Spinzilla Sunday, in Photos

...and then both my bobbins were full and The Walking Dead was about to come on, so, I had to stop!

I'm Going to Sioux Falls! + Spinzilla, Day 4

Or, rather, coming back to Sioux Falls, and an LYS was a second home to me when I lived there.

When - Saturday, 11/1/14 from noon to 2 p.m. Followed by a book signing until 3.
Where - Athena Fibers, 3915 S. Hawthorne, Sioux Falls, SD. 57105Contact - 605-271-0741. Space is limited, pre-registration is suggested!Price - $40What - Lara’s favorite heels you may not have knit before: Thumb-joint Afterthought, Balbriggan (top down) and Joined Flap (toe up).Students should bring smooth yarn of any weight and needles that work well with that particular yarn. The needles should be the same type that they use to make socks (dpns or circulars). Students will also need a spare circular needle of the same size or smaller than their working needles.


I hope to see you there!

Spinzilla Update

I spun for about an hour and a half last night and almost finished up batt #2. I don't know if I'll get any work done tonight, because we already have our tickets to Dracula Untold. I'm super psyched!

I was going to ply batt 1 and batt 2 together, but now I'm thinking I'll just self-ply both of them. What do you think?

Batt 2

Batt 1

Spinzilla, Day 3

I started spinning up my second batt. It's a bit larger than the first and is basically lovely blues, whites and a little tan.

I'm not sure how much I spun, but I got more than halfway through it. More tonight! 

Spinzilla Update: The Chaos Art Batt

I studied Physics for four years of college, so I know what Chaos really means.

In this case, it means this art batt. It's lovely, but to enjoy spinning it, I've really had to embrace the chaos. I have control-freak tendencies when it comes to spinning, so I'm making myself have fun with some long draw spinning and let the bumps fall where they may.

It all started on Sunday, when I broke the batt up into fauxlags. My rule to myself: chill out. Let it be what it wants to be. (Beautiful, beautiful chaos.)

SPINZILLA!

The nice folks at Schacht Spindle asked me to join their team this year! And, they asked me some questions about Spinzilla. My answers are over on their blog, but I'm going ahead and putting them here, too.

Why you are doing Spinzilla?
I'm doing Spinzilla this year as a way to kick-start my spinning. It's had to take a real back seat to my knitting and online activities in 2014 since I was finishing my book, Sock Architecture, and, now that it's out, I'm spending a lot of time letting people know about it! Last year, I had a pretty good rhythm going of spinning at least once a week, and I hope this week of really committed spinning will help get me back to that.

What you plan to spin that week?
I know I should spin from my stash, and I guess my most recent purchase counts as stash, since I bought it 6 months ago! It's a gorgeous art batt from a local shepherdess. The colors are kind of autumnal, but there's also some bright pink in there. I can't wait to get it open and see how it spins up.

What do you plan on doing with the yarn you spin?
If I can get a nice worsted-weight yarn out of the batt, and I think I will, I will probably weave it up on my Flip into a scarf. Weaving and handspinning go so well together. I like to knit, mostly, relatively plain yarns. With weaving, I feel I can get a little more "out there". If I don't find the right warp for it, right away, I'll just display it in my home. A lot of my former art batts are now art skeins. They look lovely just resting on a bookshelf.

What do you like about spinning?
It is super-relaxing, but still creative. I avoided spinning for a long time because I thought I wouldn't want to give up my knitting time to do it, but I'm really glad that my friend finally loaned me a wheel and talked me into trying it. When everything is set up just right, and the fiber is just flowing over my fingers like water, that's just heavenly.

What are your thoughts on Spinzilla?
Spinzilla is so much fun because I love seeing what other people are doing with their spinning. Unless you happen to live somewhere that has a spinning group, it's rare to really see other people's work in an up-close-and-personal way. Spinzilla makes it easy to feel really connected to other spinners. There's that competitive aspect to it, too, and I hope I don't let my team down too much! I was a "rogue" spinner last year because I wasn't sure I could really put in the time. I'm still not sure, but I guess I can't resist the invitation to be a part of the team!

Spinzilla Day 1 results: I spun up a whole art batt! More on prep, etc., tomorrow....

