Friday, March 27, 2015

Rank Your Crafts

Here's my list of fiber crafts:
  • Hand knitting
  • Crochet
  • Spinning
  • Weaving
  • Quilting
  • Fiber preparation - washing, carding, etc.
  • Machine knitting
  • Tatting
  • Dyeing
  • Rug hooking

Applying the 80/20 Rule

The top three on that list take up about 80% of my crafting time and all the remaining combined make up about 20% of my time.

Take a short ranking survey.

Current Flea Market Finds

I found the following little (maybe not so little) item at the local flea market and thought it might be fun to play with.




Thanks to Finn helping set up the loom, you get a sense about how big this thing can be.  Not sure how much use I'll get out of this, but it cost a pittance.

The Never Not Knitting Podcast : Episode 80 : "No Like It"



Episode 80



Shownotes:

























Enter to win a copy of Knit The Alphabet provided by publisher Stitch Craft Create along with this beautiful "Knit Me Somethin" necklace provided by Shirley Campbell by leaving a comment under this post by April 15th. In your comment please tell me how you would like to use the knitted letters from the book. Please also include your contact information. Only one comment per person please!

The winner will be announced here and contacted on April 16th. 

I will be back at the microphone for the beginning of season 9 in July. Thank you for listening!




Drawing now closed! Thank you to everyone who participated! :)
The winner is Karine7 on Ravelry. Congratulations! :)


Products That Should Be Global

Having traveled outside the U.S. a few times, I've come upon certain foods that I think are amazing, but weren't available when I came back to the states.

My Short List

I think we ought to come up with a full list of food items that we should require all countries to make available (or at least my country).

Kraft Extra Creamy Peanut Butter - I've discussed this before, available in Canada, but not the U.S.
Swiss Coffee - If I were Swiss and visited the U.S., I would be sorely disappointed with the coffee here.
Liberté Yogurt - Until recently, I could only find this in Canada
Hellmann's Real Mayonnaise (also goes under Best brand) - Not sure how global this is, but it needs to be
Non-Pasteurized Cheeses - I ate amazing cheeses in France that don't compare with ANYTHING here
Mee Goreng - stir-fry noodle dish (or at least the ingredients for it...especially Kecap Manis
Italian prosciuttos - Not just from Parma...they have AMAZING cured meats that I need

Recently, I was extremely happy to see that Liberté Méditerranée yogurt had made it to my grocery store in Albany.


I highly recommend the full-fat version...it is worth EVERY globule of fat in it.  But people tell me the low/no-fat version is good too.

What would you add to the global list of mandated food products?

Current Knitting

Only got a few more inches of the first sleeve done, and couldn't really get a good self-photo on my iPhone.


Oh well...it's getting there.

Chevron Bobble Stitch

Chevron bobble knitting stitch. knittingunlimited.blogspot.com

Chevron Bobble Stitch is a relatively easy bobble stitch, involving knitting a series of v shapes that create a chevron effect across the knit fabric. It will look especially good on a bag.

Knitting instructions:
Make Bobble: MB
     [K1, P1, K1, P1, K1] in the same stitch, turn
     P5, turn
     K5tog (K5, pass 4th, 3 rd, 2nd and 1st st separately over the last st knitted)
Knit stitch: K
Purl stitch: P
Knit through the back loop: K1b
Knit 5 stitches together: K5tog
Cast on multiple of 12 stitches + 2 (edge stitches).

Pattern instructions:
Rows 1 -3-5-7-9: K1, *k1, p1, rep* to last st, k1
Row2: K1 *k1b, p1, rep* to last st, k1
Row 4: K1, *k1b, MB, (k1b, p1) 5times, rep* to last st, k1
Row 6: K1, *k1b, p1, k1b, MB, (k1b, p1) 3 times, k1b, MB, rep * to last st, k1
Row 8: K1, *(k1b, p1) tiwce, k1b, MB, k1b, p1, k1b, MB, k1b, p1, rep* to lat st, k1
Row 10: K1, *(k1b, p1) 3 times, k1b, MB, (k1b, p1) twice, rep * to last st, k1
Repeat rows 1-10 until you have reached your desired length.

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Insanity...

...has been defined as doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result.


Enough! You Lost Twice Now...Big Time
Why is it that when the Republican whiney-babies lose the majority of seats in congress and the White house, they think getting whinier will help?

Why is it that when the name-calling bullies try to force their will on the American public, and lose big time, they think that getting nastier and more obstinate will help.

Time to stop pandering to the lead-paint-eating rabid teabaggers, with whom Republicans have painted themselves into a corner. Now it's scary for Republicans to have any sense at all...look at how hard McCain is fighting to keep his senate seat against the rabidly insane JD Hayworth (the man likens homosexuality to bestiality and thinks McCain is a wimp for being against torture). The Republicans have ramped up the hate speech to such a fevered pitch, that only the most insane crazies seem to get any play in primary elections throughout the country on the Republican side.

You'd think they'd realize it's time to try something different, no?

Current Knitting
I've made some additional progress on my version of the Zaire pullover, although not that much, even though I've been on vacation all this week.


A piece of cut glass in a box of old junk at the flea market sliced a huge gash in Thaddeus' finger this past Wednesday requiring him to get 9 stitches at the emergency room (he had fortunately just had his Tetanus shot the prior week). Unfortunately, I didn't have my knitting with me for this 2.5 hour ordeal, or I might have made a bit more progress.

As of now, I've completed 1.5 rows of squares out of the 4 required to get to the top of the body.

Readers' Comments/Questions
Regarding Monica's cool note cards, Tom writes, "What a great idea for a line of cards! Just wondering if that is Nico sitting on the back of your chair. Perhaps she could no a line of Nico cards?"

Actually, I think that was Gage in the picture, and I'm not quite sure that there are enough Nico fans on the planet to support Monica's notecard business, but I sure would buy a pack or two!

Speaking of Monica, she writes, "I love the earthy colors you've chosen for the Zaire - that green just says, wrap-me-around-you! Very fine gauge, isn't it?"

Yes...it's done all in garter stitch using jumper-weight (fingering) yarn on US3 (3.25 mm) needles. It's quite a bit of knitting!

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

First Ever QueerJoe Video Blog

Today, I've prepared a completely off-the-cuff video blog. While it's a bit more work than writing one, I thought QueerJoe followers who have never met me in person could get a better sense about who I am.



Blog Links

Lara's Podcsast - http://www.journalgazette.net/section/BLOGS26

Tosh Sock Yarn - http://madelinetosh.com/yarns-tosh-sock.html

Asherton Scarf Pattern on Ravelry - http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/asherton-reversible-scarf

Photo of Lunch -


Wedding and Something Old

This past weekend was spent with family in Texas, celebrating the wedding of my first niece to get married.  I also found something old (I'm sure I could have come up with something new, borrowed and blue, but I'm not going to).

Stacy and Mike
Honestly, as a gay man who can't legally get married in the state where I live (which wouldn't be recognized federally anyway), I am not usually a big fan of weddings.  I also usually find them to be a complete waste of money.

My niece Stacy's wedding to her now-husband Mike was a delightful change from all that.

Her mom organized an exceptionally beautiful, non-formal wedding that allowed everyone to enjoy themselves.

Here's Stacy looking fabulous.



And here's the happy couple.



Current Knitting
Well, hardly any...I know...pathetic.

But I did find this cool old vintage pair of sock forms at our local flea market.



I like that they're adjustable for foot length.






They're made by a company called Lee & Rowan.  I can't wait to display my next pair of hand-knit socks on these!