We have decided to try to sell our house before we find something new…the idea of living in a cheap apartment for a few months doesn’t really scare us, so if it sells before we find a new home, we aren’t too concerned. We are being rather picky about where we will live, so our options are fairly limited. I can’t increase my current five block commute!

For about three weeks now we have been cleaning the house of all clues that humans actually live there. For a knitter, this is a hard task. It involves removing a ton of fibre space totes from every corner of the living room. I have had to hide away bins and baskets of unfinished projects and tuck my yarn stash bins into the back corners of closets. Today the photographer came to shoot photos of the house so that it could be on the market this week. Before he arrived, I took a moment to walk around with my iphone and see what the rooms looked like through a photo lense. Unfortunately, there are still some signs that a knitter lives here.

Under the crochet blanket in this basket is a pile of UFOs

On the backside of our office door is my needle stash..which I refuse to pack away because it will make me shake.

This blue chair in our bedroom shows off a nice Spud and Chloe blanket that my mom made me.

The books on our book shelves are a bit telling...

And so this morning, after leaving behind only the evidence above, I whisked up the dog bowl and all signs of animals and exited the house so that our photographer could get started. Looked down and found this! doh!

Green piece of the Fibre Co Savannah from my latest work in progress...

Nemo’s sweater has been done for quite some time but the weather got really nice and he hasn’t had a chance to wear it. This morning I put it on him and he wouldn’t walk through the park. He did this a lot:

He looks kinda like he needs to go to the bathroom but mostly like he is traumatized and can’t move the entire back half of his body..which is funny because the sweater doesn’t really touch that part of him. I think it is fair to assume that Nemo never had a sweater with his former owners. Phil says that the sweater is probably itchy and that he hates it and shouldn’t have to wear it. Well then why did I knit the darn thing?!

He does look much more regal when sitting….

I am ashamed to say that last weekend was the first time that I got down to the Smithsonian to visit the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef. I was in town with family visiting lots of the touristy places that we never seem to get to unless someone is visiting. Isn’t it odd how that works? The reef is at the end of the Sant Ocean Hall on the main floor of the Smithsonian, just past my favorite – the giant squid. There are about five different reefs! I am so impressed with how many pieces our local community put together. I even saw a few familiar ones from our mini reef window display last summer. (and I did see a lot of your names on that list of contributors!) If you haven’t been over to see it yet, you have until April 24th. And when you do go visit, just hang around a bit and listen to the reactions from other visitors! That was the best part of the visit. I loved hearing how incredibly impressed non stitchers were with the effort made by our community.

I then headed off to the Capitol Building for a visit. Phil’s aunt had set up a tour with their local representative, which was much nicer than being part of the giant groups of tourists in matching sweatshirts. So, of course, I had knitting needles on me. As we walked up to the visitor’s center, right there on the list of banned items, was knitting needles! And not even at the end of the list…nope, it was tucked right between things like mace, knives and explosives, as if knitting needles are a deadly weapon. I decided that surely there must be some infamous case where someone was killed with a knitting needle…I found nothing. If you know of one, do share! At any rate, if you decide to visit the capitol, be sure to leave your needles at home…unless you have circular ones. They don’t actually know what they are and will let you through with no questions

I have this overwhelming desire to knit spring things. I really really wanted to break into the new Louisa Harding Ianthe, since it is so similar to Rowan Wool Cotton (which I have a weakness for). After a great deal of debate, I narrowed it down to these three projects:

Nancy from the Louisa Harding Ianthe Book

Shibuya pattern from Berroco Booklet#308

Hibiki from Berroco Booklet #308

For the first project, I was contemplating a great honeysuckle pink with a couple of different trim options. I was actually going to use the Mulberry Silk as the trim for this one, because the little bit of shine on the edges would be gorgeous. Then I saw the second one. Kel thinks it looks like a pineapple…it just isn’t blocked in this photo. The third one really appealed to my love of pullovers that I can throw on for work and not worry about putting “pieces” together. The problem turned out to be that Hibiki is actually worked in a worsted weight yarn and Ianthe is DK. hmm…so I finally settled on the second one, Shibuya. (I will use Remix for the other one, I think).  I am thinking about this for a spring class. Thoughts? I cast on and have a few inches done. The lace is easy to follow and the yarn is amazing to work with (for cotton, that is).

