tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-195561982024-02-08T06:30:11.479-05:00The Odd OrchardYour source for the works of Freakish Lemon.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger334125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19556198.post-14905697737080783362015-01-15T18:54:00.001-05:002015-01-15T18:54:19.835-05:00THE BLOG HAS OFFICIALLY MOVEDHey all.<br />
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I'm really not sure how many people are following this blog on this particular platform, but I'm officially moving this blog to my website. I'm trying to simplify my blogging so I can get more posts up regularly and I'm afraid this particular platform is slowing me down a little. Also, it makes more sense to have eyeballs going to the same places.<br />
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So if you get this blog on an RSS feed, please go to <a href="http://www.freakishlemon.com">FREAKISHLEMON.COM</a> and update your feeds!<br />
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You can also find me on <a href="http://www.twitter.com/freakishlemon">Twitter</a>, <a href="http://freakishlemon.tumblr.com">Tumblr</a>, and <a href="http://www.instagram.com/freakishlemon">Instagram</a> for steady updates.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19556198.post-84503718906737593662015-01-12T19:55:00.002-05:002015-01-12T19:55:30.915-05:00Handspun UpdateI have some handspun to share with you today!<br />
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Two of these I finished in the fall around the time when I started going to all the woolly events. I ran out of time for photos and organizing a post together, so they kind of fell by the wayside while I was going to different places. One of these I finished last week, so I thought I ought to get the photos together and post them all at once.<br />
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<b>Dark Brown Alpaca Handspun</b><br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/16266878362" title="Dark Brown Alpaca Handspun by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7529/16266878362_da3cb4c7d5_n.jpg" width="320" height="240" alt="Dark Brown Alpaca Handspun"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/16080180708" title="Dark Brown Alpaca Handspun by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7541/16080180708_9799136722_n.jpg" width="320" height="240" alt="Dark Brown Alpaca Handspun"></a></center><br />
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I bought this wool from a local craft fair. I can't remember the name of the vendor or if they even had a card, but it was 2 oz of dark brown alpaca from a farm only a town or two from where I live. It was a lovely wool to spin - very smooth - and I hope to see more from this farm in the future.<br />
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<b>Monochrome Handspun</b><br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/16241812966" title="Monochrome Handspun by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8565/16241812966_34529476ae_n.jpg" width="320" height="240" alt="Monochrome Handspun"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/16080209448" title="Monochrome Handspun by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8666/16080209448_a7543b911d_n.jpg" width="320" height="240" alt="Monochrome Handspun"></a></center><br />
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Over the summer, my family and I went down to Pennsylvania for some vacation time. My parents and youngest brother went down to visit some family and meet us down in a little town where we were staying for the Renaissance Faire. While my parents were there, they bought us all a gift and they bought me 3 oz of 100% pure wool in white, grey, and black, which was fun to spin.<br />
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<b>Nevada Sands Handspun</b><br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/16267764735" title="Nevada Sands Handspun by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7539/16267764735_67a01d8207.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Nevada Sands Handspun"></a></center><br />
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This yarn was spun out of Burgis Brook alpaca that I picked up at the Coventry Farmer's Market this past September. One 2 oz bag was white and the other 2 oz back was white with little dyed spots of orange and yellow. This was a beautiful spin. It was really interesting to see how the colors spun up.<br />
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I have more wool on the wheel, which I'm really excited to show you. Also, I have a couple of different colorways in the works since I got new bobbins for Christmas! :D<br />
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.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19556198.post-60145339549928963132015-01-08T22:02:00.000-05:002015-01-08T22:02:03.591-05:00Halloween Cross-StitchApparently, I completely neglected to make a post about my Halloween cross-stitch?<br />
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Good on me. Here you go!<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/16234071322" title="Halloween Cross-Stitch by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8655/16234071322_a1734ab31d.jpg" width="500" height="320" alt="Halloween Cross-Stitch"></a></center><br />
Tada! I didn't finish them by Halloween, of course. I finished these the week before Thanksgiving. Which is, you know... not what I planned at all, but I'm very pleased with how they turned out!<br />
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Both patterns are from <a href="http://thefrostedpumpkinstitchery.bigcartel.com/">The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery</a> and I enjoyed making them both immensely.<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/16233025931" title="Halloween Cross-Stitch by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8624/16233025931_21d09fd6c2.jpg" width="500" height="466" alt="Halloween Cross-Stitch"></a><br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/16047374508" title="Halloween Cross-Stitch by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7550/16047374508_e01debe617.jpg" width="500" height="486" alt="Halloween Cross-Stitch"></a></center><br />
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I got the frames in time to set these suckers up in the dining room for Thanksgiving. So we had decorations of pilgrims, turkeys, and Halloween cross-stitch.<br />
