stash karma
November 8, 2010
so i drew a winner for my contest on friday,
and i know you’ll join me in congratulating miss. jen
who has selected this lovely skein of socks that rock.
mo approves.
to those of you who didn’t win, thanks for playing.
i hope you’ll still keep me on your blogrolls.
if there was a particular skein that you were hoping for,
drop me a line. we’ll work something out.
however,
stash just doesn’t seem to want to leave!
in fact, as one skein of blue moon leaves my house,
three more have arrived.
does this yarn look familiar?
it should.
it’s luscious silk in the “manly yes, but i like it too” colorway.
a few months ago, i knit a shawl out of this very yarn
for the lovely tina newton
so why the hell do i have three more skeins of it?
here’s the scoop:
even though we’re both pretty busy,
(tina obviously more than i)
every now and then,
she drops me a line.
or i drop her a line.
sometimes,
i drop her a stack of post-it notes.
in our most recent exchange,
it turns out that she lost the shawl.
she was sick about it, and wasn’t sure if she should tell me.
being a knitter, i immediately offered to reknit it.
i mean, she loved it so much. how could i let her feel bad?
i said my finger was poised above “purchase” button on the BMFA website, and i was ready to dig up the pattern.
she wouldn’t hear of it.
she insisted she give me the yarn.
of course her generosity floweth over
since there is no way i’ll need three skeins.
apparently, the only real way to get rid of stash is to knit it.
any idea what i should do with the third one?
the story doesn’t end there though.
after i got the yarn tina wrote:
“I traced my steps that day over and over and realized that it probably dropped off my shoulders when I headed this toddler off at the pass because her mum was too far behind and not gaining the speed her little girl was.
So I went back to the grocery store that this had happened at a couple of days ago and was about to ask after it when I saw that one of the cashiers had it on.
She was showing it to a customer and was obviously in love and well I couldn’t, I just couldn’t.
I thought you’d understand.
You do right?”
can you believe that?
tina is a bigger knitter than i!
i would’ve snatched that shawl off that cashier
faster than a pissed off queen snatching a wig off.
still,
my answer was obvious.
of course i understand!
tina let the cashier keep the shawl
for the same reason i immediately offered to reknit it.
we knit, at least in part, because we love when people love hand knits.
clearly, the knitting gods work in mysterious ways
and that cashier was meant to have shawl number one.
this time around i’m making sure to say all the right prayers,
lighting extra incense, candles, and such
to make sure this one stays on the intended shoulders.
maybe i’ll send a shawl pin to be safe.
oh yeah,
she also hired me to be a test knitter.
can you say, “yarn support”?
can you say, “paid to knit”?!
i’m a lucky lucky man.
stephen houghton of hizKNITS may be the first man on the (blue) moon,
but there were 17 apollo missions, bitches!
an open letter to my knitting
November 3, 2010
dear knitting,
i know i haven’t spent as much time with you today as i said i would.
but you have to admit i’ve stayed pretty true to you over the years.
i appreciate your tolerance,
and that you recognize that monogamy isn’t my style.
my fooling around with that shiny new spinning wheel at work,
that’s for you. . . for us!
i love you, but today,
you may think i crossed a line.
today, on this beautiful november afternoon,
i took my first steps toward quilting.
my friend lee practically begged me to try it.
and before i knew what was happening,
she was showing me the basics.
yes the fact that i was sitting on a curb
with sewer fumes periodically wafting up
makes it look like i wanted to quilt like a crackhead wants. . . well. . . crack.
and yes,
lee gave me this awesome quilting kit to get me started,
but it’s not what it looks like.
sure i’m sentimental.
i love making things with my hands,
things that are connected to tradition,
things that stand the test of time because i put the effort in.
but honestly,
i’m only doing this so that someday
i can replace the threadbare quilt my grandma made.
one quilt. just one.
two, two at the most!
it’s a temporary thing.
what we have? my love for you?
that’s forever.
i hope you understand.
love,
steven
ps (to the readers). what? like you don’t talk to your knitting. sheesh.
go enter my contest already
(this post unconsciously inspired by the yarn harlot *sigh*)
samhain
October 30, 2010
happy halloween bitches!
big luck
September 21, 2010
my life seems to happen in bursts,
as if i’m riding the back of the fabled hare.
waves of luck come at me and
all of a sudden
bam!
tsunami.
this week, i was given (what i consider to be)
a great honor; i was asked to test knit for stephen west.
i admit i squeed.
then i used my lovely monday off to knock out the first project.