This morning I decided to call Veronica at 11:08 am (which means 8:08 am where she is in sunny California.) She wasn’t awake yet. I didn’t think this was very fair, since she has a tree full of oranges in her backyard and happy hummingbirds to wake her up every day. Here in Alexandria, we have freezing cold, the sound of cars and trains and miserable grey skies to wake us up.  So to get me back for waking her up, she sent me this photo along with a message: “fine, here you go, here i am with my tiny mandarin.”

It’s the same every January. We all talk about our knitting goals for the new year, and then … do we all promptly forget them?

For example, lots of you talked about finishing your unfinished projects, knitting from your stash (that’s a funny one), trying new projects like socks or sweaters, and building your skills.

I swore to myself (just like last year) that 2011 would be a year of selfish knitting. I swore that I’d try to (just like last year) knit 12 sweaters and 12 pair of socks.

What have I achieved in January? Three almost, not quite, mostly-sweaters, which are in pieces all over the house.

Half a sock, that looks like this:

These are the Bois de Rose socks, by Nicole Masson. I’m knitting them in Sanguine Gryphon Bugga! – the color is called Milkweed Beetle. I don’t know why I haven’t knit more on this sock, because it’s a fun pattern and the yarn is spectacularly awesome, but that’s how it goes sometimes.

And, as usual, the “selfish knitting” goal has totally gone out the window. I can live with that one.

Please tell me someone out there has been more successful! It’s tough for me not being able to see all the cool projects everybody’s been working on day to day, so please share!

What have you finished? What have you learned? Share your successes (or, perhaps, how you didn’t quite make it) and how you’re going to keep strong in February.

I have had some strange jobs so far in my life:  I ran IMAX movies for a Science museum, I was an assistant Organ Tuner (the musical instrument), I worked with a non-profit that helps kids build robots.  I never really dreamed I would work in a yarn store, but it has been an amazing experience nonetheless.

As some of you may know, before I started working at fibre space my husband and I were in the (long and tedious) process of applying for the Peace Corps–a lifelong dream of mine.  On February 23rd we fly to Atlanta to begin our service in the Peace Corps.  We will be flying to Honduras the following day for three months of training and two years of service.  My last day in the store will be February 4th.  I am honored to have met so many of you and seen your incredible talent!  Watching you all become amazing fibre artists has been a very rewarding experience, and I can think of no happier way to have spent the last five months.  I want to thank you all, and all my colleagues for making this a fun and awesome place to work–it isn’t easy to leave.

Thank you Sarah M. For sharing this….I do realize that this could sell me lots of yarn. It means that you all can come in and buy a hank of superchunky yarn and magically transform it into a holiday gift with little to no effort. But it still seems to be upsetting…very upsetting. Also, I wish she wasn’t wearing a nude colored bra. For directions on how to make (or not) this scarf, check out this site.

Photos from Rike Feurstein

Apparently we were given a completely useless organ whose only purpose is to cause huge amounts of pain. With my knitting bag in hand, I headed to the ER in the middle of the night, early Monday morning only to be sent to surgery to remove my appendix. I think that I have fallen apart since Veronica left, first with a horrible cold two weeks ago and now this.
Unfortunately I cant knit while on morphine or with an IV in my arm. Now at home, I hope to get crackin again. Look for Austin Hoodie update soon.
Also be sure to check out the events page for our upcoming BlackFriday sale details!! We won’t be the only ones in town open at 6 am this year. I may have successfully started a city wide movement to compete with the malls!

It has sheep (thus, I declare it relevant to this blog), it has sheep herding, it has dogs, and it has monkeys.

