What is it worth?

Lately in my circle of friends there has been much discussion about what knitting is worth.  Everyone has different opinions, and I am here to give you mine.

A little while ago, I knit hubby a pair of socks.  He has larger feet, so this was no small....feat (couldn't resist, sorry).  These socks are awesome.  Then, I decided that I would make him a double knit pair of socks (see this post for my dragon example, basically a reversible fabric).  Hubby and I sat down and decided to see how much it would cost to buy hand knit socks if you were to pay the knitter a good wage.  For a pair of plain "vanilla" socks, it takes me between 20-25 hours for a pair.  If I were to make a decent cash wage, commensurate with my skill (knitting) and experience (I have successfully knit more that 1 sock), of $15/hr, you are looking at $300-375 for a pair of basic socks.  But wait! You haven't bought the yarn yet!  Good sock yarn averages between $20-30 a skein.  You want good sock yarn as opposed to cheap stuff because you want these socks to last.  So, next time you think of asking a friend/acquaintance/coworker/family member to knit you something, think about the time involved.  Sure, I love knitting, and do it in my spare time for fun.  However, I get to use the thing I make, or I can give it to someone I love that I find knitworthy.  If I am doing a commission piece, think about the value of my time.

All this being said, I love a barter system, and both parties are usually able to come up with a mutually beneficial trade.

I think value of time is something that we often forget, especially women.  I have heard many ladies say over and over that they will do something for free.  Sure, sometimes friends and family need favours, and I am as willing as the next person to help out when needed.  Hand knit socks/shawls/hats are NOT favours though, they are a manifestation of my time, effort and love for a person.

Just something to keep in mind.

Well, it's been exactly a year since I wrote this post.  It had a list of things I wanted to achieve in 2012, so I thought I would start a new post by reviewing my "resolutions".

1) Get Pregnant, stay pregnant and have a baby after 9 months of said pregnancy. This one didn't happen.  I'm not commenting further on it.
2) Go back to school Doing!
3) Learn how to dye wool Done!
4) Learn how to double knit Done!  Both 3 & 4 are courtesy of a friend I made, who incidentally runs Yummy Yarn Studio and co-owns Devonshire Knots along with another friend of mine :)
5) Figure out how to finish (seam and block) my projects better I'm sorta still working on this one
6) Make a sweater (bonus points for making it fit!) I'm finishing up sleeves on my first sweater.  It's too soon to tell if it will be ready by tomorrow, but it does fit!
7) Learn different techniques for spinning I did this too!  I ordered a book and DVD and Lo!  I am WAY better, but have a lot of room for improvement.
8) Write at least one blog post every week Yeah, this one did NOT happen...Not even CLOSE.
9) Improve my picture taking skills This one didn't happen either...

All in all, I consider 2012 to be a good year for achieving many of my goals!  I went back to school to get a better GPA to be considered for acceptance into the program.  I got a 4.0 GPA, and am waiting to hear back about being offered an interview.  My next semester starts on January 7th.  

I haven't yet thought about goals for 2013, but when I do, I'll post em :)

All the best to you and yours in 2013!

I am a Spartan.

It all started in about April.  A coworker of mine told me about a race she had signed up for called the Spartan Race, specifically the Sprint.  I went to the website, read the blurb and watched the video.  I was hooked.  I signed up that night.

Now, I am not a runner.  Never have been.  I don't run, unless there is something chasing me that wants  me dead, or I'm going to save someone.  The last time I ran any race was in elementary school when I did the road race on Mount Royal, in Montreal.

Lets just say, that I didn't train.  I showed up.  I raced.  I finished.  That was enough.  I am going to sign up for next year, but I will train more  (that means, I'll actually train.)