(which i can’t really show you but it is very cute).
late into the night,
after binding off,
my mom calls veronica.
this is obviously very odd
what with her being my mom and not veronica’s.
during my happy day off,
one where i didn’t care where my phone was,
my grandma had a heart attack.
she was doing better but at eighty-eight,
you don’t bounce back easily.
the doctors were completely surprised by how well she pulled through,
and the next 24 hours would determine whether she lived or died.
my mom assured me that there was nothing i could do,
that i should just stay home,
go to work,
and she’d call if i was needed.
i popped a little more xanax than i should,
so when my pillow hit my head,
my eyes might close.
(i did somehow manage to do a single crochet edge to finish “stephen west test knit #1” while out of my mind on xanax. but weaving in my end took me a solid 30 mins).
taking more than the recommended dosage of xanax meant that i was out of it this morning, and didn’t hear my phone frantically ringing. it was my lovely coworkers wondering why in the hell i wasn’t at work nearly and hour after we opened. (i do also blame google calendar for not updating my ical correctly. it says i was to come in at 3 but i digress).
they then sent my good friend/loyal customer/neighbor lisa b over to make sure i wasn’t dead. (HUMILIATING from a work ethic standpoint)
i wasn’t.
i was in the shower.
dripping wet in my comfy robe,
veronica tells me about all these shenanigans.
i find my pants,
then my keys,
and operate heavy machinery while shaking of a prescription drug haze.
my coworkers forgave me.
i went about my business.
then!
the yarn harlot and tina announced another silk retreat.
“what the fuck?!” i said!
“it’s only money. i’m signing up again!”
so i sent my little email,
praying that somehow,
i’d get in.
i go home,
do my thing,
knit on stephen west test knit #2
and the phone rings.
basically,
my grandma is on her way out.
she’s having a lucid moment and my mom thought i should take the opportunity to say goodbye.
though she can barely catch her breath to speak,
my grandma knew who i was,
understood what i was saying,
and said she loves me too.
i hung up,
and did what any other sane person would do:
i stuffed my face till i felt better.
i don’t.
she could go at any moment,
today,
tomorrow,
a week.
all i know is this is the end,
and i need to be ready.
now as i’m checking flights,
combining my savings and tiny bit of rhinebeck money to cover the cost of a ticket home, my computer makes that friendly little “bong” noise, letting me know i have mail.
i fucking got into the silk retreat again,
but now i can’t afford it.
i’ve sent my regrets to the yarn harlot herself,
feeling like an ass for wasting her time.
now i’m blogging.
because jesus fuck i need to remember this day.
it’s yet another life lesson from bitches get stitches:
pray for an uneventful life.
’cause god knows i’d give anything for one right now.
edit: my grandma past away right after i posted this.
she was surrounded by family
and went peacefully.
MKED
1922-2010
i miss you grandma.
a northern summer night
September 16, 2010
today was bad.
i woke up very very late
to the sound of roofers and their nail guns.
later on, i had rage. much rage.
thanks to the power of email.
i muddled through somehow,
came home to my very clean house
and veronica let me know that mo peed in her room.
perfect.
so rather than dwell on the bad day,
let’s talk about a good one.
picture it,
monday:
six and two people were coming over
to block my northern summer shawl.
while i am technically able to do it myself,
i’d never blocked a triangular shawl that curves.
any shawl that is worked top down with six increases
(rather than four) every two rows will curve thusly.
so i thought,
why not make a night of it?
but if you’re going to convince people to get on their knees
you need to pay them somehow.
for pinning wet wool,
a feast is best.
menu:
-soul twin salad.
-panko breaded chicken cutlets,
fried in bacon grease,
served with mushroom gravy
-the famous mac & cheese.
-peanut tofu and broccoli,
served with white rice
-roasted asparagus
-chocolate tart with almond whip cream
(provided by the lovely veronica).
the characters:
nancy
yvonne
david
lee
(anna was in charge of the camera
so there’s no picture of her)
and then there was me,
whose sole contribution to the pinning process
was hovering occasionally over my friends
then dashing back to check on the chicken.
they pinned,
we feasted.
and watched steel magnolias with dessert.
it was lovely.
i didn’t even mind the mess.
it was so
worth it.
so remember bitches
don’t block,
cook!
