The Yarnarian has an announcement!

Summertime Sock Club

Ta da! Look what's coming:

YarnYenta and I are so happy to present the Summertime 2010 Sock Club!

Theme: Summer, naturally.

2 months: July and August. probably mid-month

Yarn: both are “luxury” yarns, and they are gorgeous! Karen mcn (superwash merino/cashmere/nylon) and Gina (superwash merino/silk)

Patterns: by the inimitable YarnYenta, of course! Yarn by PennyRose Yarns (aka, The Yarnarian)

Shipping: First Class Priority - US, Canada, across the Pond and anywhere else

Cost: $66.00 for US and Canada.
$70.00 for overseas - costs more to ship.

Where to buy: available right now on Etsy: http://fritzl.etsy.com

Or message ruth on Ravelry with your Paypal account number, and I'll invoice you.

Questions: Ask here or on Ravelry.

Is that not exciting? A little bit of luxury for the summer.

Oh, and the picture is Nantucket Sound via my camera. I miss Cape Cod a lot, and want to go back right away. sigh.

Homage to Hundertwasser

Here are the yarns that I told you about yesterday. One of them didn't make the cut (Hommage a Van Gogh) because the skein was such a mess that I wound it up in a ball and then decided to keep it for me. tee hee.

Memory of a Painting:





The Blob Grows in the Flower Pot:




Downtownlane:




Imagine Tomorrow's World:




Green Town:




Eventually they will all land in my Etsy shop. In the meantime, if there is one you want, you can email me directly:

fritzL234@yahoo.com

Downtownlane is grabbed.

The Yarnarian asks: Do you know what is coming tomorrow?

Can you guess? Ahem. Penny sock yarn dyed with inspiration from Hundertwasser. I had such a grand time doing these. They're bright and pretty and such fun. I'll give you some links to check while you're waiting for the yarn pics.

Green Town
Imagine Tomorrow's World
Downtownlane
Hommage a Van Gogh
The Blob Grows in the Flower Pot
Memory of a Painting

That should keep you busy.

The Yarnarian is Still Hooked!

Crazed Hooker Hooks Again!

This crazy crochet moment seems to be lasting a lot longer than a moment. It's consuming my little brain, and not much knitting is getting done.

Look what I picked up on Saturday at Kinokuniya (wonderful Japanese bookstore):




These all have the stitches charted out, no written instruction, which is just as well since I don't read Japanese. I'm learning how to read these, and it's really easier than full written instructions. I can do back and forth now, and next is figuring out how to do motifs.

Here's a book with both knitting and crochet patterns. It's gorgeous.



Crochet projects: These are my current madness. Yep, I have 2 lap blankies in process, but I'm just showing you the scarves.




And one lone shawl (not counting the lace one in progress):



I have no plans on writing this up as I'm inventing as I knit, and for once I really just want to knit it, not keep track of what I'm doing.

Ria - I went to the one in Nyack. sometimes I go into the city, but not this time.

Vaughnde - You are so right! Crochet is wonderful. It is, however, much harder on my body and my eyes. Different muscles, plus I can knit without looking at what I'm doing unless it's cables or such. Crochet I have to constantly look. But still, those incredible fabrics that you can do in crochet!!!

itsJUSTme - You are so right. I get lost in all the directions in written-out patterns, knit as well as crochet.

The Yarnarian reveals her mystery project!

Reflection Shawl

Ta da! A few months ago, Sheri from The Loopy Ewe asked me if I were interested in designing a non-sock pattern for the May shipment of TLE's sock club. How could I possibly resist? I was jumping up and down with excitement, and had to keep it a secret, and it just about killed me to do so.

So, with much help from both the editor and test knitter, I did the pattern, sent it off along with the shawl, and then went on to other things. In time, I got back the shawl plus the spiffy pattern with great photography (not my usual less-than-professional work). Somehow I managed to forget that it was the May shipment.

The other day, I was cruising on Ravelry in my project updates when, voila!, there was my pattern. And it is now sent out to the members and I can actually show you my pictures. The pattern is only for TLE sock club members. At some time in the future, Sheri may release it for sale on The Loopy Ewe, but right now it's an exclusive. So I don't own it, but I can show you pics.

And here she is: Reflection (because the pattern reflects itself, and because of the colorway)





itsJUSTme - It's a bit of math and then it's pencil and graph paper and knitting, and erasing, and frogging, and repeating. Sometimes, what looks good as a swatch is a colossal pain in the butt to chart, and then I have to scrap that idea. Or I get this brilliant idea in my head and it turns out to be beyond awful. It's fun though, and I like doing it.

Isn't this exciting? Thanks for all your comments. I do appreciate them!

The Yarnarian likes Hundertwasser!

Hundertwasserhaus in Vienna

I'm thinking of dyeing this week's yarn with the inspiration of Hundertwasser's paintings. We are talking bright and cheery. When my kids were in Vienna, they paid a visit to Hundertwasserhaus, and were enchanted by its general weirdness. There's a certain Gaudi-ness to his apartment house. And who can resist Gaudi? Not me.

Now that I've finally figured out the "buy now" button on Ravelry, I am going to post some of my patterns here and there. Today's pattern is a natural for this time of year: Leafy Green Socks. I did these about 1 1/2 years ago, and gifted them to a daughter. I loved them, and really ought to make a pair for me.