It is just “ick” outside. For a yarn shop, this is handy because I imagine most of you are sitting at work looking out the window really wishing that you were knitting or crocheting right now. I am plotting dinner…for the first time in months, I will actually get to go home at a decent hour on a Thursday. I am usually here for Stitch in Space but since both Veronica and Kel are working this week, I can go home! yay! So in a totally non knitting related post, I now present to you my loose guidelines for chili – the perfect rainy day dinner:

Danielle’s Chili Recipe “guide”

- pound or so of ground beef

- large can of italian tomatoes (be sure to buy the good ones…the quality of the tomato makes all the difference. Good canned tomatoes will be in a thick red sauce instead of water.)

- couple tablespoons of tomato paste – I buy this in a tube now. It is great because I never need a full can of tomato paste and the tube allows me to grab a little and put the rest back in the fridge.

- green pepper

- onion

- mushrooms

-OMGoodness I forgot the beans! i use a can of black beans and can of kidney beans

Brown the meat. Drain off the excess fat and water and add onion and green pepper and mushrooms. Cook until onions are fully cooked. Add in tomatoes & beans, chopping them up as you add them. Add tomato paste as necessary to thicken the sauce. Season with cumin, red pepper flakes, cayenne…whatever you like. I don’t eat a spicy chili so generally I use more cumin and less red pepper.

Allow to cook down for up to an hour on low heat. Serve with shredded cheddar cheese and fresh bread. yum!

Now to cheer up this icky day, I present to you a hilarious google print ad sent to me by my husband, who found it on his nerd site, Gizmodo.

As a knitter, there are things that might seem bizarre to the “oustide world” but are totally OK to the knitting world. For example:

It is perfectly acceptable to paint one’s living room a color to match the Spud and Chloe afghan that your mother made you.

Granny square blanket in Spud and Chloe Sweater

It is perfectly acceptable to take a sweater out of the box to wear for the first time and find a stitch marker still in it.

Callie Bib Tee in Berroco DK

It is perfectly acceptable to want to knit your Italian Greyhound a giraffe sweater so that he looks like the tiny giraffe in those Direct TV commercials.

Must own tiny giraffe!

from a fibre space instructor who shall remain nameless….

Last night I had an incredibly bizarre dream starring you and the staff of Fibre Space.

You came to my house and kidnapped me. Like a real kidnapping…bag over the head, ropes around my feet and hands and drove me to Rock Creek Park. I was fairly certain you were going to kill me.
Instead you said you brought me there “just to hang out and chat and knit.”
After about 24 hours of me being completely sure you were going to murder me, you drove us both to Fibre Space.
The bridal place next door was going to close and you had bought the space. You were going to expand that into a super duper classroom.
Then the place on the other side of you closed down and you wanted me to go negotiate with the people who have their staircase next to the classroom and try to get them to build an escalator from the street into their front window so you could knock down the staircase to make room for a huge stockroom.
There was this creepy lady who was walking around your store measuring everything and Lesley told me you decided Fiber Space wasn’t what you really wanted to be doing-you wanted to open a Vespa dealership and you were selling it to her. You had agreed to stay on during all the renovations to make sure she kept the proper aesthetic.
I tried to help but Veronica made me go sit outside after telling me I’m annoying because she had to handwrite my class list yesterday (which was actually true-the handwriting of the class list) and there were dozens of peacocks wandering around Fayette. Kel told me to capture 1 or 2 for a window display and think about ways to felt them.
I couldn’t get the staircase people to agree to the escalator and you got furious at me and threw the crocheted coral reef at me and told me to leave.

Odd.

Check out this amazing video of Rachel John putting together 1,000 balls and cones of yarn to knit with 1,000 strands.

 ”Really, all you need to become a good knitter are wool, needles, hands, and slightly below-average intelligence.” — Elizabeth Zimmermann, Knitting Without Tears.

photo - Schoolhouse Press

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Elizabeth Zimmermann, (fondly referred to as EZ by many knitters), the original Opinionated Knitter.

