KnitCore

I Knit, Therefore I Am

2012-02-05T17:23:00.000-08:00

Knitting may start out as a hobby, but if often quickly becomes a compulsion. We want to knit ALL THE THINGS, ALL THE TIME. We pity the people sitting in the waiting room or on the bus who don’t have knitting in their hands. How bored they must be! We roll our eyes at the person who thinks that we can’t knit and listen to them at the same time. Instead of complaining about the long line at the bank, we rejoice at the opportunity to “get in a few rows”. I can’t speak for every knitter, but I never EVER leave the house without knitting because you never know when you’ll need it. A quick pop around the corner to the post office turns into a 15 minute wait because some little old lady is trying to ship something overseas. A car trip to run errands turns into a 20 minute knitting break when a train blocks all traffic. If you’ve ever been somewhere and thought “I wish I had my knitting!” you know to be prepared in the future. There is always some quick little project on my needles that I can shove in a pocket or in a bag and take with me as I run out of the door. I keep an emergency stash of yarn and needles at my desk at work, just in case. I’d do the same in my car, except my trunk is full of charity knitting yarn and donated needles, so I’m good there. I used to feel weird about knitting in public, but boredom soon took away any inhibitions I might have had. I’ve knit in bars, at parties, on the bus, at conferences and lectures, in line at the grocery store, in line at the bank, Target, the craft store-pretty much in any kind of line, really. I knit in between dances, I knit during the fireworks on the 4th of July. If I’m sitting or standing still, I’m either knitting or wishing I was knitting. If I’m not knitting, I’m probably fidgeting or getting into mischief. It’s best you let me knit.

It might seem obsessive, and it probably is, but it’s how things get made. Knitters are busy people. We have jobs and raise families and volunteer and do many, many other things besides knit. The next time you receive a hand-knit gift, think about all the hours it took to make it and remember that it was probably knit while watching TV, in line at the bank, in the passenger seat of the car, at any spare moment that person found to make your gift. Before you’ve even put on that new hat or scarf, it’s already had an adventure of its own while it was being made!

Meet Xenophilius

2012-01-29T17:58:00.000-08:00

I can't remember the last sunny day we had here in snowy, rainy, snowy (it seems to alternate days) Buffalo and I was feeling the winter blues. The best way to combat that? Dye a bit of sunshine!

Introducing my newest colourway: Xenophilius

Xenophilius, and all my colourways, can be found at our Etsy shop here.

Enjoy!

Sereknitty

Non-Knitters Say the Darndest Things!

2012-01-16T18:04:00.000-08:00

We’ve all run into them. The well-meaning but clueless non-knitter who feels they must interrupt your precious knitting time with an unwelcome comment or two. Usually it’s a simple exchange and they’re on their way, but sometimes, some days, I seem to be just bombarded with ridiculous comments and I must remind myself to “just keep knitting” and keep my mouth shut. Here are some of my “favourite” comments. I’m sure you have a few of your own.

Them: Knit two, purl two! Ha ha!
Me: *Polite smile*
What I wish I could say: No, I’m doing a k2, 4-LC, p1, yo, p2tog lace pattern repeat, thank you very much.

Them: What are you making?
Me: A sock.
Them: Just one? HA HA HA HA HA!
Me: *Polite smile*
What I wish I could say: Well, Dobby, I could knit both at the same time, but I don’t like to show off.

(Ok, really, I just don’t like doing two at a time, but that’s just my personal preference. Props to anyone who does!!)

Them: What are you making?
Me: A sock.
Them: You know you can get those at Walmart, right?
Me: Not these! *polite smile*
What I wish I could say: If you can walk into Walmart and find a pair of hand knit, hand dyed 100% merino wool fair isle knee high socks that actually fit me and weren’t made by slave labor in some 3rd world country AND cost less than $100, then perhaps, just perhaps, I’ll re-consider my personal ban on Walmart…but I doubt it.

Them: My grandmother used to crochet!
Me: Did she? That’s nice. *Polite smile*
What I wish I could say: This is KNITTING, not crochet, you silly human! Maybe if you had paid a bit more attention to your crafty grandmother, you’d know the difference! Bad grandchild!

