to handbags.   Clearly, these gals know what they’re doing.

After seeing what they do, and understanding just how important it is to the women in our community, I felt the need to post something about it and spread the word.   If you live in Southeastern Pennsylvania and have a closet of career clothes to weed through, please think of Wings for Success before you throw out those clothes.   The best way to contact them is via phone, and the number is on their website.

Photography

Ciara

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This is Ciara.   She was a blast to shoot with and I’m really glad I had the chance to work with such a wonderful model.   Even beyond that, she’s a singer with some awesome music – click her name up there to go to her myspace page.

I’m still available to schedule a shoot with you, your family, friends, significant other, etc.   Just let me know, and we’ll get something together!

2009 Knitting, Socks, Spinning, Sweaters

September Knitting Wrap-up

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YES!   September is already over – can you even believe it?   The weather got cool so quickly, I feel like fall just came around and slapped me in the face with a wet trout.   Or assaulted me with acorns.   No wait, that was the squirrels.   Anyway, on to the knitting!

Just going back, again, to the Knitting Resolutions.

3. Knit one pair of socks per month

DSC_5265 Twisted Flower Socks
Pattern: Twisted Flower Sock
Designer: Cookie A.
Needles: US 1.5 (2.5mm)
Yarn: Madelinetosh Tosh Sock
–Ravelry Project Link–

Still going strong on the one pair per month goal. These were rather challenging in that there were a lot of twisted stitches, cables, and I had to pay attention on every row, but the result is a gorgeous pair of socks that I’m proud to have conquered. These came together in a trip to Loop in Philadelphia, on a whim, and just ended up being the pair-of-the-month. Dear friend Abbie graciously modelled them for me.


4. Spin four ounces of roving per month.

I got this one too! That is some lovely alpaca from dkKnits in the colorway, “Wheat Fields” and I’m just dying over how soft it is. This is the first time I’ve spun alpaca and it was like butter through the fingers – a very enjoyable spin! We came out to 400 yards from the 4oz of fiber which makes it fingering weight. Not sure what this will become just yet, but I’m sure it’ll let me know someday. DSC_5401


2. Knit two sweaters this year.

DSC_5444 Wicked Sweater
Pattern: Wicked!
Designer: Sarah & Rachel
Needles: US 6 (4mm)
Yarn: dkKnits extrafine superwash merino squish
–Ravelry Project Link–

IT’S DONE! One sweater down and one to go. This blocked out perfectly and the color is just spectacular – it looks much more incredible in person. The yarn is soft and squishy and really easy to work with, not to mention, again, the incredible custom dye job that Becky put together for me. I’ll probably be wearing this to Rhinebeck, so if you see me, come say hello!

To wrap this all up, Socktoberfest begins today and I’m all prepared to cast on for a mystery sock.   There are four total socks that I’ll be doing this socktoberfest, so wish me luck!