Pix From Last Weekend, 11/14/09

Been a bit too busy to get the snaps snapped and then upload them, so FINALLY I got around to it today.

So I headed to New Jersey to attend a demonstration on how to do Hairpin Lace. Not really sure I learned anything more than I already knew (which isn't MUCH). I got the loops onto the harp/loom, but who knows if it's the way it should be. And I didn't get much in the way of what to do when the strips of loops are worked off the loom and how to join them into projects. In a sense, what I'm saying is, I'm a very technical person. If I know the mechanics of the stitches and composition, I then can do whatever the hell I want with the techniques (case in point, my little entrelac bags which are my addictive traveling projects). Here's a shot of what my loom looks like. What I'll ultimately do with this, I don't know, but had hopes of being able to work the hairpin lace into projects with oya and other lacy types of motifs.

The one thing which has eclipsed my love and addiction for entrelac in the round (at the moment) has been the Traveling Bivalves moebius cowl. In the last 10 days, I have started and completed FIVE of these things. They are addictive, and peacefully monotonous. This was my traveling project up until last Saturday when I headed into Jersey for the hairpin lace demo. I frogged a Tunisian short row pinwheel which was going to be the basis of a beret. It's worked in Dream in Color Yarn in colorway "Strange Harvest." I love it. I finished this Monday at lunch. I am now working on a cloche to match it, and this will be my 2009 Hat and Scarf ensemble. (Hat portion finished, just have to work on brim, picture will be forthcoming.)

I fortunately was able to meet up with a friend of mine at 'Bucks for some face time and good conversation. I wish I didn't live so damned far away from those folks with whom I am friends, or otherwise find truly interesting. So I worked a bit of the moebius and chatted up quite a storm.

I then became miffed to find out the LYS I normally frequent when I "pass thru these parts" no longer carries Malabrigo. Sure it pills, but imho, it is a pleasure to work with. The shop had a few "stragglers," aka orphaned skeins of 'Brigo for sale jut to get rid of them. Had the colors been remotely pleasant, I would have walked right out of there with them. But no amount of love for 'Brigo would have allowed me to buy these putrid colored skeins. Besides, I was running a bit late and could not stay for a full-on visit, so I hastily looked for a substitute for 'Brigo (blasphemy, I know), and settled upon a few skeins of Sheep Shop Yarn Company; two skeins in Sheep Number Two in color way G730 (a colorway reminiscent of, but not as intense/vibrant as the skein of Manos del Uruguay I got duped into buying a few weeks back); and three skeins of Sheep Number Two in colorway G017, which I can see in one small, masculine moebius for the husband (perhaps) and possibly a pair of slippers with the remaining two skeins.

It's time again for me to clean out my den. I literally live with a system of totes. Each project has its own tote (cheap bags from the Dollar Store which I also use for grocery shopping). So it is with GLEE I TELL YA that I found the bag from my Columbus Day jaunt into NYC to attend an appointment, and found the Katia Bombay cotton (as well as the little entrelac bags I used as traveling projects). I totally forgot about both of them!


Details regarding my little entrelac bags can be found in my projects section on Ravelry. If you're interested in buying or swapping something for one or both of the bags, let me know either here in the comments section or PM me on Ravelry.