Quickie Update

This month has been a tough one, and I’ve been slowly working my way out of the fog. I’ll be back tomorrow with a genuine update on projects, yarnie things, and any other details I can think of, but for today I’d like to give you a brief rundown:

• Little Red Bicycle is now available at Amethyst Cottage in the Artist’s Co-Op (thanks Melissa!) Right now there are several colorways that are either currently out of stock at LRB HQ or haven’t yet been released. Shark Week, unavailable since Stitches West, is currently in stock. Get it while you can!
• Little Red Bicycle is honored to have been invited to be the June Artist of the Month for Yarn 4 Socks‘ ongoing indie feature.
• I’ve knit two hats, one and a half pairs of socks, and a very small portion of a blanket this month (you care).
• Tea is the answer to everything.

May 8, 2004-March 2nd, 2010.

I am so sorry I couldn’t fix you. You were amazing, from the first day we saw your little poofy 1.5lb body to today when you shoved your head in my hand for one last rub despite the discomfort and fear. Your sister misses you, your toys are abandoned, your spot on the bed by my side is vacant. I love you so much, so innocent and unconditional, you gave us more than could have ever have been returned. I am a better person because of you. I am so sorry that we couldn’t fix this.

Help me decide:

I have this yarn, dyed as photographed sort of by accident, and I don’t know if it should become a regular. If I keep it I’ll call it Amputate?, as it’s fleshy, gorey, flesh-woundish colors remind me of gross zombie infections. What do you think? Is it too gross?

An ocean of gray:

I’ve been intending to knit with this yarn since October. It’s a new base, not to be released for a few more months, but I felt selfish and ordered several skeins to test knit into a sweater. I dyed the yarn a cement gray, and then proceeded to ignore it until very recently. Handwinding skeins is a not-so-secret knit-fetish of mine when I get a new yarn (lace excluded); I like being able to really get to know the hand of the yarn before I even swatch it.

I’m 3/4 of the way done with this sweater, with 5-6 inches left on the body and the sleeves remaining. I’m excited! If all goes according to plan you’ll be able to get a glimpse of this new base in person at Stitches West.

Another Stitches Sneak Peek:

Okay, so, if you’ve known me/read this long enough you may or may not appreciate my love of all things Gerard Butler. For some reason his puffy weird face does magical things to my mind, no matter how horrible he looks (or, conversely, how hot he looks). I have a little Leonidas ii action figure that I love with all my heart. It even has nipples. Anyway, I couldn’t resist doing this:

I am so excited about this colorway, it’s kind of embarrassing. This coming summer I should be releasing a Classics line, complete with Gorgons, Cato and Caligula.

If you’d like to snag this colorway come by booth #1138 at Stitches West. Or, wait until April and catch it online!

Next Post

Note: I’ve moved house over to http://littleredbicycle.com/blog. I will continue to copy posts over to this space for the time being, but eventually the proper website will host a shop, the blog, patterns, everything you can think of.

I’m willing to bet that by the end of the day not only will I be sick of dyeing Walk of Shame, but I’ll also be tired of Rollergirl and Braiiiiins as well.

In full-on Stitches West prep mode right now; The thought of cocktails with the girls and surreptitious swigs from a secret flask all weekend keep me going. For a while I was waking up in the middle of the night in a state of panic with thoughts like, “OH GOD I THINK I NEED TO REDO MY LABELS!” and “I wonder if the yarn on the rack is dry yet, maybe I should go check…” but it’s not happening so often lately.

*****

On Friday M leaves for nearly a month, on business, to South Africa. I’m excited for him, despite it being a business trip, and looking forward to the alone time (and serious crunch time for Stitches) that his absence will foster.

The Sockhead hat is complete, Briewick is completely dry, so photos need to be taken of those. I’ve managed to continue to ignore/neglect/forget the pullover finished weeks ago, so it’s still lacking in the blocking department. :/ It’s okay, I’ll do it this weekend!

Meanwhile, I’ve cast on another cowl neck pullover, in a new base I’m trying to decide on, and its gorgeous so far. Hoping to get some pictures of everything when the sun peeks out.

Knit me a sandwich.

A WiP:

Little Red Bicycle Cupcake Sock in "Palpitation"

I was feeling feisty, which lead me to handwind a ball of my own yarn in my new favorite colorway (both to dye, and to knit). A week went by while I finished my Briewick Beret (pictures below), and I finally had a chance to cast on for something incredibly simple. Something that won’t interfere with my study-brain, something that is dull enough not to require a glance down now and then.

The project? Sockhead, by Kelly McClure. This hat involves 4″ of ribbing (ahhhh!), and a very-long-period-of-just-knit-stitch until you can’t take it anymore. I cast on uh… yesterday? Maybe the day before, but who knows. I’m almost finished, which says something – though I’m not sure whether or not that “something” can be attributed to not studying hard enough, or studying forever.

