Ever heard of Geocaching?

Neither did I, but it's worth learning about. Basically, there is a large group of people who hide things on trails and in state parks - maybe even in a park near you (they are in Brooklyn too!) - and then other people go out and find them. It's like a scavenger hunt, you get GPS coordinates of the cache which takes you 10-20 feet from it. You'll also most likely get a cryptic clue which will get you even closer - but you are still going to have to do a little searching. Most caches are boxes (usually Ammo cans):



Inside the box there is generally a logbook, a pencil, and various trinkets. If you take a trinket, you should add one of your own to keep the box supplied with goodies. There are also things called Geocoins and Travel Bugs. They are items you leave in the cache with instructions like - please take me to Disney World. People will take them if they can help them get to the destination stated - and place them in different caches along the way. Check out our handmade Travel Bug - Court whipped this little dragonfly up:



So far we've only found a few caches but they have taken us to some lovely views:

High above LaGrangeville, NY



The Hudson River near Sleepy Hollow, NY



It's a great way to get some nature pics!







I happen to love this sign we saw on the way up a grueling hike which took us up 500 ft in elevation in 3/4 of a mile -



So anyone else out there Geocachers?

Oh there has been some knitting - I finished these a while ago - a pair of simple ribbed socks for Court.



Pattern: my own
Yarn: My Soft Spun Plus in Lush Lake
Needles: Magic Loop Addi #3
I forget how long they took but I do know they went fast.

Store Update

BIG store update tons of new colorways in all base yarns!

Have something to knit for spring break!

Babies, cats and dye oh my

This must be the year of babies. Apparently all my friends have "gotten busy" and are now expecting or have just popped! 2 friends have just had little bundles of joy, and 5 more are pregnant - one of them is my sister! I have a LOT of baby knitting to do.

A couple of Saturdays ago I realized that on Sunday I had a baby shower to go to and I had not finished the baby blanket I was working on. Let me give you a timeline of what happened short after this realization:

9:01 - frantically looking for the mitered squares



9:10 - found them only to realize I still had 3.5 more squares to knit
10:00 - 1.5 squares knit
10:01 - searching through piles of stash yarn for the right color to complete the next 2 squares
10:27 - Found it!
10:30 - take a break - cause in the middle of a yarn emergency taking a break seemed like the only thing to do
11:15 - back to work
12:15 - Finished squares



12:15-2:45 am - a ton of friggin seaming
3:00 am - sleep - sweet. sweet sleep

10:00 - I'm awake - No, last nights knitting was not some sick and twisted dream telling me I need to work on my procrastination
10:05 - Pick up a ton of stitches and knit a border (after brushing my teeth)
10:06-1:30 pm - finish the border



1:31-2:30 - grab some lunch, jump into the shower, get dressed etc...
2:30-3:30 - I want to cry but I'm weaving in a bazillion ends



3:35 - get on the bus into Manhattan for the 4:30 baby shower - the ends are still not 100% but I've brought along a needle, scissors, and wrapping paper
4:15 - almost there and I just finished weaving and trimming the last of the ends
4:20 - Wrap the gift on the bus
4:25 - Get off the bus and walk over to the baby shower!



At this point you'd think YAY she did it - all over and done with, mama will love the blankie and the shower will be a pink and blue blast. Well - I get to the apartment where the shower is being held and guess what? No one home! I called and called, I rang the bell, I even was let in to knock on the door - still no answer.

I head home with the blanket still in my possession. Turns out, the baby was very eager, kicked a hole through the amniotic sac and my friend had to go in for an emergency c-section on Thursday before the shower - guess who didn't get the email notice?

But now I know better and will start and finish my baby gifts early - umm ok maybe not. At least I did get a good blog post out of it!

Cats and dye -



If you want to know the story behind this picture - check out Court's new blog - she's got the full run down it's totally worth reading!

Brooklyn Bonanza

First off - thank you to all of you who wished me birthday wishes and congratulations on the engagement - I've said it before and I'll say it again - all of you guys rock!

This past weekend I had my yearly spider gathering - this was the 3rd year. It was a blast! I wish I had taken more pictures but I was having way too much fun to do that.



