Handmade Ho-Down 2009

Have you guys heard of the Handmade Ho-Down, yet?  With all of my ramblings, reviews, and links to different etsy shops I’m sure you can already sense where this post is headed.   The Handmade Ho-Down is an SF Etsy Street Team coordinated event, and brainchild, featuring local artists with unique handcrafted products.

The Handmade Ho-Down will be held on December 3rd from 6pm-Midnight at 1015 Folsom St. in San Francisco. What does that mean?  Alcohol, music, crafty bitches, spending money, window-shopping, finding even more screen printed tee’s, kitchy items for the home, and a fun way to knock out all of your holiday shopping in one inebriated, giddy spree.

With space to hold more than 50 vendors, and the variety that local indie artists represent, there’s no doubt that each booth will feature something absolutely wonderful, unique, and wallet-threatening.  I’m going, are you?

An FO, an Etsy Update, and then some…

Plain ol’ stockinette socks

Yarn: Gothsocks “Cake or Death?” from Rainy Days & Wooly Dogs on Etsy.

Needles: 2.25 mm 24″ circular needles, from my Yarn Pirate club membership (long since expired, but I’ll renew someday!)

Duration: August – October

I had to restart these stupid things twice. I made dumb mistakes out of laziness, and then decided to ignore my errors until partway into the second sock. Word to the wise: Addi turbo size 1 =/= US size 1. Just an FYI.

I love the yarn, I love the stripes, I love the socks. These were great for lecture knitting, commuting to and from campus via bus, and family dinners.

I’ve since started knitting a new pair of self striping socks with Vesper yarn from Knitterly Things. The colorway for these ~new fancy shmancy~ striped socks is “Great Googlie Mooglie” (links to another Raveller’s flickr photo of the colorway).  I don’t know what about self striping yarn grabs me, but knitting stockinette socks with it is one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done.  In todays Knitterly Things‘ update I managed to buy another skein for myself, and one for a friend. Could self striping yarn be my new cocaine?

Bela Lugosi

Speaking of catching updates… Little Red Bicycle was updated tonight!

There are a lot of tried and true favorites, and several new colorways/one-offs.  I’ll be adding more skeins throughout the week, so check back often!

Excitement and non.

Things I’m excited about:

* Stitches West, and building a volkswagon sized pile of yarn.

* All of the knitting that people are doing with LRB yarn.

* Fall, soups, pies, naps, and brisk mornings in the city.

* The huge fucking waves that are starting to come in, and being able to see them from the kitchen window.

* Maverik. Nuff said.

* Thanksgiving break, Bakesale Betty’s trips, LSG’s one year anniversary, and torturing Sara with yarn.

Things I’m not excited about:

* Research paper on Perpetua’s Passion (book)

* Research paper on Caligula

* Research paper on Claudius

* Research paper on … you get the idea.

* The panic I feel when trying to determine how much of everything to bring to stitches.

Things that relieve:

* Being in a sweater kick, finally.

* Knitting for myself, first time in nearly a year.

* Finishing the semester.

* Knowing that paying for school isn’t a question anymore, scholarships and grants have made my year.

*****

I’ve finished the Featherweight Cardigan. I’ll post soon with pictures, and notes. I do have one interesting result, the yardage required for the sweater was a little … off. I made the second smallest size (37″), requiring 3 skeins of malabrigo lace. It only took 1.85 skeins. What am I supposed to do with the third skein?! Make a scarf? Gahjsgh.

*****

The next little red bicycle update is coming.

Hopefully I can make an October 26th update, I’ll let you know the details as they arise! This update will include 50+ skeins, mostly 100% 2ply Snowflake Sock (last chance to get it before I switch to a similar 80/20 base), a superwash/cashmere/nylon sock yarn, worsted weight (which is awesome).

I’m beginning to test some worsted singles, and I have a few laceweight samples on the way in. If all goes to plan we’ll have lace up for sneaky-updates, debuting officially at Stitches West in February.

OH! Speaking of Stitches, are you going? What hotel are you staying at? Interested in sharing a room with some awesome girls? I’m working on finalizing my hotel details with Femme Fatale, and want to see if we can get a great group rate and a block of rooms.