Back in the 1950s, when everything was New! and Modern! and The Future! and the tradition of hand knitting being passed down through families had waned, EZ started publishing a newsletter called Wool Gathering.  Typed out by hand, with her own little sketches and hand-written notes, it brought EZ’s personal brand of humor and no-nonsense approach to knitting to a new generation of crafters.

EZ debunked the idea that knitting had to be hard and involve complicated patterns using flat pieces and lots of seams. She popularized the concepts of seamless knitting in the round on circular needles and creating one’s own perfectly fitting garments without patterns based on a few simple calculations. Most importantly, she encouraged knitters to think for themselves, to experiment and “unvent” new techniques, and to knit fearlessly.

EZ herself was so fearless that when knitting publishing companies wanted to change her patterns from knit in the round to the same old knit-flat-with-seams, she simply started her own publishing company, Schoolhouse Press. Now over 50 years later, Schoolhouse Press, now run by EZ’s daughter Meg Swansen, still provides instruction and quality knitting materials to knitters all over the world. EZ’s books, including The Opinionated Knitter, Knitter’s Almanac, and Knitting Without Tears, have become classics that are the staples of many a knitter’s library.

Join us in celebrating EZ’s centennial birthday at Stitch in Space on Thursday, August 12 – we’ll be kicking off our EZ 100th Anniversary Lace Knitalong with pie and plenty of lace yarn! Lace not your thing? Knit up a Baby Surprise Jacket or one of EZ’s other patterns.

And as EZ always said, “Knit on, with confidence and hope, through all crises.”

Everyone knows who taught them how to knit or crochet. With all the vampire lingo going around these days, I supposed we could call that person our “maker.” My maker is my grandmother. Your maker is probably fairly special to you, particularly if this handicraft changed your life in any way. Knitting came into my life at the right time. I needed an outlet for the anxiety of graduate school and deciding what to do with the rest of my life. Would I travel the world and work in international affairs or settle down with Phillip and build a family? Even though I had learned to knit as a young child, the tiny scarf that I started for my cabbage patch doll was never finished, and I don’t remember picking up needles again until graduate school. That year, I traveled to Rockford, IL to visit my grandmother and grandfather. Like most 21 year olds away from friends and the internet, I was bored and stir crazy. I asked my grandmother if she would teach me to knit again. She had made me so many amazing things as a child – doll clothes and sweaters. I still have many of them. I grew up appreciated handmade gifts and the time and effort that went into making them. My gram’s hands were already suffering from arthritis, and she hadn’t used her needles in years. I remember her going into the drawer of a dresser in her spare room and pulling out several cases of vintage metal needles. She gave me a set of US#8 needles and we went off to the big box store to buy some yarn! My second scarf ever was made in Lion Brand Homespun – a yarn specifically not designed for beginner knitters. It was a mess, but I was hooked. I knitted away the entire holiday break with my grandmother keeping a close eye on me and then returned to Pittsburgh to find a local yarn shop. At the time, there was just one: Pittsburgh Knit & Bead (since closed). Shortly after that, I hosted a knitting class at my university for the residents who lived in my dorm (I was a resident director while in graduate school.) I guess this was my first knitting class..I wonder how many still knit.

Needless to say, my grandmother’s single knitting lesson has absolutely changed my life. This craft not only soothed my mind and kept my hands busy, but it slowly became a business and is now my love and my passion. I guess I have my dream job..one that I didn’t even know was my dream job when I went back to Pittsburgh that winter to finish up my graduate degree.

Today I am on a flight back to Illinois to visit my grandmother – perhaps for the last time. She was recently diagnosed with brain cancer, spread from a cancer that she battled and won over ten years ago. She never did get to see the shop. The last time that I saw her was just before we opened last year, at my brother’s funeral. She was completely blown away by the entire “LYS” concept and was really amazed that I could make an entire business and life around a yarn store.  I plan to bring her photos so that she can see what she inspired and how she impacted my life forever just by sharing her craft with me. She is an absolutely amazing person and I am incredibly grateful for her. See you soon Gram!