The 1st year is was dyeing, the 2nd spinning and this year it was all about the secret single sock swap. We used Elfster to match up the spiders and then we knit one sock for our swap pal. It was the best swap ever - beautiful socks - inspiring actually!


I got a sock, and some other goodies from the fabulous Virginia who actually wrote her own pattern for the sock - and that pattern is going to be adapted for my Instant Gratification sock yarn. So not only did I get a great sock (which I'll be casting on for the mate soon) I get a pattern to give out to my customers!



check out that cable action - now I HAVE to start knitting cables...I know I know it's easy - I don't know why I've put it off for so long - they are so friggin pretty.

I forgot to take a picture of the sock I knit for Cathy but if you look above 3rd from the left I knit a Poseidon sock with my soft spun plus colorway red brick. I really enjoyed the pattern it was fun to knit and I was able to memorize the pattern pretty quickly.

We all know that knitting is integral to our survival as a species ( at least I think so!) but how will the rest of the world come to find out about it? IKEA - yup you know your craft has reached new heights when IKEA has a yarn store in their showroom!





Now if only I can get my craft room so organized!

Very Memorable Birthday...

Last Friday I met a bunch of family and friends in a cozy little bar downtown to celebrate my 30th birthday. We had a blast chatting and drinking while the jukebox played - then - I got a giant birthday surprise! Courtney gets everyone's attention, at least 20 people or so, and takes out a sheet of paper then starts to tell everyone that before we met (about a year ago) she made a list of everything she wanted in a partner. This list included some very specific items like: she likes to dye stuff, is between 27 and 30, has gaps in her teeth, cooks well so she doesn't have to, has light eyes and brown hair, loves cats....etc. She says that I fit everyone of the items on that list (it was spooky actually) and most of all she wanted someone who when she got down on one knee and proposed she would say yes - and then she asked me to marry her!

I must admit I was floored, totally shocked, had NO idea this was coming! It took me a few moments to let everything sink in but as soon as I got my wits about me I accepted. We both agreed that there won't be a wedding for at least another year (gotta see who wins the presidential election - might have some impact on marriage rights).

Here is a picture of the sheep (that she needle felted herself) which she presented me the ring with:


The ring has an Amethyst stone since purple is my favorite color, and look it has swirls on it - can you believe that?!?! (if you've been reading my blog for long enough you'll realize I have a thing for swirls). I couldn't have even designed myself a better ring.
It's absolutely perfect!

30 years ago...

My mom was struggling over piles of snow on her way to the hospital...

We all know what happened next - yup she had a bouncing baby girl - ME. My parents only had boy names picked out so after a little arguing as to whether or not to name me Penelope, they decided on Marie Aline (I just don't think I look like a Penelope - no offense to all of you Penelope's out there).

Now that I'm 30 I feel like I am officially a grown up - although I'm still playing with bits of string and colorful fiber. I'm looking forward to my thirties I think good times are ahead - I'm sure I can deal with the creaking bones lol.

Lest you think this blog is all about Birthdays and Shop announcements - I do have some FO's - knitting has been happening over here.

First off the long awaited Cable Twist socks knit with 4 balls of Zara - nice and squishy.





Here is where I modified the pattern and added increases on both sides of the sock.



I started these in Late March and didn't finish till December of course I knit up 1.5 and then got sick and tired of them and had them sitting in the WIP pile for months. But I really like the way they came out.

Here is another FO - fingerless gloves with a thumb hole. I'm still not sure if I want to add the cap or not. BTW- no kitties were strangled in the course of shooting these pictures :)



Here is the very convenient thumb hole - perfect for trying to grab your metrocard from a very full pocket.



The yarn is my Instant Gratification in Mermaid. I was glad when this didn't sell cause well I had my eye on it from the beginning! The pattern is made up on the fly just some ribbing a thumb gusset and some more ribbing. Originally knit for Court but - um - I kinda stole them back....hey she already has toasty gloves and my hands were freezing!

Thank you Court for being the ever patient FO model!

Finally we have my most current WIP the super secret sock - I won't give any details but here is a pic -



More pictures to come soon - I've still got a lot to show ya!

Store Update

The STORE has been updated with LOTS of new colorways and the brand new 3ply Soft Spun Plus is making it's debut appearance. Also there are still spots left in the Holiday Sock Club - Round II

Here is a little pic the current colorways:

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! - I hope you and all your loved ones had a wonderful
holiday season. Exciting times here at Brooklyn Handspun! I've got a
couple of new things going on that I'd love to share with you.