An Awesome Hidden Perk of Writing a Knitting Book

I have a legitimate excuse, nay, a responsibility, to visit EVERY single yarn store.

Friday, Dee and I hit the road for scenic Stillwater, MN, to check out Darn. Knit. (Anyway).

Yarn-bombed tree in front of Darn. Knit. (Anyway)

It is such a cute shop! I spoke with one of the owners, Jennifer, and got to browse a bit while she looked at my book. She seemed excited about carrying Sock Architecture in her shop and we talked about scheduling a class or two in a few months. Stay tuned.

The big event was Saturday. We packed up the socks (very light box) and a few cartons of books (VERY heavy box), and headed out to my first official book event, a book signing and trunk show at the extremely charming Northfield Yarn.

I kind of got camnesia inside the shop, but I shot the sign they made out front for me.

They spelled my name right!

But, seriously, someone is really good at drawing books.

A bit of a family thing has come up on the original weekend that I was supposed to teach at Northfield Yarn, but they were nice enough to reschedule. The new date is Sunday, November 9 from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. The full details are here. 

The signing was a blast. We laid out all of the socks on the table and chatted. There is something always so nice about being with people who "get" you. One knitter even let me use her hand as a sock model when I was explaining why I love the Balbriggan heel. (I used it in the Boostrap socks.)

There are so many really fun little towns less than an hour's drive from the Twin Cities. If you live in the area and haven't gone exploring - do it! They each have their own characters and great shopping and food to offer. All of those NLYS (Nearly Local Yarn Stores) would love to have you visit. A quarter tank of gas seems like a tiny investment, to me.

Spinzilla - I AM spinning this year. I'll give you some updates starting tomorrow...

Anyone Else Psyched for Spinzilla?

Oh, I REALLY am.

This is not me.

The photo above it from a museum that shall remain nameless because, I guess, it turns out that you're not supposed to take pictures there. Oops. The only information on the wall was "Cherokee Woman with Spinning Wheel." I guess "Badass Cherokee Woman with Awesome Spinning Wheel" was too long. Osiyo to all of our foremothers!

If you don't know what Spinzilla is, but you are a spinner, it's not too late to sign up as a "rogue" spinner. Get thee to the signup!

Good News and Bad News

This morning, I received a wonderful email from someone in the knitting world that I truly admire. She's one of my nine muses of traditional knitting (in no particular order): Meg Swansen, Barbara Walker, Anna Zilboorg, Priscilla Gibson-Roberts, June Hemmons Hiatt, Nancy Bush, Elizabeth Zimmermann, Beth Brown-Reinsel and Mary Thomas.

So, I was psyched that she noticed my little efforts and wants a copy of Sock Architecture. But...

The link to buy the book, where she found it, isn't working!

I was warned this might happen, since Cooperative Press is striving to improve every single day. They updated their new shopping cart system just a few days ago, and they've completely reorganized their website. The new site looks great, but old links simply aren't going to work!

Here is the new link. I hope it's permanent!

If you try that link and it doesn't work, try http://cooperativepress.com/.

Of course, you can buy a signed copy from me on my Etsy page, but that doesn't come bundled with the PDF and I have to have the price cover my shipping costs.

Let's Hope the Cookie Is Correct

Why yes, that is a remarkably bad photo. Sorry!

I have final confirmation and pricing! I am teaching Beyond Basic Sock Skills at Linden Yarn & Textiles twice (so, if you came to both classes, you would just get the same information, twice).

Full information is on the Teaching & Travel Schedule page, but you do have to preregister and the cost is $30.

Building Skills

We live just a few blocks from a great bike trail, and earlier this summer, we bought bikes.

I haven't regularly ridden a non-stationary bike in over 20 years, and it's funny how just a little over 3 miles on a "real" bike feels like more effort to me than over 6 miles on the exercise bike in the basement.

The world seems both slower and faster on a bike. There are restaurants and coffee shops that are actually faster to reach from our home on a bike, and on the way we get to enjoy the sight of the creek and watch birds fly overhead.

