Meme and socks

Snicket socks
Originally uploaded by fairsarae

I've been tagged for the "Seven Random Things" meme going around.

1. I'm half Mexican, although I couldn't look less Mexican if I tried. I have very fair skin and green eyes, but I don't burn.

2. I hate drawing. I can draw, and draw well, but I don't enjoy it. It took me three years of art school and an anatomy class to make me okay with that fact.

3. I illustrated a yoga book published about a year ago. It's called "Yoga: Awakening the Inner Body" by Donald Moyer, and has about thirty illustrations by me, mostly really tight anatomical drawings.

4. I was a letterpress printer for over three years. I miss it, but I don't miss production printing for someone else.

5. I am an incredibly fast reader. I read at the rate they teach people to speed read, but I don't speed read. I read blocks of text at a time, not word by word. I can read out loud and still read ahead at the same time.

6. I have dealt with depression my entire life. I've been on antidepressants, in various strengths, since I was sixteen. I will probably be on them for the rest of my life. Nothing makes me angrier than people who say they aren't necessary. Because of this, I can't handle reading much serious fiction anymore-- it makes me feel too much.

7. I am moving tomorrow into a new apartment. This is the first move in my life that is not connected with a relationship in any way, shape, or form, and is purely based on me wanting to live in a nicer apartment.

The socks? Snicket socks, in Nature's Palette sock yarn. I just bought the yarn-- all my sock yarn is packed and I couldn't find it!

FOs and a cat

I finally finished my Orchid socks. I am very pleased with them; I've wanted to make them for a long time. I actually knit one and a half in some kool-aid dyed, recycled yarn about a year ago, then gave up. This time I did them in pretty much the same colour Nature's Palette that Steph over at the blog Craftoholic did, and I'm glad I did. I'm pretty shameless like that-- if I see a pattern in a yarn colour I like, I might just knit the pattern in the same yarn! They need a little elastic in the cuff- they want to fall down a bit.

I finished these socks ages ago, but just got around to having J. photograph them. Knee highs, knit in Yartini's sportweight in the colourway "Luxury". Yes, I know the stripes don't match. No, I'm not bothered by it.

My oldest cat, Kalypso. Named after the demi goddess in "The Odyssey". She's about eleven years old and is a sweet girl.

superwash merino roving in "Pink Lady"

handdyed, handspun superwash yarn in Plum Tortie Light

There are a bunch of rovings and yarn still up in my shop, so go check them out! Also, if anyone wants more of a colourway that they missed, let me know-- I do dye to order. If you email me at pigeonroofstudiosATmacDOTcom, I'll send you my price list and colourways and terms.

Clapotis

Clapotis
Originally uploaded by fairsarae.

I finished this a few months back, but just now got around to having J. take a photograph of it on me. I think I used about five or six skeins Koigu, and size 5 needles. I wish I'd made it a little wider; I love the idea of knitting a really large clapotis to use as a wrap. Also maybe I'll knit a solid colour one.

Ignore my weird expression. I'm really self conscious in front of a camera.

hmph.

So I got back from Coachella Monday night. Tuesday, after a very long day at work and the gym, came home around 10:00 p.m., looking forward to watching my tv show (WORKOUT on Bravo, in case anyone cares), having a glass of wine, and doing some dyeing. Yeah...needlesss to say, none of this happened. What did happen is that I walked in the door, heard a strange rushing noise, then walked into my kitchen and looked down. Water. Lots of water. Everywhere.. The hot water heater had apparently decided to give up the ghost all over my kitchen floor. The insane landlords were called. Towels were employed. So were mops and brooms and entire rolls of paper towels. Water was turned off. I ended up driving into the city to stay over at J's house, since there was no water in the apartment.

I do have to say, though, that even though it was a crazy annoyance, part of me was secretly gleeful. My insane landlords are ridiculously protective of the floors in the apartment. No, the floors are not hardwood. Or carpet. They are....linoleum. Now the linoleum in the kitchen is completely warped to hell...and I'm starting to get a distinct smell of mold.

On shop news, I'm almost sold out of my cashmere merino yarn! I really, really, love this yarn. It takes the dye wonderfully, and has a fantastic sturdy construction. I knit up a swatch out of the "Nightshade" colourway:


Ignore the wonky cable. I'm so not a designer.

I picked up this month's issue of Martha Stewart Living. I don't always buy her magazine, but I was seduced by the colour in this one.

such gorgeous saturated jewel-tones.

\
The exact colours of my "Greek Isles" colourway.

hit the ground running.

I'm back from my mini vacation. 5 days, two of which were spent in a car with five other people, driving to and from Palm Desert, and three days at the Coachella Valley music festival. It was a lot of fun-- but I may have been the only person knitting at the festival!

Now that I'm back, though, I'm busy as ever. I'm moving apartments at the end of this month, I've got a ton of stuff to do for pigeonroof studios, and it's looking as though I may have to be moving studios, too. See, I really want to move my dye setup out of my house. I don't mind having it in my kitchen, as I almost never cook or prepare meals in it, but if I'm at home, and there's stuff to dye, I end up working all the time. Not to mention, I'm paying rent on a studio that I simply don't have the time to go to!

I was all set up to move the setup to my studio, but my studio mate balked. She's worried about the water, and the vinegar smell...and, and, and. I'm not really upset-- after all, we do share the studio, and she does have a stay-- but I'm annoyed. So I'm on the lookout for another space.

The good thing about the long drive to and from Coachella? Lots of knitting time! I finished one and a half pairs of socks. Here's one of them:


Orchid Lace Sock pattern from Craftoholic (she no longer has her patterns available, though, it looks like), knit in Nature's Palette yarn in, I think, Orchid. Lovely stuff. It's not the fastest pattern in the world, but it works out wonderfully. Knee high.

this sock is also a great example how, with a 185 yard skein of sock yarn, you can knit a lot of sock. I have size 10 feet, and I even had a little bit left over.