Monday, December 28, 2015

Episode Twenty -- In High Quality



Welcome to episode twenty of "Stitching Between Pages"! I hope you enjoy watching, and thank you for checking it out.

Please get in touch!

Ravelry Group: Stitching Between Pages Podcast
Ravelry: halfpass92
Twitter: @medievalisting
Instagram: medievalisting

FOs:
1. Vanilla socks. Knit in KnitPicks Felici in the "Baker Street" colorway. Knit on US1/2.25mm HiyaHiya Sharps DPNs.
2. "Hermaness Hat," by Gudrun Johnston. Knit in Brooklyn Tweed Loft in the "Almanac" colorway. Knit on US2/2.75mm Knitter's Pride Karbonz, 16" circular.
3. "Conversationalist" hat, by The Plucky Knitter. Knit in KnitPicks City Tweed HW/Aran in the "Orca," "Snowshoe," and "Lemon Curd" colorways. Knit on US5/3.75mm and US7/4.5mm KnitPicks Caspian 16" circulars. (I gave the wrong name for the dark gray on the podcast! It's "Orca," not "Onyx.")

WIPS:
1. "Conversationalist" hat the second. Same details as the FO, just with the colors in a different order!
2. Vanilla socks. Knit in Night Owl Fibers yarn (the base with stellina) in the "Peppermint Swirls" colorway. Knit on US1/2.25mm HiyaHiya Sharps DPNS. I used this lovely tutorial for the picot edge.
3.. "Featherweight Cardigan," by Hannah Fettig. Knit in KnitPicks Alpaca Cloud, "Beth" colorway. Knit on US6/4.00mm HiyaHiya Sharps, 32" circular.
4. "The Doodler," by Stephen West (2015 WestKnits MKAL). Knit in The Wool Barn Luxury Sock, "Butterfly" colorway; Dream in Color Jilly, "Basalt" colorway; and Manos del Uruguay Fino, "Ivory Letter Opener" colorway. Knit on US4/3.5mm HiyaHiya Sharps, 32" circular.
5. Granny Square Blanket, crocheted with an E/4 hook from random sock-weight scraps.

Pretty New Yarn!:
1. Three gorgeous skeins of Blacker Yarns Cornish Tin DK from Raza Wool in the "Levant Grey," "Pengenna Green," and "Wheal Rose Red" colorways. (I checked, and they do still have some DK-weight Cornish Tin as of Sunday evening, December 27, 2015.)
2. Lambspun Great American Buffalo Yarn in the "Aubergine Eggplant" colorway.
3. Camelot Dyeworks Galahad Sock in the "Sunflower" colorway. (Plus a fun miniskein!)

Books:
1. SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, by Mary Beard
2. Quilt As-You-Go Made Modern: Fresh Techniques for Busy Quilters, by Jera Brandvig

Other Miscellaneous Mentions:
1. The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, TX, is really delightful. If you're in the area, I definitely recommend going! My favorite painting in their permanent collection is "The Cardsharps," by Caravaggio. The special Caillebotte exhibit was a real treat, too. Here's the "Floor Planers" painting that started Caillebotte's career. The "Paris Street, Rainy Day" painting, which is normally at the Art Institute of Chicago, was on display in this exhibit. Previously, the exhibit was on display at the National Gallery of Art in DC; they have a slideshow of some of the paintings from the exhibit, including "The Boulevard Seen From Above," which is the painting I loved with the ginkgo tree. And, here's a bit of information about the Castiglione exhibit.
2. The Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University had a really neat exhibit, "Treasures from the House of Alba: 500 Years of Art and Collecting" about a prominent Spanish aristocratic family and their art collecting.
3. For those curious about Mary Beard's blog, "A Don's Life," it is online here (it's for the Times Literary Supplement). Her Twitter handle is @wmarybeard. If anyone is curious about 1453 as an "end date" for the Roman Empire, the Wikipedia article is rather good -- the capitol city of the Eastern Roman Empire, Constantinople, fell to the Ottomans.

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Episode Nineteen -- In Which I Share Post-Christmas Blues KAL Prizes!


Welcome to episode nineteen of "Stitching Between Pages"! I hope you enjoy watching, and thank you for checking it out.

Please get in touch!

Ravelry Group: Stitching Between Pages Podcast
Ravelry: halfpass92
Twitter: @medievalisting
Instagram: medievalisting

WIPs:
1. Vanilla socks. Knit in KnitPicks Felici in the "Baker Street" colorway. Knit on US1/2.25mm HiyaHiya Sharps DPNs.
2. "Featherweight Cardigan," by Hannah Fettig. Knit in KnitPicks Alpaca Cloud, "Beth" colorway. Knit on US6/4.00mm HiyaHiya Sharps, 32" circular.
3. "The Doodler," by Stephen West (2015 WestKnits MKAL). Knit in The Wool Barn Luxury Sock, "Butterfly" colorway; Dream in Color Jilly, "Basalt" colorway; and Manos del Uruguay Fino, "Ivory Letter Opener" colorway. Knit on US4/3.5mm HiyaHiya Sharps, 32" circular.

Upcoming Projects:
1. Some fingerless mitts or mittens - pattern TBD (let me know if you have any suggestions!) - out of Quince & Co. Finch in the "Bosc" colorway.

Pretty New Yarn!:
1. Gorgeous miniskeins from Julie as part of the JunkYarn minis swap!
2. Two gorgeous skeins of fingering weight yarn from February Storm Yarns on Etsy. One for me, and one for a lucky winner in the upcoming Post-Christmas Blues KAL!
3. Two gorgeous skeins of sock yarn from Night Owl Fibers on Etsy -- thank you, Rachel, for your kind donation to the podcast. It looks like she still has some Christmas colors in her shop!

Book:
1. The Dovekeepers, by Alice Hoffman. I did not mention it, but if you enjoyed The Dovekeepers, you might also enjoy The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant -- and vice versa, if you enjoyed The Red Tent, you might also enjoy The Dovekeepers.

Other Miscellaneous Mentions:
1. I mentioned the BeeCount app, which is the app I've used for counting rows. It is basic, but I really like it. Helpfully, it keeps your phone screen turned on while the app is open, so you don't constantly need to unlock your phone while you're knitting. I'm not sure if there is an iPhone version -- I'm a committed Android user.
2. If you're interested in learning about Josephus the Historian (37-c. 100 AD), the Wikipedia page is a pretty good starting place. He was Jewish, as I mentioned, and was captured by the Romans. In exchange for his life, he wrote for Vespasian -- when Vespasian became emperor, he granted Josephus his freedom.
3. I showed the little house ornament that I knit last year -- here's a link to my project page for it, and that includes a link to the pattern.

Post-Christmas Blues KAL!:
1. A reminder that the rules for the KAL are posted over in the Ravelry group in the "Chatter" thread. Please wait to cast on until January 1!
2. As promised, I'll come up with a hashtag for the KAL for Instagram in the next few days. Once I do, I'll post about it in the "Chatter" thread. It would be great to be able to see everyone's progress that way.
3. We have THREE really exciting prizes! I'm really looking forward to giving them away at the end of the KAL. One is a gorgeous blue skein from February Storm Yarns. The second is a generous donation of some self-striping yarn from Rachel of Night Owl Fibers in the "Flying Solo" colorway. The third is an equally-generous donation of the winner's choice of bag from any bag in the Jibbyroo Sews shop (thank you so much, Michelle, and I am so sorry that I blanked on your name while I was filming!).