One thing I've noticed about myself in the last year - I'm kind of a competitive person. I love being really, really good at something. But, I'm also very happy when I'm just starting out and can keep my expectations low. That's where I am on the bike. I'm out of breath. 10 people just passed me on nicer bikes than mine. A little old lady passed me. A teenager is passing me without even steering because he's texting with both hands. (How do they do that?)

Well, so what? I'm better off than I would have been sitting on the couch. Even when I was a sort-of athlete in high school, I got out of breath easily. It's just the way I am. If I keep going, it will be easier next week. If I have to stop for some reason and my fitness level goes down, I'll just start over. I don't have to be great at this, it's just for me and I enjoy it. There are not a lot of areas in life that are that low-stress, and I cherish it!

Northfield Yarn, Here We Come!

It's finalized, I'm going to Northfield Yarn on Saturday! We had to get ready with a trip to Office Depot, of course...

When - Saturday, 10/4/14 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Where - Northfield Yarn, 314 Division St S, Northfield, MN 55057

Contact - (507) 645-1330 with any questions

Price - free!

What - Sock Architecture book signing and trunk show. Come see ALL of the sample socks, heels and toes from the book! We even put little tags on them.

Can't make it this weekend? Check out my teaching and travel schedule to see if I'll be near you, soon.

Knitting in Art: The Asparagus Vendor

This is a detail of a painting at the wonderful Minneapolis Institute of Art. It's by Pieter de Hooch, a Dutch painter who finished this sometime between 1675 and 1680. It's a depiction of a household in the rising middle class. But it raises a question for me: is that lovely red stocking most likely to be knit or woven? 

Well, in Folk Socks, Nancy Bush points out: "By the end of the 1600s, one to two million pairs of (knitted) stockings were being exported from Britain into other parts of Europe."

So, even though we can't see the knit stitches, I think she might be mending a knit stocking, not seaming a woven one.

Workshops at Linden Yarn & Textiles

I don't have all of the details on pricing yet, and I will put that on the Teaching and Travel Schedule page when I have them, but I just confirmed that I am teaching two workshops at Linden Yarn & Textiles.

What - Beyond Basic Sock Skills

When - Thursday, 10/9 and Thursday, 10/30 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Where - Linden Yarn & Textiles, 5814 Excelsior Blvd., St. Louis Park, MN 55416

Contact - Chris at 952.303.3895 to sign up!

Students should bring smooth yarn of any weight and needles that work well with that particular yarn. The needles should be the same type that they use to make socks (dpns or circulars). Students will also need a spare circular needle of the same size or smaller than their working needles.

- How to work the “new” ssk.

- Three ways to increase, m1L, m1R and m1P. How they play well together and when to use them.

- How to work the “Extra Needle” cast on, the easiest, fastest provisional cast on, ever.

- Learn two ways to start toe-up socks.

- Work Jeny’s Stretchy Cast Off, using either a knitting needle or a crochet hook.

- Use dental floss to make grafting easier.

- Pick up stitches from gussets with confidence, every time.

I hope to see you there!

Vintage Baby Socks

Ok, add "antique malls" to one of the shopping destinations that Dee and I frequent.

I normally don't buy vintage photos unless they are great stereocards, but I couldn't resist this little guy. His name is Oliver (the last name is illegible).

It's so rare to see socks in an old photograph! I wonder if his mama was a proud knitter or if they just didn't have shoes to fit him. They look like half-handkerchief heels and round toes. Seriously cute and amazing stitch definition!

I Heart Kate Atherley

I feel very, very  honored that Kate Atherley reviewed Sock Architecture. She has already done so much for me, by helping me shape the book and make it better than it would have been without her encouragement, questions and "not sure what you mean here" notes.

I'm always super-excited that anyone likes my book, but my heart kind of skips a beat when it's someone who, when you Google her name, has an automatic "sock" suggestion come up after it.

No, really, it does.

I don't know if this kind of anxiety is normal, but I worried when I was writing this book. I thought no one would "get" it. It's very gratifying to find that they do!

Sky + Lake + Trees = Minneapolis

Can you even believe this is just 15 minutes away from the center of a large metro area? Minneapolis, you're beautiful and I love you.