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.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19556198.post-70732324028298716802015-01-05T21:45:00.000-05:002015-01-05T21:45:43.206-05:00Crafts for Christmas GiftsI told myself last year that I was going to give myself a break from making Christmas gifts in 2014 after the sock avalanche of Christmas 2013. You know what? I lied to myself and I ended up making a lot of last minute gifts. My hands didn't appreciate it, but people liked them!<br />
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For a bunch of folks I made some quilted pot holders:<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/16210401515" title="Quilted Pot Holders by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7526/16210401515_71448eab60_n.jpg" width="320" height="240" alt="Quilted Pot Holders"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15587997264" title="Quilted Pot Holders by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7484/15587997264_01832ccea8_n.jpg" width="320" height="240" alt="Quilted Pot Holders"></a><br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/16208531261" title="Quilted Pot Holders by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7562/16208531261_b3fb8d90f7_n.jpg" width="320" height="240" alt="Quilted Pot Holders"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15590549173" title="Quilted Pot Holders by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7471/15590549173_8ca8628a72_n.jpg" width="320" height="240" alt="Quilted Pot Holders"></a></center><br />
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I made 16 total pot holders to give for Christmas. My sewing machine started acting up toward the end, so there was some struggling, but I managed to make things work until I could finish these. Ended up finishing the binding by hand, though, because I'm not good at machine binding yet, and that took ages.<br />
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And then as a last minute addition to some things for my brothers, I crocheted these washcloths up:<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/16184563906" title="Crochet Wash Cloths by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7549/16184563906_44cf7be4e2_n.jpg" width="320" height="240" alt="Crochet Wash Cloths"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/16024609757" title="Crochet Wash Cloths by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8634/16024609757_e90f53ea8b_n.jpg" width="320" height="240" alt="Crochet Wash Cloths"></a></center><br />
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These two cloths were done using the <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/seeing-squares-dishcloth">Seeing Squares Dishcloth</a> pattern.<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15590578113" title="Crochet Wash Cloths by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8584/15590578113_6e709c7299.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Crochet Wash Cloths"></a></center><br />
And these two cloths were done using the <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/three-color-simple-stitch-dishcloth">Three Color Simple Stitch Dishcloth</a> pattern.<br />
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Both were made with Lion Brand Cotton-Ease in Stone and Lime. They were nice, simple crochet patterns that were quick to get through and look nice. I'm glad I managed to fit them into the few days left before Christmas.<br />
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It was nice to do some crocheting. I've been a pretty steady knitter for the past couple of years, but my roots are in crocheting. It was very comfortable slipping back into that mode and I think I'm going to look for some crochet projects to add to my queue.<br />
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.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19556198.post-32216928424453176182014-12-29T22:02:00.002-05:002014-12-29T22:02:19.558-05:00Post-Christmas Wrap UpMerry Christmas everyone! Hope everyone had a good holiday. Here's my obligatory post-Christmas wrap up.<br />
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Firstly, some trees:<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/16142310202" title="Christmas 2014 by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7547/16142310202_ec92496f1e.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Christmas 2014"></a></center><br />
The 9 foot family room tree!<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/16143062655" title="Christmas 2014 by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7546/16143062655_a8830d60d9.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Christmas 2014"></a></center><br />
The 6 foot living room tree!<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15956976609" title="Christmas 2014 by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7485/15956976609_8e5107c066.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Christmas 2014"></a></center><br />
A bunch of nut crackers!<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15520715374" title="Christmas 2014 by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7510/15520715374_f009b7477a.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Christmas 2014"></a></center><br />
The mini-tree! And a pile of Christmas cards. I keep all my Christmas cards like a card hoarder.<br />
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Christmas was good this year. A little different, but good. My mom found a Hobbit menu online and shifted a couple of the meals around a little (mainly to spread out breakfast, second breakfast, and elevensies into breakfast and elevensies). So we had breakfast and opened a couple of presents each. We headed off to church for a mass that mainly consists of Christmas carols and confusion because they changed a bunch of responses a few years back. I only go to mass once or twice a year, so I haven't learned the new stuff yet.<br />
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Then we came back home and had elevensies and finished opening gifts from the family room tree. Then lunch. Then joking around and watching the Batman TV show marathon on TV while we waited for The Gabbers, J, and pups to arrive! Once they arrived, it was more gifting, afternoon tea, and a permanent puppy placement. My mom got a corgi! (I will post all about the little troublemaker soon!)<br />
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The Gabbers, J, and remaining pups had to leave, then the rest of us played board games, ate dinner, played more board games, had dessert, and conked out for the day.<br />