The yarn, Cupcake Sock, is a blend of 80% superwash merino, 10% cashmere, and 10% nylon. It’s soft, hearty, and has a great sheen that’s apparent in the skein, but even more obvious once it’s been knit for a bit. I’m not usually a pinky-purple kind of person, but the colors are so varied and luminous that I think I’ll wear the ever-loving-shit out of this hat once it’s been blocked.

*****

A finished project:

Briewick Beret, in Madeline Tosh "DK" Brother's Grimm colorway

This project is only “technically” finished, as it’s currently in the bath soaking, waiting to be blocked over a dinner plate. Once it’s dry I’ll give it a fair shake in the form of it’s own blog post, but until then know that the yarn is wonderful and the pattern is less complicated than it looks.

Too much stuff.

Preparing for Stitches West is overwhelming, but fun and a break from the daily grind. This week is being spent on taking care of all of the Cupcake sock (the cashmere blend). I’m excited, but tired. Everything will be worth it in a few weeks.

I’ve all but finished the cowl neck pullover I blogged about 2 weeksish ago. I need to re-knit the cuff of the left arm, it’s a little too loose for my taste. Then? All that’s left is soaking that sucker, and blocking it. I’ve ended up with 2.5 or 3 skeins left over, which is both wonderful and maddening. Casting on the Briewick Beret is helping knock out one leftover skein, but what do I do about the others? Mittens?

The pullover was the beginning of an addiction to Madelinetosh’s yarn. I ordered two skeins of Madeline Tosh Prairie, in “Oxblood” for my next garment, as well as a skein of her dk weight (same as what I used on the sweater) in “Tart” for another hat. I’m hoping to knit Tart up into Ysolda’s Ripley, but I might go the brainless route and knit a sockhead hat instead.

The next “big” knit will be the Geodesic Cardigan, fresh from Connie Chang Chinchio in the latest edition of Knitscene. At first this cardigan really bothered me, it’s similar to the Featherweight cardigan by Hannah Fettig, which I love, but I wasn’t sure about how it would hang. LSG is having a laid back knitalong, so I decided I’d give it a shot. I’ll probably love it.

*****

Outside of Stitches West prep (booth 1138 with Femme Fatale Fibers!) and knitting, a new semester has begun. Each class is somehow related to sex and oppression, which suits me just fine. I’m looking forward to the research papers.

While my academic reading is slowly starting, I’ve been trying to finish the rest of the Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris. I’m almost done with the fourth book, Dead to the World, which is shamefully my  favorite so far. Once I finish these books I’ll move on to some fun works by Mykle Hansen, and then to Carlton Mellick III. If I have time, which I’m trying to make room for in an already overflowing schedule.

Actual knitting content?!

Would you look at that? Actually knitting something that isn’t a sample, a sock, or ridiculous. I’ve made up a little pattern for a cowl-necked pullover – knitting in tandem with the fantastic Feministy – each of our sweaters are different, but the idea is similar. It’s great to bounce ideas and techniques off of another knitter with similar goals.

The sweater is being knit with Madeline Tosh Worsted in the Brother’s Grimm colorway, a deep, brooding black with splashes of forest green throughout. To avoid any ugly pooling I’m rotating between three skeins of yarn, adding a new skein in halfway through the skein before it. Willy nilly, natch.

With any luck the sweater will be finished by the end of next week. I’m completely obsessed with it, it’s all I want to do. This feeling has been something I’ve missed over the last year, the will to knit is finally returning now that I care about what I’m producing.

*****

In addition to really, actually, legitimately knitting something for myself, I’ve started to read for pleasure again. I long for this during the semester; I read so much for ‘business’ that the thought of reading something quick, easy and pointless seems like a chore in itself. So, to deal with this I’ve given myself over to the Sookie Stackhouse phenomenon. Charlaine Harris, I rue the day.

I’m almost done with the first book of the brain-candy-obsessive-want-to-stay-up-all-night-reading series, Dead Until Dark. Thoughts so far? The voice of the heroine, Sookie, annoys the piss out of me; Bill is very dull, almost in a sexy way but it borders on “gross, this is like reading about a sexy relative,” somehow. Beyond those minor complaints the simple narrative is easy on my mind, and I can’t put the books down. I don’t know why. I wish I knew, but I don’t. I’m perfectly happy to continue reading these, though I do wish I had a kindle.

Back from Vegas!

I spent a wonderful, relaxing, inebriating long weekend in Las Vegas returned very early on Tuesday morning. Being home is incredible, but I think I could have handled another few days of vacation.

As soon as we got home I started dyeing yarn. There are several new Snowflake colorways, deep saturated reds, blues, and greens. It’s going to be great once they dry, I’d love to share them!

I’ve finished the so-called Albatross Sweater (I made a mistake at every possible turn), mailed it off to the recipient, and am rewarding myself with a pullover knit in Madeline Tosh Worsted “Brothers Grimm” colorway. Casting on as soon as this posts, so hopefully I’ll have something for you later!