I adore getting mail. Not flyers or bills or anything like that. Real mail. Letters, packages, postcards really anything that comes from a real person. So, today was lovely going to the mailbox to find this.
A package from my friend Tini in Germany with provisions for my sock yarn blanket!
Yay for mail!!!!
I just got an email this morning saying that they are doing the Socks that Rock Mill End mystery bags this weekend. This, much like the Wollmeise “We’re different” yarns, is a really great way to get some Socks that Rock to play with for a more affordable price. You don’t get to choose the colors but honestly this is kinda a good way to develop a stash that isn’t just in your colors (in my case, this usually means blues, greens and reds). It makes them good to go to for presents:-)
If you want to be notified of sales and knitalongs and the like from Blue Moon Fiber Arts, they do a good (and not obnoxiously often) email list. It’s the best way to find out about these things early.
Have fun!
So, yeah… I get the addictive nature of the Monkey socks now. I already want to cast-on the next pair and I’m not done with this pair yet! It’s sort of like when I was still smoking (yes, I used to smoke. I quit. It’s bad for you, don’t start it!) when I would want another cigarette before I had even finished the one I was smoking. Knitting Monkeys is kinda like that…
I even have the yarn for the next two pairs balled up at this point, just waiting to get cast-on.
Both are Socks that Rock lightweight in mill ends colors (aka, I don’t know the colors:-))
It really is a sickness. Get used to seeing Monkey’s on here for a while!
In other news, I now have a place to live come the end of July. Yay! I’m not going to be homeless! Also, it allows dogs (note on the plural there) so I will be able to have both Weezy and Malcolm living with me next year. I have a feeling that this means that the bromance ongoing between my father and Malcolm will cool a little bit and hopefully I’ll be able to get Mal back down to his proper weight. Maybe in working on doing so, I will bring me back to down to my proper weight as well!
This has been a really scary year so far weather-wise across a huge chunk of the US. For the folks in Oklahoma, it’s been heartbreaking. It feels as though every time we turn around, there’s another round of severe weather heading their way, making the clean-up from what they’ve already gotten even more difficult. There’s a really great knitting pattern book that’s been put together to aid the folks devastated by the tornadoes in Oklahoma. It’s called k*tog and it contains 20 patterns including: 4 patterns for socks, 4 patterns for scarves or cowls, a vest, a cardigan, 2 hats, 4 shawls, a baby cocoon, some toys and a pair of fingerless mitts. It’s $20 and ALL of the proceeds from it go to the folks in Oklahoma. Honestly folks, even if you only knit a couple of the patterns in it it’s still a great deal. I mean, $20 for 20 patterns. Go, get it here if you haven’t already!
This weekend is the Iowa Sheep and Wool festival in Adel, Iowa. I will be attending and taking a class on Saturday morning about Angora rabbits. How to care for them and how to spin their wool. Should be… fluffy:-) I will be doing some stuff with my guild as well which is always fun! If you are in the area I would strongly encourage you to come and check out the wooliness!
I finished the pink and grey monkeys shortly after I finished the last post. My sock blockers have been getting a lot of work lately, a lot more than they are used to at least!
There wasn’t a huge amount of yarn left over, but it only take about 5 or 6 grams to make one of the smaller squares.
I enjoyed making that pattern so much, I’ve decided to make it again. I’m even using the same yarn (base, like I would have that much pink of any yarn in my stash!). I think that these are going to be for me as I wear a lot of the colors in them often.
It was a grey and rainy day today, as it has been much of the spring. Hence the craptastical photos. So far, Ames hasn’t flooded in any substantial manner, though given the amounts of rain that we have received, this is almost a surprise. I don’t live in an area prone to flooding though there are areas like that all around the city. Hopefully, this won’t be a repeat of years past…
(Don’t worry, the Wollmeise is all in plastic bags and on a top shelf, just in case! [because I knew that y’all were worried!])
Random has been sort of my catchword of late. It feels as though my life has become a host of things unrelated to one another except through me. I could make a concept map to explain this, but I’ll save y’all the horror:-)
I’ve not posted here in a while. Partially this is because, quite frankly, I was tired of writing. I write a lot in grad school and by the time I make it home, all I want to do was sit and watch something that didn’t tax my brain powers at all and have dinner. And knit or crochet, of course. This makes all forms of communication other than texting (short and usually grammatically incorrect, thus fits into the stupid qualifications) rather difficult to find the motivation to engage in.