Interview and Giveaway at Simply Socks Yarn Co. Blog

Allison was one of the very first people who looked at my little list of sock heels and toes and said, "Hey, shouldn't this really be a book?"

...and she backed up our coffee-fueled musings by being the sole source of yarn support for Sock Architecture. I will always be grateful for that, and her friendship.

Over on her blog, you can read a whole lot of my jibber-jabber about Sock Architecture and enter to win a signed copy of the book AND two skeins of her fabulous Simply Sock Yarn Solids, to make a pair of your very own socks. You have until 9/26/14 to enter, so hop to it!

That Time Hunter Hammersen Called Sock Architecture a Reference Book (and made me really happy!)

When Hunter Hammersen, a wonderful knitter and author of 6 books (with a 7th on the way!), agreed to review my book, I was pretty psyched. I'm deeply touched, now, that she called it a "reference" book.

I've always made the distinction between "reference" and "pattern" books in knitting. I wrote patterns for Sock Architecture to make it accessible and great for as many knitters as possible, but, at its heart, I want it to be a book that shows you the path, allowing you to make your own choices and get exactly what you want out of your knitting. So, definitely a reference book!

What a great way to end the week!

Would You Like A Signed Copy of Sock Architecture?

There are a few ways to get one.

1) Meet me in person. I'm looking for yarn shops/guilds/knitters within driving distance of the Minneapolis/St. Paul area who are interested in hosting signings and talks. Contact me!

2) Visit my Etsy shop and order one from me. I'm not able to offer digital + paper copies, since I don't have a good way to get digital copies to people. For that, please visit cooperativepress.com.

Yellow and Blue

Just water and a lemon under fluorescent lighting at work, but it's pretty!

Thrift Shop Stash Enhancement

"Thrift, thrift, Horatio! The funeral baked meats. Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables."

- Hamlet

Am I the only one that thinks that when I think "thrift shop"? I hope not. 

Anyway, when I'm looking for random stash storage solutions, I don't run across a lot of chances to make my stash bigger, but this time, I got lucky. Under a pile of acrylic yarn, I found 4 skeins, 2 with labels, but they all look like the same yarn: 

I've never used The Philosopher's Wool Co. yarn before, but it's 100% wool, smells like lovely lanolin, and seems perfect for my Sherwood Slippers. I'm planning on holding the yarn double, and I hope I have enough to get a pair of slippers from each skein. 

It seems a little heavier than Cascade 220 (which I also hold double for those slippers, and any kind will do, just as long as it's not superwash), so I may have to make adjustments. We'll see! 

Stash Management

I've introduced Dee to the joys of thrift store/estate sale/garage sale shopping and there's no going back! A recent find: Awesome vintage suitcases for $5 each. The very smart woman running the sale put cute little tags on the cases that made them pretty much irresistible. See "What do you need to store?"

Well, yarn, of course. I love my new office space, but there isn't as much storage as there was in our last house. 

I filled the case with little honeycomb dividers, then went through my sock yarn stash. It includes this thrift store find, probably from about 15 years ago. I haven't had the heart to use it, yet. 

Wound balls go into the organizers, a few small skeins fit in there, too. Big skeins and 100-gram balls go into that big space at the top of the case. A flap clips down over it to keep them from spilling all over the place. 

It all tucks away neatly under the guest bed. I felt pretty good about this until I remembered that I would need about 10 more to REALLY organize it all. This is just my sock yarn! Oh well...

I feel like I'm popping open a big case of crayons every time I take the case out. Some are odds and ends, some are brand-new. They're all lovely, though.

My Amazon Author Page

It exists! It's kind of a strange feeling....

If you have a book on Amazon and you're on the fence about making an author page, you should do it! It's truly easy, Amazon has great customer service, and if you get confused, there is a lot of information out there about how to fix/add/soup up your profile.

Goodreads Giveaway!

There is a Goodreads giveaway for Sock Architecture. Hop on over, get your free account, and sign up for a chance to win!

Sock Architecture Is Here!!!!!!

I came home last night to a box.

...and opened it to find this!

It's real! It exists! Could you ALL hear me squealing with delight? 