1) The 2008 Holiday Sock Club is now open! I've got great colors brewing....go over and check it out.

2) Keep an eye out late next week for a GIANT update!

3) I'm am now taking wholesale orders from brick and mortar stores
- so if you would like to see Brooklyn Handspun in your LYS let them know to send an inquiry to wholesale@brooklynhandspun.com - you'll be seeing my 3 ply yarn at The Point very soon.

4) I have started taking private spinning students on a drop spindle or wheel. If you are in the NYC area and would like to take spinning lessons just email me and I'll give you all the information.

5) If classes are more your thing - I will be teaching a spinning class at Brooklyn General beginning February 2, 2008. Introduction to Spinning $125 (great price for 6 hours of lessons!)

Four 1 ½ hour classes Learn how to spin and design your own yarn on a drop spindle. Class includes an overview of animal and plant fibers, how to card and blend different fiber types and colors, plying instruction, and an introduction to the spinning wheel. Check here for more info or you can call 718.237.7753

Materials available at first class
Session A: Mon 6:30 to 8:00 pm, 2/4, 11, 25. 3/3

Brooklyn General is also hosting the fabulous Pluckyfluff she will be offering a 2 day spinning camp - you'll learn lots of carding and novelty techniques for the art yarn lover in you. Tell them Brooklyn Handspun referred you! You can find all the info on the Brooklyn General Blog

I have a bunch of FO's and pictures to share with you - unfortunately I left my camera at home but I'll get them up in a few days!

SALE SALE SALE

I'm having an end of year sale at the STORE I'm offfering 20% off all yarn - I need to clear out for more yarn coming in January.

If you order by the 21st I'll be mailing them out right away - after that they will be mailed out on the 27th.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!

Marie

Socks on Blocks

My socks are done! I finished them on Sunday and I think I worked on each sock maybe 4 days of subway knitting each. They flew off the needles.

Here they are on my new fabulous sock blockers given to me by Veronique at the Spider Christmas party this weekend - I'm in love with them and the cute little fat cat carved out of them.



Here is a shot of the naked sock blockers:



I"ll have the pattern up as soon as it's tested - it's for my soon to be released 3 ply sock yarn - Soft Spun Plus.

I have started knitting on a long time WIP which hopefully will be a FO tonight - Pics to come soon of super cool knee highs.

Here are a few bits of eye candy - I woke up really early a few days last week and I caught the sunrise -I love the sunrise it's so peaceful, I had to take pics.





While I was taking pics of the sunrise this is what Gary was doing:

Excuse me ....I felted

Well I tried to anyway - about a month ago I bought some felting supplies at Brooklyn General
to try my hand at felting (yeah like I NEED a new hobby) Well this was my sad little attempt:

some funky swirls and dots - after a little while I realized this hobby isn't for me, but Court picked up the needle and some funky wool I had laying around and look at this:

Front:

Back:

She's a friggin natural! She didn't even look online for tutorials or anything - just went right at it - I'm impressed. The baby dragon isn't finished yet - I can't wait to see it all done.

Speaking of finished - woo hoo the Twisted Tweed socks are done. Well they've been done for a while now hence the fuzzies on the sock from wearing them all over the house.

Project Stats:

Pattern: Twisted Tweed - I did them toe up and only knit the pattern on the leg.

Yarn: Trekking XXL

Started: September 25, 2007

Finished: November 16, 2007

Here we go - my list of WIP's

1. Log Cabin baby blanket - as with all log cabins it just keeps going and going. I love it though and it is the best TV knitting...knit, knit, knit

2. Mitered square baby blanket - a long time ago I bought up a ton of GGH aspen at 2 bucks a ball - I decided it would make the most squishy fun baby blanket. so here I am cranking out squares - again good tv knitting.

3. New sock - My own pattern and my new 3 ply sock yarn. Umm I don't want to toot my own horn but umm...I really love this yarn. I'm knitting this sock up on 3.25 mm needles - I started on Tuesday morning and I'll be done tonight with the first sock. I'll be writing the pattern up while I knit the second sock. Hopefully making the PDF will go as fast - although unlikely!