Them: I don’t have the patience to knit!
Me: It’s actually very relaxing. *Polite smile*
What I wish I could say: The only reason I haven’t strangled anyone yet is because I’m knitting. And, because I don’t want to take the risk of breaking one of my Lantern Moon US size 1 rosewood DPNs. These babies are expensive!

Them: That’s pretty. Will you make me one?
Me: No, but I’ll teach you to make your own. *Polite smile*
What I wish I could say: You have no idea the time, money and energy that goes into making a hand knit item, do you? If I actually totaled up the cost of the yarn and my hourly salary and sent you a bill, you’d faint. I didn’t start knitting to make money!

And then, my favourite one of all:

Them: *Some sort of ridiculous mime that they think resembles a person knitting but mostly makes them look like they’re doing the chicken dance, very poorly.*

Honestly, I never know how to respond to that!

New Colourways!

2011-11-13T15:34:00.000-08:00

It's been ages since we blogged AND since we've updated the etsy shop, but I'm finally adding some new colourways! The first one is another Harry Potter themed colourway. I call her Cho, and she's an idea I've had in my head for a while now:

I want to try different ways to dye this colourway in the future, so I'm sure the next batch will be a bit different. But I love how she turned out!

I'm going to be updating Etsy with more yarns and goodies soon, so keep an eye out!!

One of the reasons we haven't updated in ages is because we've had a busy summer/fall. We've had a craft show a month for the last three months, which has kept us both busy knitting and dyeing and it's been hard to update stock when we keep having to resupply it. Not that I'm complaining. It's been fun!

And, as always, we've been busy knitting away. We did the Hungry Bees pattern as our Socktober Knit-a-long, and mine turned out very fun

(The other foot was in an ankle wrap. Just imagine there are two feet!)

I also knit a cute little cabled cardigan

And I'm working on test knitting a pair of socks for a friend. They're very cabled and use Austrian twisted stitches. They're so pretty! I'm using MadelineTosh Tosh Merino Lite in the Sugar Plum colourway.

I hope to read the heel flap tonight! There are cables down the back of the heel, which I've never done before. I love doing new knitting things.

That's what's been keeping me busy. What about you?

Single Skein September!

2011-09-03T10:14:00.000-07:00

We survived our first vendor table at the Lancaster Farmer's Market last Saturday. It was an interesting and informative experience. Check out our display:

I had fun designing labels for everything. Now that we've gotten our feet wet, we have submitted an application to have a table at the WNY Fiber Festival (formerly the Knox Farm Fiber Festival). That will be on the 24th of this month at Emery Park in South Wales. I encourage everyone to attend and support this festival so that we can keep it going for years go to come. And of course, if you do go, stop by and say hi to us!

In other news: It's Single Skein September, so I'm trying to get through at least ONE single skein. Of course I'm knitting socks! And, I'm trying to finish up my Jaywalkers that I've been working on since forever. I'm on the ribbing at the top of the second sock, and then its just the afterthought heel and all done! I'm also spinning some sock yarn that I hope to have done this month so I can knit it into a pair of Rapunzel Stockings.

October will be SOCKTOBER and our knitting group be doing a Knit-a-Long of Hungry Bees by Emma Grundy Haigh:

Want to join us? If you don't have yarn, I'll be dyeing some up honey coloured yarn soon, and I've got a nice golden wheat colour now in the shop that I think would look great as Hungry Bees: Scrimgeour

I still haven't updated my stash for August yet, but that will be happening soon. I have to get to 15,000 before Rhinebeck so I'll be a knitting fool the next month and a half!

Happy Knitting, keep those needles a-clicking!

Sereknitty

I made a couple stitch markers today

2011-08-23T13:23:00.000-07:00

Why? Because Lolo and I will be at the Lancaster Market this Saturday from 7-1 selling hand dyed and hand spun yarn, knitted and handmade gift items AND...stitch markers!! If you're free, stop by and say hi (and maybe buy something?)

We will be joined by Jenn of 716knit, whose self striping yarns are so bright and awesome.