There were also other things going on that were really too sad to talk about for a while. My lovely Meara died quite unexpectedly in the middle of December. This threw me for a lot longer than I even realized. It may be corny to mourn a dog, but she had been my nearly constant companion for over a decade.
School got a lot harder this past semester than it had been the previous two. More graduate level classes as well as T.A.’ing a class that was pretty time intensive.
I have been knitting. Lots of socks:
These are my “Eye of Jupiter” socks. I used the vanilla pattern from the Yarn Harlot and the yarn I dyed last semester at a Workspace class. They are inspired by the “Eye of Jupiter” paintings that Starbuck painted on BSG.
Yes, these are my first Monkeys. Knitted mostly on the way to and back from Columbus, Ohio for a conference. Done in Socks that Rock lightweight, unknown colorway (mill-ends grab-bag).
This is how I roll when being driven:-)
It wasn’t all socks, there were shawls:
Damask by Kitman Figueroa knitted in Swans Island Pure Blends Collection in Seasmoke.
There was a LOT of sock yarn blanket work done! I’m actually running into a real threat of running out of unique sock yarn leftovers! Hence the reason I am suddenly feeling the urge to actually knit socks! I have a lot of sock yarn, but a lot of it is really nice stuff that needs to get knitted into something else and have leftovers used rather than just instantly becoming labeled “leftovers”. If anyone has any little balls of leftover sock yarn, I will certainly take them off your hands. I also have a lot of “mini-skeins” that I am willing to trade for new yarns. Just give me a shout!
Photo taken this afternoon. Trust me, it is a fair bit larger than it was in the first photo!
Of course there were baby goats too! This was a set of twins born to a doe not really interested in them. When I put these photos on Facebook I said, “You know that you are at an Ag University when this is your Saturday night…” So, so true! Both of them ended-up in good homes and are happy and healthy (no, I did not keep them long-term in my house. They were there for a weekend!)
Amongst all of this, I actually did some school work! One of my favorite assignments this past semester was a presentation I did for a technology class on how to incorporate Ravelry into the classroom. I had fun making the display:-)
Yep, that’s the sockyarn blanket, project bags from various Ravelry meetups, and mini skeins of sockyarn!
I’m wearing buttons from various meetings and events I have attended. There is also a “concept map” about fiber in the background that I made for another class.
My brother got married in April and he and his fiance (now wife, obviously) decided to do it in St. Marteen. At an all-inclusive resort. Yay!
Seriously, this was taken in the middle of the day with no editing. That was what the sea looked like from our hotel!
Happy, happy!
There was a visit to the farm by my roommates dog, Dusty (so NOT a farm dog:-))
A poster abstract I had submitted got accepted to a national conference. Thus the trip to Columbus, Ohio a couple of weeks ago.
Most of the ISU group at the AAAE National Conference.
This was the row of Iowa State posters. We took up an entire row. I’m not sure that any other school did that:-)
My poster. It was about an energy workshop held for teachers.
I even had to go out and get a suit for this conference! Haven’t had to look “professional” in a long time!
This week I found a sewing machine at the side of the road waiting to be hauled away by the garbage collectors. I couldn’t let it happen just for the cabinet alone!
There is a little spot in the cabinet where you can slide the foot peddle into it and there is a lever that opens out so that you can control it with your knee!
It’s an antique Necchi, which when I did a little research, I found out is an Italian brand that was really mostly known for their industrial machines, but that they also made really excellent machines for the home as well. These still go for $100’s of dollars in working condition, which this one is. They are known as very tough machines. Yay for me being a garbage hound! I did replace the power cord, as the one on it looked like it had been melted time and again and made me very nervous.
So that is a really brief synopsis of what has been going on in my life. Of course there is a lot that I have left out. Like how many times I fell on my arse this very long and very snowy winter (a lot). Or how many pages of papers I graded (many hundreds, if not low thousands). Or how many text messages I’ve sent and received (ummmm, don’t want to talk about that….). It’s been busy, but I am hopeful that the summer will allow time for more blogging again.
You know you had a good time on your birthday when you don’t get to blog about it until a week later!
