schmeebot

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monday 04.02.2007

ebay auction $4.01 (+$3.75 shipping)

i collect old zimmermann publications. i was introduced to the wool gathering series by carolyn of stitches, who kindly lent me her entire collection. i really enjoyed reading them. i didn't care for the newer ones. i had to have the older ones.

so i set out looking for them. and by pure luck, there was a collection up for bid on ebay. the seller had splitted it into two auctions. the day the auctions ended happened to be a day i had to be on the road. so i had g watch the bidding for me. i left her careful instructions: win at any cost. the stress of aggressive bidding on back to back auctions just about killed her. but she did it.

my $250 collection happens to miss this very issue, the one i wanted most. so i set a permanent search for it on ebay. it had been on auction many times over the years but i could never manage to win. until last week. and for pocket change.

i also got this next item last week but at a thrift store in town.

2 oz 100% acrylic $.99

i bought it for the label. i love the colors and the hand illustration. i wonder how old it is. there isn't much information on the band other than: super yarn mart! los angeles, ca 90015.

i wish more yarn labels were as charming.

comments: 4

back to the drawing board

monday 04.23.2007

that's the gift i was going to take to marin's baby shower this past sunday. i had planned on showing up at the party for a few minutes but, at the last minute, i couldn't muster up the nerves to do it. i am a wuss like that.

i knit the hat on the ugly doll last week. the flower pattern is from a book by kolstad+takle. i'm going to use it for a sweater so this baby's hat was a good opportunity for me to gauge my knitting.

kolstad+takle, by the way, have written three terrific books on color knitting. they are a very prominent source of inspiration for me. i file them next to zimmermann and walker on my book shelf.

i extended my library by two books today.

i bought the starmore book for the color knitting. i haven't opened it yet so i don't know if it's any good. as for the mary thomas book, zimmermann made references to it so i just want to see what it's all about. looks like a lot of stitch patterns.

that's from martha stewart living november 2006 issue which i got at the thrift store. i've been hitting the thrift stores fairly regularly ever since the beginning of march, when i found a couple of cashmere sweaters for $5 each. i ripped them for the yarn, of course. lately i've been finding a lot of wool/angora/cashmere sweaters. they feel very luxurious.

the sewing patterns are free.

this past weekend i found a giant coat sweater made of fine italian merino wool. i wasn't sure what the italian part meant but, for $2.99, it didn't matter. i bought it along with a sweater that looked sort of glossy. the tag said pure wool but the knitting felt heavy like cotton. i was certain that the sweater was mis-labeled. i did a burn test and, much to my surprise, it was wool. the texture sure fooled me.

aren't these felted wool projects neat? makes me wish i had kept every sweater i have ever accidentally felted. i would have enough to make a couple of queen size blankets.

something interesting happened at one of the thrift stores. i made fast friends with two gothed out high school age girls. we bonded over a really nice polaroid camera. they found it first but, because one of them already has a camera exactly like it, they handed it over to me. except there was no price tag so the sales lady took it away from us. the girls were more upset about it than i was. i guess i don't really care about the camera. i was just pleased to experience such friendliness from complete strangers.

comments: 2

it was a matter of time

thursday 04.26.2007

i'm sure you knew it would come to this. it's inevitable that my obsessions bleed into each other. anyway, that's a polaroid sx70 camera. i mapped it using knitpro.

if you're interested in using these charts, i have both the color and the grayscale versions at a more legible scale on flickr. i would like to use the pattern on a hat. i hope my colorwork won't suck.

next up, waffles!

comments: 2

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