This race is not just a "regular road race".  It is an obstacle race.  I went up hills, and down hills.  Just when I thought I couldn't do any more damn hills...I did.  I ran through mud pits.  Sticky gross mud.  I climbed over tractor tires.  Bunny hopped through tires.  Walked balance beams.  Climbed over/under walls.  Pulled myself up slick wooden walls of doom.  Crawled on the packed mud (rocks!) underneath barbed wire.  Pulled a cinder block in a loop.  Not in that order, but I did it all.  I did burpees when I fell off the lateral wall climb.  I did burpees when my javelin didn't stick in the hay bales.  I got whacked by gladiators at the finish.  But, I finished.  It was EPIC.

Screw you, internet idleness!

A long overdue update.

I've been busy these last few months.  Busy, and apparently not very motivated to update this blog.  Well, no more!  Here are a few of the things I've been working on lately (some can't have pictures published yet, some haven't had pictures TAKEN yet, oi)

A while ago, I knit the "Great Tube Shawl of 2012" for my sister in law, in trade for some sweet baby clothes (now I just need a baby!)  She sent me a picture of what she wanted it to look like.  The picture didn't get very large, and I couldn't exactly tell how it was made...so I made it up!  She seems happy with it, so I am happy with it :)  I'm even sort of famous-ish in San Francisco for it!  It seems that my sister in law went to a swanky event, where Margaret O'Leary was also present.  In short, she owns several boutiques across the US that specialize in loom knit garments.  She complimented my sister in law on her shawl, and when informed that it was hand knit by moi was suitably impressed.  WOO!  Like I said, sort of famous-ish.  Here is a picture of me in the GTS2012.

Not the greatest photo perhaps, but you get the idea.  There are 2 different types of beads on the fringe, and those were my husband's idea.  The colours are dark grey and dark red, as those are her favourite colours.

I had the opportunity to take a dyeing workshop with Sam of Yummy Yarn Studio.  She taught me how to double knit (and turned me into a double knitting freak!) and I really like the way she teaches and explains things.  Her yarns are a dream to work with, and I figured out why I never ever have a problem winding her skeins into cakes, no tangles or anything!  It has to do with the ties in the skein.  If you are out east this summer, she is taking a trip down to the Twist Fibre Festival, you should take a road trip out there and check it out :)

Here are the yarns that I dyed in Sam's workshop.  I decided to take a step outside my comfort zone colours and just have fun!  I'm very pleased with how it worked out :)

Greens and oranges.  I think this will become a shawlette...

Pink, golds, navy....socks?

Turquoise, navy, salmon.  Looks like a tropical fish.  Socks, I think.

During my blog absence, I also finished a Wingspan.  Voila!

I hadn't yet cut the tails, oops!

Also in this time, I got to go (for the first time ever!) to Old Fibre Week!  This is an annual event held in Olds, Alberta celebrating fibre.  You can take spinning, weaving, and dyeing courses, as well as learn how to judge wool and all sorts of other things.  Of course, they also have a marketplace, the reason I went :)  I went with a few enablers ladies from my knitting group, and I bought:

Oprah's fleece

A yarn bowl!

A darning egg!

And a few other goodies not pictured here: a raw fleece (for a song!) to spin, some prepared corriedale fibre to spin and some luxurious blue silk hankies to spin.  The darning egg is really a present for my husband.  The shaft is applewood, and the egg is maple.  I am knitting him his first pair of socks, and he wears his socks out hard.  In order to entice me to make him socks in the first place, he promised that he would darn them for eternity.  I was a) surprised he could darn and b) surprised he would offer.  So, every good darner deserves an egg.  It's handmade by a local artisan to boot.  I had a blast at this Fibre Week, and look forward to many many more.

My next update will have some more double knitting, I swear!

Things I love for February

February has been a pretty busy month for me!

Remember the list I posted back in January?  I wanted to see how much progress I had made on it, so I took a look at it.

Here goes:

I took a class on Double Knitting this month.  This technique is awesome, and it challenges me to think in different ways, especially when reading a chart and knitting flat.  Here is some evidence of said class, I give you Puff the Double Dragon!

They are mirror images of each other, but they are knitted at the same time, and are actually one fabric.  Not blocked in this picture, which makes them look wonky, but I am quite pleased with the end result.  I made a small mistake, but opted to maintain sanity and not tink back to fix it.  I can see the error, but I didn't feel that it ruined the piece.  I guess I can cross double knitting off of my list!