*note – i had no one else to model for me
and while noon is the worst time to do a photo shoot
i love how this photo came out.
never go to whole foods angry
August 18, 2010
because if you do,
you will end up with a full bag that in no way adds up to a meal.
all the worker bees who look like 70’s gay porn stars,
riot grrl wannabes, or ysolda teague on meth,
will make you feel bad about yourself.
you will return to the produce section at least two times,
only to emerge with a sad shallot from some mexican hothouse.
you will leave with at least three fall fashion magazines
filled with beautiful things you’ll never fit into much less afford,
and you will feel bad about yourself.
you will try to walk away from the grumpy cashier
without paying for your groceries,
and then say something dumb like,
“it’s just been one of those days!”
and feel worse about yourself.
when you finally get home, crack your last red stripe, and prepare to treat yourself to that cup of shrimp bisque you just couldn’t pass up,
you will notice that you grabbed the whole wheat baguette.
you detest whole wheat baguettes.
the only recourse is to drink that beer real fast,
hug on your french bulldog,
and remember;
never go to whole foods angry.
in knitting news,
the northern summer shawl continues.
the designer, jo kelly, has been furiously charting the pattern.
and apparently triple checking all the stitch counts.
she was good enough to email me the changes
without me even asking.
that is a designer!
i also have a f.o.
my second juneberry triangle.
it’s been done for a while,
but there were blocking issues.
(humidity’s a bitch, no?)
i’ve sent it off to its recipient, but i won’t say who.
they may read the blog, and i want this to be a surprise.
any guesses?
i’m also hoping for another another installment of project ten by the end of the month. fingers crossed that the mitten lady will write back soon.
side of swatch
August 16, 2010
this month,
i’m working a bit more than usual.
if i’m honest, it’s a lot more than usual.
in addition, i haven’t been sleeping very well.
the combination finally hit me last night; i felt unbelievably tired and ill.
i crashed.
hard.
and slept for roughly 13 hours.
the upside to this?
i woke up super early,
have time to eat my fave breakfast in town,
and write a little post to you all.
first order of business,
on the northern summer shawl front,
the downside to being one of the first people to knit something?
you’re gonna end up being a second round test knitter.
there’s been some serious stress over stitch counts,
and i’ve sent two e-mails now about errata.
the designer has been very kind,
assures me she’s working on it.
i still want to cry a bit.
in a good way.
i swear.
i say,
if you want to knit this too,
(and you should. it’s gorgeous.),
wait a couple weeks till it’s been debugged
and charted.
dear god give me a chart!
my breakfast has literally just arrived,
so the second and last order of business shall be this sneak peak:
my rhinebeck swatch.
isn’t it gorgeous?! i’ve fallen pretty hard for it.
which pretty much ensures it’s gonna break my heart, right?
sur la table
August 13, 2010
even though i’ve decided to take this year
to live a life of fiber frivolity,
my real life,
“the plan”
looms like an ever present miasma.
so veronica and i got a new table/work station for our nook.
as you can see,
my priorities are still skewed.
but that laptop right there is all business.
i promise.
kelli (of the infamous stóra dímun),
has requested another shawl of me.
per usual, she offered to pay for the yarn.
and anyone who wants to keep me in tosh sock, i’m knitting for.
she wanted a haruni,
but everyone and there mother is making one.
if fact, i think kelli is knitting one for her mother right now.
i said i’d make a shawl, but i wanted one a little more challenging,
and a little less commonplace.
i chose the norther summer shawl by jo kelly.
it alternates stockinette with knitted lace (patterning on both sides)
i’m in love.
it just came out this month and, so far,
there’s only the designer’s finished project on ravelry.
can’t get much newer than that.
i’m racing through it now,
hoping to be the first person to post one to ravelry.
i’ll let you know how it goes!
and now for the moment you’ve all been waiting for,
the winner of the shaelyn shawl.
let me just say,
this was the hardest contest ever.
i never expected a blog contest to get me all misty.
there are so many deserving people.
how could i choose?