Crazy Cat Couple Achievement Unlocked

When we saw cat ties at i like you, I knew it was all over. Boomer (top photo) likes his tie better than Travis likes his. (Don't worry, we don't leave them on, they would be destroyed or dropped in a toilet within the hour, anyway.) 

Maybe Boomer just likes all the extra attention. Our little boy, all grown up. 

Yes, I know. We're officially crazy. But, at least we only have two.

Unofficial KAL

One consequence of adding a bunch of patterns to Ravelry at the same time is that my designer page has become an unintentional popularity contest for all of the patterns in Sock Architecture. I'm pretty sure the patterns are shown in order from most popular to least popular, since it isn't in the order that added them.

Right now, Uncommon Dragon appears to be the fan favorite, by a wide margin!

I'm planning on knitting up some of the patterns from Sock Architecture as a VERY unofficial knit-a-long. Would you like to join me? I'll start as soon as my needles are free from obligatory/deadline knitting - and I'll start with whichever pattern is the most popular, according to Ravelry.

If you want to watch me knit your favorite one first, go "vote" with your like!

Mistakes, Errors and Other Problems

When I started work on Sock Architecture, I talked to all of my knitting friends about what they look for in knitting books.

Accuracy was a big one. No one wants to face trying to figure out if it is their knitting, their brain, or maybe the designer's mistake when their pattern just isn't working out.

The more people I talked to about accuracy in publishing, the more (very kind) people pointed out that it's nearly impossible to have absolutely no errors in a book. There are just too many ways for a mistake to sneak in there.

So, we did our best, and many people had a hand in making Sock Architecture as perfect as possible, but there is at least one error an eagle-eyed friend of mine has pointed out to me.

I'm making the errors in the book as easy to find as its praise - so the errata page is right next to the Reviews page on this blog. I will add errata notes there and to the Ravelry page for each design as they come up.

Please forgive me if any of my mistakes trip you up. I truly want Sock Architecture to make knitting socks the most fun you can have with sticks, strings and your knitting brain.

Yarnbomb in Minneapolis!

I didn't do this, I swear, but isn't it adorable? I love site-specific art! It's on 50th and France.

Math4Knitters Podcast Reboot and the Knitmore Girls

The Knitmore Girls agree with my IRL knitting group - I should restart the podcast. Actually, like everyone else who hasn't been a previous fan, they don't seem to know that I've put it on pause.

It may take me a little bit. I have to find my microphone (I checked the box I thought it was in and, no dice) and figure out the most efficient way to do it. I will probably start with a twice-a-month schedule and see how it goes. It will NOT be on the Journal Gazette website, since I don't work there anymore, so it would be a completely new feed.

I do miss the intimate nature of podcasting, and I will probably not do so many interviews, but we'll just see how it goes...

Any questions or suggestions would definitely make it easier for me to get going!

Totally Normal Behavior

Everyone pauses horror movies to take pictures of architectural details, right? I mean, seriously, it's starting to seem as if houses are haunted because they are so cool looking. This is a grating (mysterious noises come out of it, so we get a good close-up view) from Haunter, which is kind of like Groundhog Day, only Bill Murray is an annoyed teenage girl being held hostage by a truly evil ghost. So, you know, pretty much the same. I LOVE the lines/diamonds/squares in this grate.

I Haven't Forgotten My Loom

Over the long weekend, I took a little time to play and weave a simple scarf on my loom. I still love it! This is Cascade Highland Duo, an alpaca/Merino blend that's lovely and soft. 

My Home Office

If you had a long weekend, I hope you had a great one. We had a rainy couple of days, but it was really nice. I spent some time in my home office space, which the previous owners very thoughtfully built into what was a closet in the guest bedroom. It's practically perfect in every way, with lots of little cubbies and spaces for my knitting things (note my model foot tucked away).

My co-workers are kind of lazy, though. Sometimes I can hear them snoring behind me, on what they think is the best cat bed in the world. 

I answer a lot of emails and even sometimes browse Ravelry on my phone, but there's no substitute for a computer on a desk, to me. It's just more comfortable. Maybe it practically looks like the work equivalent of driving a model T, but I like it!