Archive for the ‘Things We Do’ Category
Who knits in Florida?!
Posted by ConsterMonster in Things We Do on August 25th, 2009
Posted by: ConsterMonster
I recently ventured into the depths of South Florida to visit family and friends this past month. While there I found myself teaching a friend to knit. We started easy and visited a local Michael’s where we purchased some yarn and needles. A few weeks have passed and she has now completed her first project, the Potato Chip Scarf. I also got her started on the glorious “Blankie“.
Now, FL Friend would like to work on other projects. But as we all know, Michael’s is quite limited in their selection of yarns. Especially in South Florida. I suggested she use online sites like KnitPicks and Yarn.com being that there are virtually NO YARN STORES in her immediate area. Another question we have is, what can one really knit for FL weather? The heat rules out many favorite patterns of mine. Does anyone have a favorite yarn, or project that you think is appropriate for FL? Feel free to leave comments here or on the feedback line: 215.839.6373 (215.839.NERD), or use the Google Voice widget we’ve installed on the blog.
Social Knitworking Goes To New Hampshire
Posted by springviolet in Store Reviews, Things We Do on August 25th, 2009
Posted by: springviolet
Last week I was at a week-long family reunion in New Hampshire. I was staying in a rental cottage not too far from a lake, the weather was lovely and I reconnected with my aunt, uncles and cousins. ‘Twas a beautiful thing.
But of course I made time for some Social Knitworking. :)
My mom knits. As a matter of fact, she taught me when I was little. And she always has some sort of craft project under construction. She was my partner in crime for an impromptu yarn crawl of the surrounding area.
Our first stop was New London, New Hampshire. It’s a pretty little town with shops along a main thoroughfare. That’s where we visited Knit New London, http://www.knitnewlondon.com.
Knit New London follows the typical LYS layout and stock. There are lots of the imported yarns I’m used to seeing, Manos being very strongly represented. The first floor is a little cramped with shelves of yarn, books and samples. However it is all presented nicely – I do love walking into a shop filled with color. A stairway at the back of the shop takes you to a second floor public workspace. I’m all about the social part of crafting, so seeing a dedicated space away from the shopping area is always a wonderful thing to me.
All in all, I found the store to be very pleasant to visit.
Our second stop was near Newport, New Hampshire. The area is a bit more industrial than New London, what with the mill and all, but nestled in a ridiculously scenic area. Yeah, New Hampshire is very pretty. :) Anyway, that’s where we visited The Dorr Mill Store, http://dorrmillstore.com.
The Dorr Mill Store is a large first floor showroom. I would estimate a third of the space is clothes and blankets. They carry much of the Pendleton line. Very nice quality.
Then there is the crafts area of the showroom. ZOMG! This was fiber craft heaven if you do anything BUT knit. There is fabric for quilting and applique, fiber for needle felting, supplies for punch embroidery, rug hooking supplies, a wide selection of acid dyes for fiber and fabrics and kits and books for most of the crafts represented. Additionally, there are dozens of beautiful finished examples of the crafts and kits.
My mom and I roamed the aisles for quite a while, oohing an ahing over the samples and various supplies. We both ended up purchasing a rug hooking kit. I sense a new fiber obsession on the horizon.
If you are a fan of fiber arts in general, this is is a fantastic place to visit.
Nysssa Goes To The Movies – District 9 – minor spoilers
Posted by Nysssa in Things We Do on August 15th, 2009
Posted by: Nysssa
I’m not a movie theater kind of gal – mostly because I like being tucked under a blanket with my dog next to me sipping wine and getting up to pee when I want kind of movie watcher. Today I went to the movies with my husband and my parents to celebrate my husband’s birthday. He picked “District 9″ and I thought I’d share my impressions here.
Before I begin though – my current movie theater knitting project is the Windmill Bag – I soared through about 7 or 8 inches of garter stitch during the movie today – 21 stitches wide on size 6 needles using worsted weight yarn..
Ok, the movie…
If you’re the kind of person who shows up to a movie late – this movie is perfect for it. I spent the first 30 or so minutes wondering why the movie theater had so many people in it. It was extremely documentary-esque but didn’t seem to have a point and was gory and I couldn’t wait for something to finally HAPPEN.
When things finally started happening, the movie went from hmm to HMM to Oh, ok – there is a plot. It was predictable, but not in a bad way. There was a lot of splattering bodies – but by the end there were bodies being splattered that you were glad to see go. There was a lot of eating catfood – and some eating of alien flesh – not really my thing. There were parts I just didn’t watch – peeling off fingernails, vomiting black goo, chopping off offending body parts. I saw some people with small children in the theater, probably not something I’d want a small child to see – but I don’t have to get up in the middle of the night with them when they have nightmares that they are slowly turning into an alien.
My favorite character was the son – you’ll see why.
The main character didn’t have enough character – I’m not sure if it was the actor’s fault or the writer’s, but he went from wishy-washy to hero and then back to wishy-washer.
They did manage to leave us hanging at the end – please I don’t want them to make a sequel – it was interesting but not enough for another one.
This was definitely not a ‘have to see it on the big screen with the big sound system’ kind of movie. Catch a matinee so you have money left for popcorn to get your through the beginning of the movie – or just wait for it to come out on DVD.
Can I talk to you about The Blankie?
Posted by springviolet in Things We Do on August 12th, 2009
Posted by: springviolet
As knitters I think we’re a little obsessed to begin with. But introduce a little Blankie in their lives and all hell breaks loose.
The concept behind The Blankie has been around probably as long as knitting. Use scrap yarn to slowly, square by square, make a blanket. It was The Heathen Housewife that took that idea a crazy step further and, back in 2006, blogged about it for all the knitting world to see. Why not make a mitered square blanket with sock yarn? Since then I’m convinced the Sock Yarn Blankie has taken over a sizeable portion of the internet.
I was first introduced to The Blankie by two members of our Tuesday night soiree, Jenn and Krista. They would sit next to one another on the sofa at the back of the coffee shop, quietly knitting their blankets. They would discuss yarn swaps and trades they had joined in order to increase their stashes of sock yarn. When trades would come in they’d bring baggies of colorful yarn on Tuesday for one another to squish and squee over. As each week went by, the two blankets got a little bigger, the colors more hypnotic.
In the end, it was the bags of mini-skeins of yarn that captured me. They’re just so little, colorful and awesome!
Here’s a photo of my Blankie in progress. Whenever I knit in public (often) I get compliments. The latest was “something so beautiful should be worn and not be a blanket!” I love it, love it, love it.
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Since I started knitting a Blankie, I think most of our knitting group has started one of thier own. And each and every one of us will happily enable more into The Blankie fold.
Yeah, we’re a cult – and it’s awesome.
In honor of The Blankie, our knitting group, The Third Street Ravelers, is holding a Knit in Public Day. Anyone participating doesn’t have to have a Blankie with them, however it’s likely one will be on their Ravelry queue the following day.