Wine,  in combination with pizza, a silly boyfriend, too many cats and a long week makes life wonderful.

Sometimes I feel like when I’m test knitting for someone the project drags on and on and on… I’m sure this is a combination of not choosing the yarn, or the pattern.  This time? Not so much.  Today I felt like the only thing I wanted to do was get to work on this puppy.  I can’t show you more than a sneak peak of deceptive stockinette, so pretend it’s the most magnificent thing you’ve ever seen.  What I can tell you is that the yarn is a blend of Merino, Cashmere and Possum (not the ugly rat looking kind, the super cute pesty kind)

This is a great excuse to use (abuse?) the Addi Clicks I picked up recently (business expenses are the worlds way of saying BUY ME SHHH NO RATIONALIZING!)  So far they’re smooth, there’s no issue with flexibility of the cable, and I’m already scheming regarding getting even more cables.  Knitting with 6mm needles after spending so much time with my sock needles lately has been a challenge, but it’s rewarding to see inches of progress after half an hour of knitting.

Knitterly Things Vesper Sock yarn in "Great Googlie Mooglie"

The best thing about weekends is that I usually have a few hours to myself, despite the fact that those hours usually become time for studying, chores, dyeing, knitting, working, I always look forward to what I’ve got headed my way come the weekend.

This weekend was spent packing up more orders, making trips to and from Target (had to replace my dyeing microwave ), getting organized, re-skeining/untangling yarn, and working on some fun future collaboration plans with Sweet Libertine Cosmetics (keep an eye out, it’s going to be huge).  I’ve managed to do almost all of my laundry, tidy up my workspace, dishes, grocery shop, and get through half of a sock.

Against my better judgment I’ve decided to give NaBloPoMo another try this year.  Last year was lame, to say the least.  I couldn’t knit for three out of the four weeks, I had nothing to contribute, and I resented ever signing up for it. This year?  Totally different.  I have a gameplan.

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?

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!

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.

All of the LRB orders from this week have been packed up and shipped out. Are you excited? I am. There are still a few skeins left in the shop, like Penny for your Thoughts (1) and Tundra (2 – pictured below).

Thanks, to all of those who ordered, advertised, stalked, retweeted, emailed, blogged… the list goes on.  Because of how well the update went, the following things are quickly approaching:

• Little Red Bicycle will have a booth at Stitches West, sharing it with Femme Fatale Fibers (a la Feministy, brain behind the Traveling Woman shawl – rav link)
• An even bigger update, many favorites (Shoshanna, One Night Stand, Walk of Shame, Bela Lugosi, Supernova… the list goes on) will be up in bulk.
• Sportweight cashmere blend, anyone?

So, again, to everyone who cheered me on, shopped, and drooled: thank you so much for helping make this dream a reality.  Let me know what you want to see next, so I can make it happen!

Sometimes I feel like I avoid this blog in the same way that I avoid scrubbing the toilet. It needs to happen, but… meh. I’ll do it later. It’s not like I’m the one who looks under the lid, right?

The fall semester has begun its systematic deconstruction of everything I hold dear. My free time? Gone. My will to read? Haaaaa! My eagerness to suceed? Pshaw. Don’t get me wrong, I love the classes that I’ve signed up for, I love (most) of the reading I’ve subjected myself to (oh, Caligula) and I like having a reason to go outside Monday through Friday. The painful part? Wanting to spend every waking hour dyeing yarn, goofing off, and eating cookies.

I’ve been contentedly preparing for the next big Little Red Bicycle update.  25 skeins of my “Tricycle” sock base, a great 100% superwash merino, three ply, 490 yard put up.  If you end up loving it even half as much as I love it, then it’s a success in it’s own right.  Here’s a terrible picture of something “to come”, dyed last night while avoiding vacuuming:

In addition to all of this I’ve been scheming themes, names, bases, contests, and all matter of time-consuming things. One of which? Stitches West. Do you want to see Little Red Bicycle as a vendor? Send me a comment, or an email (didi at littleredbicycle dot com) and let me know.

******

I’ve been knitting! But it’s all super secret commission knitting, so I can’t really share. I’ll have more for you soon, promise!

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