My day started normally enough until I got to the office where a very interesting box awaited me on my desk. Given it’s dimensions, I was a tad apprehensive that my day was going to devolve into something Kill Bill-esque…
…until I opened it up. It’s a beautiful tapestry that my friend Guang had his folks bring back from China for me:-)
When my friend Elise arrived, so did flowers…
doughnuts and a massive chocolate cake.
I also got another box in the mail when I went to the post office later. It was a wrapped box…
…and it contained this.
It’s a Nexus 7 tablet. A very kind friend sent it to me as a really big surprise. A big surprise is certainly was!
That evening Elise and I went to Welch Ave. Station for dinner and drinks. This is a college bar here in the Iowa State campus town that has been around FOREVER. My free birthday drink was their Pissed off Japanese Minnow Farmer. After that, well, things got a little interesting.
Yeah. That’s me. Putting away tequila shots like a full-on college student. Which I guess that I am!
Believe it or not, after about 10 shots I still was able to walk out of the bar on my own two feet. I didn’t get sick nor was I hung-over in the morning (in case you were worried). I think the pizza, fried cheese balls, and cheesy bread that we had eaten earlier in the evening mitigated the potential for alcohol damage. Don’t get me wrong, I was a rather cheerful Sarah leaving the bar that night, but honestly, I was walking better than Elise was and she’d not had a drink that night!
Today I received a package from my friend Tini in Germany.
In it was a sweet birthday card, 2 cutie sheep figurines, some lush spinning fiber, a bit of leftover sock yarn for my blanket and a little notebook that I am going to use to keep my spinning notes in, and a bunch of Tyvek bracelets like what you get when you go to a club or an event. They are for marking yardage and such on skeined-up yarn that you are then going to wash. Brilliant!
This evening I got yet another birthday present from my lovely roommate Des. It’s the book Latvian Mittens by Lizbeth Upitis. Such a beautifully done book!
Weezy approved!
Thank you to everyone who made my birthday so wonderful. Special thanks to Elise and Guang for a fantastic night out! If this is what 35 is like, roll on 40!
So, I was asked to share what I got at Sticks and Sting this year. I assure you it is modest in the most! 
The yellow yarn on the left is a custom dyed skein of Superwash Merino 3 ply yarn that came with my goodie bag (but that I forgot to photograph!) by Dreams in Fiber. The middle blue and white merino/nylon superwash yarn is also by Dreams in Fiber and the colorway is “The Box”. The bundle on the right is by Blue Ridge Yarns and it’s called Footlights in the colorway “Pansies”.
Yeah, I was that restrained. But you see, I have this at home.
All those skeins in the plastic baggies on the top shelf? Wollmeise. The rest is an assortment of Blue Moon Fiber Arts and other various sock yarn companies. I assure you that this isn’t all of my sock yarn, just what I’ve brought with me to Ames!
In other news, we had snow blow-in early this morning. I fell on my arse twice in the parking lot just trying to get to Curtiss! I was both wet and sore by the time I got to my office this morning. Most, most annoying since I had even “prepared” by wearing my snow boots and was all decked-out for the weather. It is not supposed to happen if you prepare for it!!!! (Sarah’s Law)
Once again I went to the Sticks and String annual knitting retreat held in Des Moines, Iowa this year. It was lovely as ever, with a wonderful marketplace and lots of friendly knitters to get to know! These are some photos from the market place! I only got a couple of things there (I was actually really quite restrained!).
There was also a fantastic goodie bag with the theme of “Let’s Accessorize!”. Included in it was something that I have always wanted to get but have never really been able to justify buying. A yardage counter!
There was also a pack of post-its, a lovely mug, a roll of highlighter tape, a little tin of stitch markers, a skein of sportweight alpaca yarn from C&M Acres, an “I love Knitting” pin from Purdy Things, a little pair of scissors, a mini skein of sock yarn from The Painted Tiger, a knitting tool, some needle keepers, a tube of Udderly Smooth cream, a hand sewn bag to keep it all in from Darnit! Sew What?, and a nice sized project bag from Lion Brand yarn.
It is still actually going on today, but alas, winter storm Luna decided to come and ice on my parade. I got up this morning and went to let the dogs out and took a few experimental steps off our porch and nearly bit it straight away. So, no driving to Des Moines for me today! Does anybody know when they started naming every single storm that comes through?? I mean, I can remember a time when we just called them storms and didn’t give them Christian names. I understand the naming of hurricanes, but blizzards? Ice storms? Really????