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All in all, it was a good time. Puppies, board games, and tons of food can't go wrong.<br />
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My parents spoiled us this year. My mom just got a new car because the van wasn't making it through a week with her job, so money's been tighter around the house. She gave us a theme list to give her this year: a) something we need, b) something we want, c) a book, and d) an article of clothing.<br />
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But she surprised us with stuff like this:<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15956972589" title="Christmas 2014 by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7466/15956972589_404d493483.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Christmas 2014"></a></center><br />
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- 2 Star Wars Lego sets<br />
- 2015 Road Atlas (after my siblings and I got horrifyingly turned around in New Jersey this past summer, we need them)<br />
- Groot and Rocket T-Shirt<br />
- Hawkeye Signs T-shirt<br />
- Made by Mom alpaca cowl<br />
- Books 2 and 3 in the All the Wrong Questions series by Lemony Snicket<br />
- Faeries' Tales by Brian and Wendy Froud<br />
- 2 4 oz braids of BFL wool for spinning<br />
- 3 new bobbins for my wheel<br />
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And then my siblings got me these gems:<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15957291487" title="Christmas 2014 by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8629/15957291487_a39920cecc.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Christmas 2014"></a></center><br />
I still can't believe that Pickleface actually found a copy of D&D Clue. I've been looking for it forever. <br />
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Thanks to my folks for these fantastic gifts.<br />
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And thank you to my friends who got me gifts this year too! You folks are amazing. I got Bananagrams from friends' annual Christmas party gift swap and Cthulhu Fluxx, a sock loom knitting book, and a box of fancy teas from some folks! :D<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19556198.post-17058438212425485512014-12-05T21:59:00.002-05:002014-12-05T21:59:25.285-05:00Eyelet Swirl HatHey all! Just a heads up, blogging is going to be a little haphazard for a while. Work is crazy right now and Christmas is looming over my shoulder quickly. I do have a bunch of finished objects lined up to post, but time is going to be tight for a while.<br />
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So today, you get my post on the Eyelet Swirl Hat!<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15955490332" title="Eyelet Swirl Hat by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7553/15955490332_d531c87405_n.jpg" width="240" height="320" alt="Eyelet Swirl Hat"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15336518893" title="Eyelet Swirl Hat by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7492/15336518893_2a39633243_n.jpg" width="320" height="240" alt="Eyelet Swirl Hat"></a></center><br />
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<b>Pattern:</b> <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/eyelet-swirl-hats">Eyelet Swirl Hat</a><br />
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<b>Yarn:</b> Classic Elite Yarns Liberty Wool Light (6623)<br />
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<b>Needles:</b> US 4 - 3.5 mm<br />
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This was actually a kit that I won in a raffle! All of the yarn shops during the Western CT Yarn Crawl had their own raffles in each of the stores, and my name was drawn at New England Yarn & Spindle! I swung by the shop the week after the crawl and picked up my kit. <br />
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This yarn is pretty amazing. It's very soft and the colors are absolutely lovely. I just kept returning to the bag to touch the yarn, so I had to cast on right away.<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15770413257" title="Eyelet Swirl Hat by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7580/15770413257_d46f753e5f.jpg" width="500" height="410" alt="Eyelet Swirl Hat"></a></center><br />
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I have to say that I need to get better at my prep work for knitting hats. I tend to not make up swatches because I'm impatient. This isn't a problem for scarves, generally, and I'm pretty good at recognizing if socks or fingerless mitts are the right gauge for me within a few rows. But I'm terrible at recognizing the right gauge for hats. This hat ended up being a really lovely hat, but it was just loose enough that I didn't feel comfortable wearing it. It sort of sat around for a while I debated frogging it or making due.<br />
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Ultimately, I ended up just looping some thin elastic into the brim. The hat only really needed to be brought in by about an inch, so just the little bit of draw by some elastic made this hat really work for me. I wear it around all the time now.<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15770413957" title="Eyelet Swirl Hat by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7558/15770413957_8406bd5323_n.jpg" width="320" height="240" alt="Eyelet Swirl Hat"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15956132395" title="Eyelet Swirl Hat by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7533/15956132395_bd23c774cd_n.jpg" width="320" height="240" alt="Eyelet Swirl Hat"></a></center><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19556198.post-69865162243779722602014-11-24T21:52:00.000-05:002014-11-24T21:52:11.339-05:00The Winter SoldierWhile the rest of the world seems to be dashing off to Christmas (insert rant about not being able to find good Thanksgiving decorations in November), I thought I'd take today to look back on Halloween.<br />
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Mostly because this folder of costume photos has been kicking around and I need to make a post about it.<br />