Heigh ho, heigh ho, it's off to the gym I go. I ate too much, and now I must work out, work out, work out, work out.

Fan Dance Shawl Pattern

Fan Dance Shawl

Ah ha! The button works. That means that I can plop patterns here now and then and they can be ordered directly. Whadda woman! Ahem. What a Ravelry idea!

And my dyer buddy bought it. And Meg! Yippee! This is so cool. Thanks, Lindsey and Meg!

itsJUSTme - It's one of my favorites. Too bad I didn't dye up another skein of that colorway. Couldn't repeat it if I tried.

FYI

Remember yesterday's post where I kvetched nonstop about doing my bills? I actually did them. Had 8 checks to write. With all my moaning and groaning you would have thought that I had 100 checks. Hah. I swear I'm going to write them as bills come in so that I don't have this meltdown every month. Ya think? Probably no. I'm so adolescent.

The mockingbird is asleep, I hope.

Knitting news: I started a shawl for me and realized that charting up the edges was going to drive me nuts, so this one is not going to be made into a pattern. Unless....Nah. I have plenty of patterns.

This morning's tea is Boston tea by Harney & Sons. One of my favorites.

And that's all the news that's fit to print. Have a good weekend. It's sunny and lovely here in metro NJ, and just the way I like it.

The Yarnarian is mocked!

It's 3:23 AM and I'm up. There's a mockingbird outside our window and it's going through it's entire repertoire. Somebody needs to tell it that it should take a nap. Fascinating songs, but it's pitch dark out and it's sleepy-bye time. Silly bird.

"The Northern Mockingbird, in addition to being a good mimic, is also one of the loudest and most constantly vocal of birds. It often sings through the night, especially unmated males, or when the moon is full. It sings year-round except sometimes for the late-summer molting season. Individual males have repertoires of 50 to 200 songs; females sing as well, but more quietly and less often than males. Mockingbirds usually sing the loudest in the twilight of the early morning when the sun is on the horizon." Wikipedia

Caryn - Yep, a woodpecker would be worse. Can you imagine the 2 of them in cahoots? Scary thought!

The Yarnarian is Hooked!

By crochet. I'm in love with it. It's my sister's fault, of course. She's a wonderful crocheter, and so it's her fault.

As you may have noticed, I'm into these hooky scarves. I like the ease and speed of them, and I think they have an impressionist quality when done in variegated yarns. And sock wt yarn done on a D hook makes light weight drapey little pieces. So what could be better? Plus, they are so portable.

So here's my latest, which is almost done.




The Hubbo and DD are not admiring it much. I suspect that they think it's way too busy with those colors, but I like it. I see it draped around my neck and the colors appearing here and there just like an impressionist moment. OK, I just like it.

Tea notes: Today's tea is Tiger Hill Nilgiri FOP. Yummy. I don't remember where I bought it, I think it was in a tea shop in Tarrytown, NY, but am not sure. Anyhow, it's tasty and delicious.

The Schmutzmeister (aka DH) found this neat tea cup - infuser set. It came with a container of tea, and it cost him about a half buck. Yay, garage sales and DH!





You plop your loose tea into the infuser, put it into the cup, pour in your water, cover, and voila! in 5 minutes you have a tasty cuppa. I have a bunch of regular infusers, but this one is the infuser of the moment. The mesh is thin enough for me to use it for rooibos tea, which makes it even better. And the infuser fits into all my mugs but one.

Now and then I actually use a tea pot, but I usually make one cup at a time, so it's just easier this way.

Disgusting, miserable moment: I have to do my bills today. I hate doing bills, really hate it. It's not that I don't have the money; I do, I just find it beyond boring, and I hate boredom. I suppose there's a syndrome in the psych books for this, but I don't care. I just hate writing out checks. Go forth, Yarnarian, and be mature. Blah.

It's almost Cape Cod time! I'm counting the minutes! Whoo hoo. OK, immature 66 year old woman is going to do her bills with much muttering and kvetching and grumping and general infantile behavior. Maturity is a phase; adolescence is forever! sigh.

itsJUSTme - I'll post when I get back home. I try to keep computing time to a minimum when on vacation. I need to get away from work.

Scrabblequeen - I'll do almost anything to avoid paying bills, even bopping around from topic to topic. giggle

Deborah - It works up very nicely. I'm thinking of even trying a size E, which would work well with heavier sock yarns.

The Yarnarian gets inspired, yet again.

Paul Helleu Sketching with His Wife

This time by paintings by Sargent, he of the magnificent colors! When I look at a painting, I first see the composition and subject, and then I look at the colors, and Sargent was brilliant in his choice of colors. What I did was look at each painting, and then whatever area of colors my eye was drawn to, that's what I tried to dye. So if you should look at any of these paintings, please note that I singled out a small portion of each one.

A Boating Party. Yep, that boat got to me pretty quickly.

Artist in Simplon: Look at his painting of the mountains!

In the Garden, Corfu: Her skirt, of course.

Mountain Stream: Those rocks and boulders!

Olive Trees, Corfu: Look at the grassy areas.

Paul Helleu Sketching with His Wife: All the lovely grassy areas.

The Sketchers: Various grassy and flowery areas.

You know the drill: if you want before I post on Etsy, email me. fritzL234 AT yahoo DOT com

The Artist in Simplon is grabbed.