Hope to see you there!!!

Sereknitty

I DID IT!!!

2011-08-03T16:22:00.000-07:00

I finished the shawl!!!!

Isn't it beautiful? Don't you love it? The pattern is now available. It's called Dancing Birds of Paradise and you can find it here.

In other news, I knit 2570 yards in July! Pretty amazing, huh? Well, not all of it was knitting, I did give some yarn away, but still, in coldsheeping, destashing counts. So far I've used up 11,562 yards, bringing my stash down to 27,370 yards. I think I can make my goal of hitting 15,000 yards before Rhinebeck in October!!

All in all, good news. We are both knitting/dyeing/crafting furiously to prepare for the craft table on the 27th, so clear your schedule to come visit us at the Lancaster Farmer's Market between 7 and 1. We'll have hand dyed and hand spun yarns along with knitted and hand made gift items. There will be something for everybody and hopefully it'll be lots of fun!

Paragons of awesome

2011-07-13T10:44:00.000-07:00

Hello!
It is I, the illusive Loloknits. Sereknitty has been doing a hell of a lot of the work around here, I am so grateful to her! Life has thrown me some serious (emotional) curveballs lately and it's been really hard for me to get myself together some days. Now, things are looking better and I'm so excited to be back on track! I'm lucky enough to have some time off from work and have lots of plans for fun and knitting. :) I've just bought a new camera - a test action shot:

We got the good news the other day that we've been accepted at a local farmers' market! Our goal date to start is in late August, so I've been working on pumping out lots of inventory - washcloth and bookmarks mostly for now. The washcloths have no rhyme or reason, just whatever I feel like!

I'm a local coffee shop right now, my train of thought keeps getting interrupted by the fabulous dude candy that keeps strolling in! I guess it's that time of the day for sexy runners and guys with great hair and swaggers. ;)
The plan tonight is to turn these:

Into real bookmarks! They're in a larval, kinda looking like kelp stage but when they grow up, I'm hoping for loveliness. I'm gonna use a very scientific concoction of glue and water to stiffen them and bring out the laciness (I promise, it's there).

Huh, interesting podcast just popped up on ye olde iPod - Does size matter?
Any thoughts? Ladies? Gents?
Should we be using metric?
This seems ironic, given my surroundings ;)

Well on that note, time to sign off!
May you always get gauge,
Lolo

Slog Saturday

2011-07-10T07:03:00.000-07:00

I didn't get a chance to work on my Finish Friday project on Friday. I'm knitting a shawl with a deadline so I've been mostly knitting on that (more on THAT below). But, I did find time last night to work on my sock. Here's where I started:

I popped in a DVD and ended up here:

Not too much farther to go! I can have it finished in a few more Fridays if I keep this up!

LoloKnits and I managed to get lots of crafting time in during the 4th of July weekend. Here's our Knitting in Public Tip for you: If you're going to sit outside to watch fireworks, make sure you score a seat under a street light so you can knit after it gets dark. Loloknits and I made great use of a street light at the Harbourfront in Buffalo. The fireworks were late, so we had LOTS of time to knit, while everyone around us was bored and complaining.

And we also got plenty of knitting time at a parade in Lancaster on the 4th. One of my favourite bits of the parade was the Four Presidents of Mt. Rushmore. I only got one terrible picture, but trust me, they looked amazing.

Oh, and back to my shawl with the deadline: Guess who is running out of yarn? YUP, that would be me. I was doubting whether I'd have enough yarn for a few days now, but I suddenly realized last night that I would not have enough to finish. I did the math, it would not work. So I think I have no choice but to frog back and reduce the number of pattern repeats on the body and then redo the two edge charts. It's going to set me back a couple weeks and I'll miss my deadline! I emailed the designer and I'm waiting to hear back from her to see what she says. The crazy bit is that I OVERESTIMATED how much yarn I'd need, I thought I'd have plenty leftover. I was even fantasizing about what I'd make with the leftovers (socks of course). It's very upsetting!! But, if I tink back now and knit furiously I can have it done before the end of the month, easy. I was so close! I had 13 rows left.