I’ve been reading the ladies over at the Mason-Dixon and their lightning blog posts for the past few weeks and I’m thinking that this might be what is needed to get me back into writing here. So, thanks Kay and Ann! (or not possibly:-))
My life here in Ames got busy in a hurry thus my abrupt departure from the blog. School started taking up a lot more of my time what with projects and papers becoming due. I also started getting to know my fellow grad students in my department and having this weird thing called “a life”. Not a hugely glamorous one with red carpets and VIP lounges, but a life never the less. Often we can be found at each other’s places eating, drinking, or just hanging-out watching Big Bang Theory.
Immediately after Thanksgiving Meara became ill. She was diagnosed with an unusual type of anemia. The second week of December she died. This really took the wind out of my sails and the cheer out of my Christmas. You should be glad that you didn’t hear from me during December as I was about as cheerful as a lump of, well, poop.
I’m hoping that this semester pulls itself out of the ditch that it’s in currently. I have been ill, which never makes anyone cheerful. It has the potential to be an enormously kick-ass semester. I am taking a class called “Foods of Animal Origins” which, is basically what it sounds like. For the lab on Wednesday, I spent about an hour in a meat locker and processing facility. I think I will be spending a lot more time in there! I’m also taking a class on how to do research as well as technology use in the classroom. I’m not sure I could’ve gotten a more diverse class selection if I had tried:-)
I am also T.A.’ing an advanced agricultural communications course where I actually “teach” a section (sort of like a lab). My first “real” teaching and so far I am enjoying it.
This weekend will be my second time at Sticks and String. I won’t be able to spend as much time there as I have in the past as I need to get some assignments finished, but I am looking forward to it immensely. It’s always good to be around other fiber folks!
My desk in my corner of the office now. I think I’ve moved in…
Yes, you can tell a horticulturalist resides here!
Today I went down to the Lamoni Produce Auction. My goal was winter squash and boy did I succeed!
I put the CD in the picture to give it scale. Otherwise the squash looked like little ornamental gourds! These 8 butternut squash weigh from 7.5 lbs to 8.5 lbs! Huge!!!!
On the other end of the spectrum, I got 36 of these little baby butternuts.
They average of these little ones is about 1.5 lbs a piece. There were also a few in the middle that were around 2.5 lbs.
I realize that I haven’t spoken about the Lamoni produce auction here before. It’s more or less what is sounds like. A produce auction held in Lamoni, Iowa. The interesting thing about it is that the bulk of the sellers are Amish (read the link, it’s interesting). Thus, much of what is done is with horse and wagon and man power. Just seeing all the wagons and horses come through is fascinating!
The auction site itself has all the modern conveniences. Electricity, phone, internet, but it also isn’t run by the Amish themselves. However, they do work a lot in it and are obviously on-site during the selling. I wanted to show how the auction is run without taking pictures of any of the Amish themselves. You see, I’m not completely sure what this group of Amish’s beliefs are as they pertain to photos. I couldn’t find any good way to photograph this experience without getting any of the Amish in the photos. So, I compromised. Any Amish in the following photos have had their faces obscured if they were at all visible. There are lots of pictures of the Amish online, but these people aren’t exactly strangers to me and I sincerely don’t want to offend them. However I really wanted to show you all this as it’s really interesting. It’s a tricky tightrope to walk and I hope that I have done ok with it.
You can see here that the wagons pulled by the horses go through an alley of sorts. On one side of the alley there is the auctioneer with his motley crew of assistants that sort out what is being sold, display it, and record the sales. On the other side of the alley are the buyers placing the bids for the produce. It’s really a pretty slick way of doing it and reminds me strongly of the Dutch flower auctions!
In this photo you can see how the big speaker is really quite close to the horses heads. It’s amazing how patiently they wait while all this bidding is going on!
The Lamoni Produce Auction is open to the public, if you would like to take a look. However, if you want to bid on anything, be prepared to buy in large lots as it intended for wholesale sales. At the auction today most of the pumpkins were sold in lots between 32 and 100. Often, the produce is sold in groups of cases, so be prepared to eat a lot of whatever you buy! In my case, squash!
Sarah Jane Humke 