3. Spinning - yup it's been a LONG while since I've posted any spinning around here. I'm spinning up some BFL/Merino which will stripe pink and rainbow. I'm not sure if I want to keep this as singles or ply it with a little BLING - i miss the bling - it's been a while!

Ok, these silk paintings were not done by me - but the person who did do them doesn't think they are any good - can you please let her know she is crazy! I think they are lovely and she should continue to play with the medium and create, cause not only are they already beautiful but I can see how much more potential she has. The first two were inspired by cave paintings, and the last one by a picture of an art quilt.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Well I have a lot to show you but...it'll have to wait till Monday I'm just too busy with all the cooking and baking to show you the FO's, WIP's and new crafts...

In the meantime, I am having a Thanksgiving sale at the STORE - all yarn is 10% off - I need to make room for new stuff. I've got a brand new 3 ply squishy sock yarn that I'm just dye-ing to show you!

Have a wonderful holiday!

Breaking News...

In an amazing act of solidarity, all 4 cats conspired to take over the entire bed. They demanded tuna in abundance and many kilos of cat nip before they would return the bed to their human caretakers. Fortunately strife within their ranks, in the form of Gina trying to eat Doug's tail, forced them to back down and they settled for control over the other 95% of the apartment.



Now back to your regularly scheduled program - Attack of The 50 ft Ball of Yarn....ahhhhhhhh

Store Update

Just a quick post to let you know that the STORE has been updated - go take a looksie and see if anything strikes your fancy.

Being productive

I've been on a knitting roll. I finished one of the Twisted Tweed Socks and am working away on the 2nd one. The only thing that is slowing my progress is I finally got the log cabin itch. I found out a friend of mine was pregnant and is having a boy so I figured it was the perfect time to knit my first baby blanket.

I started late Monday night and here is the progress so far:


and an artsy side shot:



I'm really enjoying the flow of this blanket. It's not quite a log cabin - maybe I should call it log cabin inspired. I didn't plan out the color repeats or how many rows of each to do, I am just grabbing yarn and knitting till it feels right. So far so good I think.

I've also finished a pair of arm warmers for Court - here she is when I rudely, I mean lovingly, woke her up and said I wanted a shot of the arm warmers. I put them on her, let her hide, and snapped this shot - I LOVE this shot hehee.


These were knit out of baby alpaca I spun up ages ago. No pattern, just a tube with a hole on the side for the thumb and some k2p2 rib on the top and bottom. If you look close you'll see I embroidered (not very neatly) an L for left and an R for right. Although they are knit so as to be interchangeable, were knit with the same yarn, the same amount of stitches and within about an hour of each other, the fit is different for each arm so Court asked that a designation be made for ease of use. I gladly obliged.

I did go to Rhinebeck but amazingly I didn't buy any fiber or yarn - can you believe that? I figure I recently got in an order of 450 lbs of yarn and I should probably lay off the fiber and yarn ordering for a bit :). I did score some Phenomenal Fudge this stuff is heavenly, some chocolate covered pretzels, honey sticks, a candy and caramel apple, and a large bag of kettle corn. By the way - not all of this was for me - just so you know hehee. I met up with some of the Spiders and we had a greasy, but yummy, lunch - I really wanted the artichokes but alas, the line was too long and I was too hungry. Cathy brought with her one of her cube bags that I ADORE. She emailed me and said she knew I would love this fabric and she was oh so right. It's perfect - if you have been reading this here blog for a bit you'll know why...

SWIRLS GALORE!!! I love it - thank you Cathy.

I also ran into Michelle, owner of The Sweet Sheep who came all the way down from Canada wearing her lovely Mr. Green Jeans Sweater. And of course, I couldn't leave without Chilling with Mama-E for a bit. It was a warm day but she was rocking her Fugl sweater - let me tell you it is so pretty. She also brought me a gift - check out this lovely BFL roving -



I can't wait to spin it up. I think Mama-E is going to have a package delivered to her soon :)

I'll leave you with a picture of Gary - my "special" boy. He was percolating before birth WAY too long. As a result he tends to run into walls, isn't the most coordinated, and I think might possible have narcolepsy (he'll walk around, stop and just plop down and sleep anywhere). Oh but I love him and his giant ears.