What lessons can be learned from this? Well, thankfully I left in my last 2 life lines so I can frog back to the beginning of the edge rows no problem. That's a good lesson; leave the lifelines in place, just in case! Also, I could probably also learn to give myself plenty of time to meet a deadline. I knew this would be a tight squeeze when I signed on for it, not much room for error. So maybe that was my bad. And then, I guess I should pay more attention when I start to get that little niggling "something's not quite right" feeling. You know what I mean. The sweater's just not working in the yarn, yet you keep knitting it. The sizing is off but you think you can make it work. And you keep knitting and knitting and then when it's finished you HATE it and have to frog it. All that wasted effort. If I had paid more attention when I first started having suspicions, I might have realized earlier on that I'd have to go back and would have saved myself time and heartache. That's an important lesson to learn, listening to your Inner Better Knitter. Ah well. Tinking makes us better knitters, right?

-Sereknitty

Catching up

2011-07-02T15:09:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been a while! We've been so busy this spring/summer. But here's what's going on with me:

My Coldsheeping totals for June are:

Total Yardage in my stash: 28150.08
Total yards used in 2011: 8992.08
Total yards used in June: 780.06

Not too shabby, but a slow month compared to what I've been doing. But, that's ok, because I have some larger projects on my needles that will be done next month, and I'm always churning out a few small projects.

Plus, I'm really trying to work on finishing up some UFO (unfinished objects) so I've instituted FINISH FRIDAYS (I didn't coin the term) where I work on a UFO for an hour on Friday to try to get it done and off the needles. I can do more than an hour, of course, but squeezing in an hour when I have deadlines looming can be tough. So, this past Friday I picked up my Jaywalkers, or Sreklawyaj, as I like to call them, as I'm knitting them toe up. :)

Here is the picture before I started. The rubber ducky marks my starting point.

I popped in a DVD, knit away and when I was done, it looked like this:

Not too shabby for one episode of "Wonderfalls". Tune back in next week when I'll try to get even further!

Besides working on UFOs and some larger projects I haven't finished yet, I did manage to finish a few things in June. First, a pair of ankle socks (because I am addicted to ankle socks!)

A second Whisper Cardigan that I knit out of a worsted weight, hand dyed cotton boucle that I am calling my ROAR! Cardigan (for obvious reasons)

And this adorable toy. It starts as a squirrel:

And flips into a hedgehog!

I know I shouldn't have favourites, but isn't that hedgehog CUTE?

Oh, and I also spun up a small skein of some llama fibre I got at Rhinebeck last year. I'm going to dye it and then knit it into something for myself:

It's the first fingering weight I've been able to spin so I'm quite proud of it!

And that's what I've been up to recently. What have you been knitting?

The End of April

2011-04-30T13:24:00.000-07:00

It's been a mad month with snow storms and heavy rains, muggy and hot one day and freezing cold the next! But we've been busy here in Buffalo, knitting the month away. Here are just some of the things I've accomplished this month:

I knit half a dozen dish cloths, some oven mitts (to be felted later on). I crocheted little face pads for washing my face instead of using cotton pads and I finished my Whisper Cardigan. I'm in love with the cardigan and will be wearing it constantly!

I'm also making good progress on my coldsheeping diet. My End of April/Beginning of May totals are thus:

Current yardage: 29072.93
Total knit: 7663.23

My stash took a BIG jump this month when LoloKnits found a huge shopping cart full of gorgeous hand dyed yarns at a thrift store. We divvied them up. This is what I came home with:

Half of that is roving!! She had even more, I think. I added over 7000 to my total stash! But, such gorgeous stuff, it was completely worth it. We're still hoping to do a craft booth in August, so we're both knitting items for that. Should be fun!

Cheers!

Sereknitty

March Madness

2011-03-18T08:27:00.000-07:00

Hi, it's Sereknitty again.

It's been awhile since we posted. We've been slogging through the end of winter, in that weird in between place we call "Sprinter". Lovely and warm one day, snowing and cold the next. It's a time when everybody is a bit crabby. We're all sick of winter and all that it entails: scraping snow and ice off the car, dark long days, winter coats, ice on the roads. Even warm comfort foods. We want fresh veggies from the farmer's market and to peel off a couple layers of clothing. We're almost there, but we can't quite get our hopes up yet. The end of winter always has a few surprises for us.