I also toyed with dyeing wool this month.  It all started with a bargain book from Chapters.  For $5, how can you go wrong?  Spin - Dye - Stitch was on sale, and it is worth the $5 for me.  It is a very very basic book on spinning (wheel and drop spindle) but does have great pictures when it comes to how to ply and fix some common errors.  The back has a couple of easy knitting patterns that can include hand dyed and/or spun wool.  The most interesting part to me, however was the middle: the portion on how to dye yarn.  Several methods were explained, again with great pictures illustrating what needed to be done.  And so, off to Safeway I went to procure my supplies:  Kool Aid, and some white spoons (to see if the dye bath is exhausted)  Here is what I ended up with:

 Dyed with Kool Aid (never drinking that stuff!) and a few experiments with food colouring and vinegar.  I used a plastic bowl and the microwave to dye these experiments up.  I got some cheaper Patons wool as my base and made mini skeins out of it with my niddy noddy.  Light is not great on some of those shots, but it was fading fast, so I did what I could.  Overall it was a fun experiment, and even the kidlet got in on it (she had earlier proclaimed that this endeavour would be "boring" Ha!)  She even vowed that Kool Aid would never again enter her body, as if this is what it does to wool, imagine what it must do to your insides!

On the eve of Valentine's Day, I was asked by the kidlet to buy some Valentines for her friends.  We embarked on an epic journey to Superstore and eventually found some to her liking.  Since we were there, we decided to buy the Madhatter some flowers (we are, after all, equal-opportunity over here)  

Also, on our epic adventures, we spied a few new friends that were destined to come home with us and live on our couch and chairs.  They are as yet unnamed (although I think the big guy is begging to be named George) but they helped to model some of the recent knits that I have finished.  

That is my Travelling Woman that George has draped on him.  And the little guy is wearing Madhatter's new toque.

This hat is knitted out of Cascade Eco+, 2 strands together to make it more windproof

Traveling Woman out of TFA Pink Label Laceweight held together with a strand of Debbie Bliss Angel.

I am currently working on a sweater, and am about to start test knitting (!)  I feel as though I am really turning into a knitting superhero!  

End of the Year

As 2011 comes to a close, I think a little reflection is in order.

2011 saw the birth of my newest nephew (who I was blessed enough to spend time with as a new baby), saw me travel to San Francisco, saw me kick my messy habits, and saw me start (and finish!) my very first shawl.

Things I will achieve in 2012 (in no particular order of importance with exception of the first item)

1) Get Pregnant, stay pregnant and have a baby after 9 months of said pregnancy.
2) Go back to school
3) Learn how to dye wool
4) Learn how to double knit
5) Figure out how to finish (seam and block) my projects better
6) Make a sweater (bonus points for making it fit!)
7) Learn different techniques for spinning
8) Write at least one blog post every week
9) Improve my picture taking skills

Here are a smattering of pictures from late 2011.

The pattern is Escalope by Kourtney Robinson, and the yarn is a specially dyed colour for this pattern by Sam from Yummy Yarn Studio.  I am not very good at taking pictures or blocking garments, but I tried!

Random photo of our cat, Molly (who doesn't like balls of yarn, but prefers the cables of circular needles)

This was done by a local artist that we had framed and is now in our living room.  It is one of a kind.  Did I mention the local artist is 10 and is my stepdaughter?  Framing it was one of the gifts she received this year.

Project bag I got for Christmas :)

DPN Case I got for Christmas

All the best to you and yours in 2012!

What a long, strange road it's been

I've been neglectful of the blog, though not of my projects!

Here is a brief pictoral recap of my summer :)

Brother Coyote just trotting down the road.

Beautiful day in the mountains.

Rocky Mountain Sheep on the road.

Looking for a handout (or some salt).  Don't worry, didn't get anything.

Licking the salt off the bumper

Camping #2

Another beautiful day

Beautiful, cold, snowy day (in August)