The Mystery Project

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Originally uploaded by Beaker's Stained Glassworks

Well, I got my ball of yarn rolled up. That was a huge pain. I'm sure there are tricks that people will be able to tell me to help with that in the future.
I remember my grandfather sitting there holding the skein between his two hands and my grandmother rolling it off. Unfortunately, my grandfather was not available to help today so I had some problems with the skein. But at the end of it all, my ball is rolled, there are no knots or breaks in the skein and I didn't rip out too much of my hair doing it.

So tomorrow night I get to find out what we're making. I've got my cabling and 4mm needles all ready. I've never made anything with a cable on it so this will be a learning experience for me for sure!

So getting back to the winding of the ball. I was doing some research last night and discovered a tool called an Umbrella Swift. If I were going to be using yarn in the skein form a lot, I would look into buying or making one of these. It's used to hold the skein while you roll it off into a ball. Oh yeah, I'd probably invest in a ball winder too but for now, by hand will be fine.

For an interesting article on Umbrella Swifts:
http://www.knittersreview.com/article_tool.asp?article=/review/profile/020808_a.asp20808_a.asp

I'm about 3/4 of the way through the first Marathon Sock and it's looking great! I'm really loving the way the stripes are working out.

Well, I best be off. I think we're gonna lose our power soon. There's a thunderstorm rolling in. The satellite dish just went out and I keep seeing the sky light up with lightning.

Later

Beaker's Glass Box holding Beaker's Beads Stitch Markers

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Originally uploaded by Beaker's Stained Glassworks

This is the first prototype display box created for the knitting stitch markers. I only had a small piece of mirror in stock and needed to make the box quickly.

This box is located at Woollys Yarns, Shelburne, Ontario.

www.woollysyarns.ca

Marathon Sock Yarn - Maui

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Originally uploaded by Beaker's Stained Glassworks

K. I'm just checking out how to create a blog entry from Flickr.

This is the sock I started during last Wednesday afternoon's knitting group.

I'm using the 4-ply self-striping Jacquard sock yarn and 2.25 mm DPNs.

I'm just having fun with software here...tee hee. I know, NERD ALERT.

Knitting Group 27-Mar-08

Tonight's group was great. Sharon was working on her knit doll making the other shoe for it. I'll try to remember to take my camera for next weeks group and get some pictures of it. It's quite amazing. The entire doll is knit and assembled. Then she made a bunch of clothes for it. She's still working on the wig, etc. She's making it for her daughter.

Max was working on yet another square for her poncho. She may own the store and own the farm that has the mohair goats but (oddly enough) she didn't know how to knit. So the Lianne and Leeann (seriously, that's the two women that work there!) are teaching her to knit starting with a project that uses a bunch of squares made on large needles.

I continued with my Marathon - Maui sock. I'm a couple inches into the stocking stitch of the first sock using 2.25mm DPNs. I really like the way this wool works up. 1/2 inch Jacquard stripe and then a 1/2 inch blue stripe.

I was sorry that Zehava had a bad headache and couldn't make it to group tonight. She's a laugh and it really wasn't the same without her.

A bunch of new wools came in. I picked up a ball of Noro Kureyon Sock Yarn and a skein of Auldcroft Angoras lace weight 60% Mohair, 40% wool, which will be used in next Tuesday night "Fingers and Toes" class that I've joined too. It's a mystery project. All we know is that we need 4mm needles, a cable needle and a skein of this Auldcroft Wool. The colour I selected is called Cupid's Dart, a combination of pinks and cream. It's hand painted and still needs to be made into a ball (thus the reason I bought it today, not next Tuesday.) The Fingers and Toes class is a year long thing. The first Tuesday of every month. I just joined tonight so I missed the first two things they made.

Okay, I just mentioned earlier in this blog post that Maxine has mohair goats, well Auldcroft Angoras is her own brand of wool. The mohair is sheared from her goats and then sent to a mill near Elora where its spun and blended with wool. So this wool is VERY local. Actually for Wednesday afternoon class both Maxine and Lianne were away shearing the goats.

There is an ongoing used book/magazing/patterns sale going on a the store. The proceeds from this ongoing sale are going to another member of the group, Paula. Paula is raising money so that she may be permitted to attend a walk-a-thon for cancer. It's an agressive event, 60km walk in 2 days! Also required is a minimum of $2000 worth of pledges. I think she's well over $500 so far and the event is in September. There's also a Knit for the Cure event at the store. May 3rd, from 10:00am to 4:00pm. Sit around and knit for 6 uninterrupted hours, they serve a light lunch, snacks and drinks!! I am sooooo looking forward to this event. I really hope the weather is nice and we can sit outside the store in our lawnchairs. Meg is coming from London and I hope that I can get Diana to come from Mississauga for the event.

I've been selling Knitting Stitch Markers at the store on consignment. I left them 7 sets of 5 for up to 5mm needles and they have only 2 left. Then we thought that maybe loose might be better so I made a glass box with dividers in it that divides the box into 6 compartments and made 130 smaller stitch markers. I'll take a picture of the box the next time I go into the store. I just made it today kinda last minute. It turned out pretty well but I just used normal window pane glass so it's not schmancy or anything. They've asked for more of the sets in the packages and for larger loose ones. I figure Rev B of the display box should have smaller compartments but more of them. I was limited to the piece of mirror glass I had for the bottom of the box today.

I should create a seperate blog entry for glass stuff! I have a bunch of orders that I need to get on top of! But, I'll leave that for now. I guess I should stop drinking coffee in the evenings...I am totally wide awake still and it's 1:43am! I'll be a zombie tomorrow if I don't get some sleep soon.

Maybe I'll just knit for a few minutes.....



Please feel free to make comments, etc. I'm new to Blogger so please be gentle :-)

My first Blogger post.

Well, just what I needed...another page to maintain!

I don't have time to submit a proper blog entry right now. Have to finish a glass box for the wool store for tonight.

Will blog soon!