Everybody has their own way of surviving until Spring. Not surprisingly, I knit. As LoloKnits announced the other day, "Knitting is my default." And that pretty much is all I have been doing every single spare second of my days. As you would expect, I've been getting quite a lot done. Here are a few of my projects:

I knit this adorable giraffe for my boss for her birthday last month

along with some washcloths and a little stuffed duck for baby gifts for a coworker:

I'm also working on a pair of socks for my BIL, two pairs of socks for me, a scarf for a recently retired co-worker, a cozy for my coffee press (it's a KAL!), my second End Paper Mitt, a Holden Shawlette (my first ever lace shawl and a KAL!), and I've nearly finished my Cloisonne Jacket. As you can tell, I am quite busy. I haven't been doing much for our Etsy shop, but I've got some hand-dyed roving that I need to spin up. Since LoloKnits and I are going to have a table at a craft booth in August, I really need to start working on some projects for that. I have several in mind. We'll see how they go. I know she's knit quite a few wash cloths already! I'm just hoping to get a few projects finished soon so I can dedicate more time to that. As I'm not working OT anymore, that gives me more time to knit. And catch up housework. Or knit. :)

I promise to update my Yarn Diet status at the end of the month. Hopefully Cloisonne will be done by then; that'll add quite a bit to my monthly total!

Happy Knitting!

Sereknitty

Yes Virginia, there is a loloknits

2011-02-08T07:21:00.000-08:00

Hi! Yes, I am real, SereKnitty's partner in fiber crime. By day, I a radiation scientist in North Buffalo, but one day, I would like to make knitting my full-time gig. I'd also like to have a couple of angora rabbits and try to pass off one of those tiny sheep as my dog....
What's on my needles now? I'm less of my knitting polygamist self and only have 3 things going right now...S and I are both making the Closionne Jacket from the Fall 2010 IK, she in a beautiful brown and turquoise combination (her favourite colours) and mine is a deep purple and mossy colour. I decided to be a bit of a weenie and follow the non-circular, non-steek directions - maybe I regret it? I have the torso and one sleeve done, it shall be done soon! I'm also working on a pair of socks, made to order, no pattern - I'm just knitting, tweaking and hoping it fits. luckily the recipent is around, poor man has to keep trying them on! With the goal of a small craft fair at the end of the summer, I'm starting Washcloth-apalooza 2011! I picked up more sugar n cream plus I have cones of plain cotton from who knows where...add a stitch dictionary and here we go! I've always thought that there is something really lovely about a well-done washcloth. Now that I've finally done the blogging thing, I'll really try to keep making it better.
My quote of the moment: Seeking happiness outside ourselves is like waiting for sunshine in a cave face north. -Tibetan saying
May you alway get gauge,
Loloknits

Keepin' it Honest

2011-01-28T13:14:00.000-08:00

Sereknitty here again.

I started my yarn diet like I said I would. I'm going cold sheep (with a few exceptions, of course.) Here are my current stats: Yardage: 24359.68. Yards used: 385.1

This will change, obviously, as I have some yarn coming in the mail that I needed for a sweater (I already had half the yarn so I needed the rest) and as I hope to get a few things off my needles soon. Also, despite my best efforts, I still don't think I've cataloged my entire stash. I know there's more hiding out there! And there are some random bits I have to figure out. What are they/how much is there, etc. etc. But, the bulk of my stash is accounted for. The goal for this year is to use up 15,000 this year, (And to DEFINITELY use up more than I bring in) and I think I can do it, especially if I can get some felted projects going.

Wish me luck!

Knitting New Year's Resolutions

2011-01-02T17:06:00.000-08:00

Sereknitty again!