the answer is a couldn’t
so in honor of friday the 13th,
i took the top thirteen comments,
and drew cards, one for each card in a suit.
congratulation to sheri and her friend pat.
yours was the queen of diamonds.
to everyone else,
i hope that, at the very least,
the contest made you think about the people in your life.
even if you don’t knit for them, i think you’d agree,
we need to take care of the people around us.
and we could all use a little extra love thrown our way.
speaking of which,
veronica would like to thank all the people for their compliments on the photo shoot and for voting for her to win the shawl.
i however must ask you stop.
i fear she might start charging me.
seriously guys,
tone it down.
on the road
August 11, 2010
i’ve taken a little day trip.
and i’m writing to you from michigan.
i love coming home,
especially since it’s a rare thing lately.
last night i remembered how clear the night sky can be,
and saw a shooting star before the fog rolled in.
i slept in my childhood bed, listening to nothing but the sound of mo breathing and occasional breeze.
thank god i’m a country boy.
my mom and i are now heading west
to the city of my alma mater
and favorite yarn store.
because really,
the only thing more important than family
is getting the yarn for my rhinebeck sweater.
i’ll have more on that later but right now,
i want to talk more about where i’m writing from.
folks,
i’m writing from the future!
let me explain.
we’re literally driving to east lansing right now.
my mother recently purchased a new car, and let me tell you,
it’s a robot.
as i type this,
she’s talking to my father
whose voice is coming through the speakers,
my computer is plugged into an outlet in the back,
and with the aid of a little internet stick from verizon,
i’m surfing the web faster than i ever could at home.
i don’t think i have ever been happier than i am right now;
someone else driving me around
with the internet.
i think i may have found enlightenment.
expect details on this trip tomorrow but right now,
let me say one quick thing about the contest:
i thought having you help me would make this easier.
it hasn’t.
i never expected so many sad stories in the comments,
and i have no idea how i’m going to choose.
but by friday, there’ll be a winner.
i’ll figure something out.
until then,
keep the comments coming.
why make things easier now?
bon anniversaire!
August 9, 2010
well folks, today is the one year anniversary of bitches get stitches!
i started it a year ago for some reason i suppose,
but i’m finding it hard to remember why.
if i go back to that first post, i wrote,
“here I am world, Steven A.
why am I here? besides the fact that all the cool kids are doing it? I needed a place to talk shop.
knitting that is.”
simple enough.
it’s harder to articulate why i keep going exactly.
i guess, on the most basic level,
i write because there are people who read;
there are people out there who actually care what i think,
(at least when it comes to stitch manipulation)
and like the part of me i’m putting out for the world to see.
it’s great to feel like i’m actually a part of the conversation,
and not just some crazy person talking about yarn.
there’s also the fact that,
no matter what,
this is my space.
a place where i can be sassy and irreverent as i want.
i get to go there,
be the mayor of there,
and no one gets to tell me to shut the fuck up.
or at least if they do,
i don’t have to listen to them.
in any case this year has been great,
and i can’t wait to see what happens next.
of course, i couldn’t have an anniversary post without a f.o.
so i busted my buns,
tracked down more beads,
and finished my shaelyn shawl.
(veronica was kind enough to model for me)
(you really should check out the rest of the photo shoot. it’s gorgeous!)
i used madelinetosh pashmina in the “copper penney” colorway leftover from the juneberry i knit for stephanie. i added size 6 miyuki beads, color 135 (root beer). 648 freakin’ beads.
i knit this with no one specifically in mind;
i just wanted to use up some beautiful yarn,
and try my hand at some beaded knitting.
really,
it would have made a great gift for so many people in my circle of friends,
but it really didn’t seem to fit anyone.
so i guess it’s that time again,
time foooooooor. . .
the third bitches get stitches giveaway!!
the rules:
this one’s going to be a little different guys.
i want this shawl to embody the essence of giving.
so,
just leave a comment to enter,
but not for yourself.
instead explain who you think i should send it to and why.
it can be for your sister’s birthday,
or your coworker just because she’s fabulous.
maybe you think i should send it to meg swansen,
just for shits and giggles.
in any case,
the best person/reason wins.
the decision is completely arbitrary;
it’ll just be whichever comment i like best.
so help me out people,
and make some one else’s day!
thanks for a great first year bitches!
Bitches Get Stitches 