I decided that this year I need to go on a yarn diet to shrink my stash a bit. It's not that my stash is overly large, it's that it's primarily made up of three things: sock yarn, kitchen cotton and felting yarn. Which I guess says a lot about my knitting habits. I think I figured out today that I have enough sock yarn to make 15-20 pairs of socks. At least! I want to shrink my stash so I can build it up with other stuff. Like a sweater's worth of Malabrigo, or some really awesome Etsy hand dyes. Plus, I bought all this yarn with projects in mind, projects that keep getting shoved aside for other things. I want to get those projects knit! So, my big New Year's Resolution this year is the Yarn Diet. But, as with all things, there are some exceptions:

1. Baby yarn. Several people in my life are either pregnant, trying to adopt or trying to get pregnant and all those babies need nice things so I'm allowed to buy yarn to make baby gifts. One of my goals this year is to keep one baby item on the needles at all times and to build up a stash of gifts to pull from when necessary. I want to use stuff from my stash first, but I don't have the yarn to knit a stuffed giraffe or a whole baby blanket and I need to remedy that.
2. Yarn to finish projects. I have half a sweater's worth of Cascade 220 and I want to get the rest of the yarn I need so I can make the sweater. If I already have the yarn in my stash and just need to add to it, that's ok.
3. Knitting Requests/Gifts. If someone asks me to make them something or if I want to make a gift for someone and I don't have the right yarn in my stash, I'm allowed to buy it. As long as it's not for myself.
4. Bare Yarn/Roving to sell. I'm allowed to buy bare yarn to dye or roving to dye/spin. You know, as soon as I start making any money off our Etsy shop.

I think those are my only exceptions.

Do you have a knitting/fibre related resolution? I'd love to hear about it!

Etsy Shop a Go-Go!

2010-12-26T12:03:00.000-08:00

Sereknitty here!

I have finally managed to find time to get the first items posted to our Etsy shop. More coming, of course, but here are a few teasers:

You can check our our shop at KnitCoreBuffalo.

In other news: LoloKnits is currently exploring Iceland and hopefully bringing back loads of yarn and pictures of sheep. And, I got a SPINNING WHEEL for Christmas. It's an Ashford Kiwi:

which my dad was assured by the lovely people at Webs was great for a beginner and a lefty. It's GORGEOUS and I assembled it ALL BY MYSELF (you can applaud here.) I'm having trouble deciding which hand I want to draft with (which isn't a problem I've ever had with a drop spindle) and keep switching, but it doesn't seem to matter. I think this may be just another lefty evolutionary advantage (like being able to use a mouse or a ten key pad WHILE taking notes. Oh yes!) Either way, my first attempts are spinning on a wheel are turning out gorgeous. I'm using some lovely lovely roving I picked up at the Rhinebeck Sheep & Wool Festival by Gnomespun Yarn (www.gnomespunyarn.com). The colour is called "Mourning Dove" and it's so gorgeous that I don't think I could spin badly enough NOT to make beautiful yarn. If that made any sense. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

So, that's the news now. I hope LoloKnits will have pictures and stories when she gets back from Iceland next week. And, coming up soon...KNITTING NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS!

Cheers,

Sereknitty

Post the First

2010-12-18T15:50:00.000-08:00

This is Sereknitty here. So, LoloKnits and I decided to open an Etsy shop. She wants to sell random bits of lovely she makes, I mostly want to sell the yarn I dye. It's become a bit of an obsession and I can't fund it solely on my salary so I must part with some of my lovelies to make enough money to make more. Like the shoemaker who only had enough leather for one pair of shoes and sold them and so had enough to make two pairs of shoes. It's been a long time coming, but we're nearly there. We have the shop all set up, now it's up to me to actually get some items up for sale (that's my job in this venture). I just need to survive a certain week-away holiday, what with last minute gift-knitting and present wrapping and oh no I've run out of cards. Plus, I do feel a bit guilty about sitting and knitting when I've got a MOUNTAIN of dishes in the sink. As much as I try, I just can't get my cat to do the dishes!!

But tomorrow is our knitting group's yearly holiday party/yarn swap, which is always a fun time. I might come home with some new yarns and new project ideas; as if I needed more! So, posting items in our shop is going to have to wait a couple more days. But trust me, it's going to be worth the wait...I hope!