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Also, because I didn't get a chance to show off my robot arm closer to Halloween.<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15488618299" title="Continuing to Winter Soldier at the office, but I'm not sure everyone who's commenting knows who I am. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3941/15488618299_22e3d65ed4_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Continuing to Winter Soldier at the office, but I'm not sure everyone who's commenting knows who I am."></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15488600087" title="Winter Soldier selfie. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3941/15488600087_cb59c4e4c6_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Winter Soldier selfie."></a></center><br />
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Those are the good shots. And here's a terrible full body one taken for the costume contest at work:<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15870273831" title="WS work photo copy by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8614/15870273831_003c634b77.jpg" width="217" height="394" alt="WS work photo copy"></a></center><br />
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Ta da! And I thought, since I have this blog and all, I'd show you folks how I put together my cheap Winter Soldier costume.<br />
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Most of this costume is stuff that is really easy to get or something you might already own:<br />
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- Black boots<br />
- Black socks<br />
- Black pants<br />
- Black fingerless glove<br />
- Silver glove<br />
- Black button down shirt (that can be altered)<br />
- Black Humvee combat vest <br />
- Winter Soldier arm leotard thing<br />
- Sunglasses<br />
- Face mask<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15686494357" title="Clothing Pieces by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7483/15686494357_09da83f12d_n.jpg" width="240" height="320" alt="Clothing Pieces"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15684929550" title="Clothing Pieces by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7548/15684929550_96d9a9705e_n.jpg" width="320" height="240" alt="Clothing Pieces"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15250009664" title="Clothing Pieces by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7563/15250009664_2e157a1544_n.jpg" width="320" height="240" alt="Clothing Pieces"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15684747948" title="Clothing Pieces by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7541/15684747948_30df5f32ba_n.jpg" width="320" height="240" alt="Clothing Pieces"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15871624142" title="Clothing Pieces by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8647/15871624142_81eb05fca1_n.jpg" width="320" height="231" alt="Clothing Pieces"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15684746258" title="Clothing Pieces by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7514/15684746258_1f5d3265b3_n.jpg" width="240" height="320" alt="Clothing Pieces"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15684931660" title="Clothing Pieces by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7574/15684931660_4fb9c9ef56_n.jpg" width="240" height="320" alt="Clothing Pieces"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15250011344" title="Clothing Pieces by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8634/15250011344_5d09efe1ff_n.jpg" width="240" height="320" alt="Clothing Pieces"></a></center><br />
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The sunglasses were an Ocean State Job Lot find for $2.00.<br />
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The black fingerless gloves are just a cheap pair of gloves that can be picked up practically anywhere with the fingers cut off. Not even hemmed or anything. They were a part of another costume a few years ago and I think a work friend picked them up for me for $1.00. <br />
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I already owned the silver gloves from an old costume; I just cut the left one down so that it wasn't an elbow glove and hemmed the cuff. It's not a neat cuff, but it's hidden by the black fingerless glove. Silver gloves are pretty easy to find online if there's no party store or costume shop nearby. A quick search shows them from $6.00 to $13.00.<br />
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The altered shirt is also really easy. I just cut off the left arm about an inch below the shoulder seam and hid my hemming stitches along the shoulder seam that was already there. I bought it at a thrift store for $4.00.<br />
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The Humvee combat vest was also a part of a costume a few years back, but my work friend found these at a surplus store for $25.00. It's not as impressive as the Winter Soldier's actual leather coat thing, but if you're on a budget, it's a good alternative.<br />
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The arm is really where all the work and money went. There are some really great tutorials online for Winter Solider arms and I did take some direction from them, but my arm is not as detailed as many of the ones I had seen previously. I think this is a good alternative if you're not sure how far you want to get into making this arm. I could definitely add more detailing and paint to this to make it more realistic if I was intending to wear this to a convention later.<br />
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The first things I started with were a $4.00 long sleeved shirt from Ocean State Job Lot and a $40.00 silver leotard. White ones are cheaper, but I didn't want to paint the whole arm for time reasons.<br />
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I used the $4.00 shirt to create an arm model for myself.<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15846441116" title="Winter Soldier Arm by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7477/15846441116_111623fed3.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Winter Soldier Arm"></a></center><br />
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As you can see, it's mostly masking tape and that shirt. There's plenty of tutorials for making dummies of yourself online, so if you need some help with this part, there are lots of resources. I'd recommend having a friend help out with the arm dummy; I did it on my own and it was really hard to cut off the masking tape dummy up by the shoulder and neck.<br />
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I then put on my sweet, sweet leotard and stuck safety pins into key points on my arm: my wrist where my glove would reach, the inside of my elbow, the top of my shoulder, and approximately where the star might end up. I then dressed up my arm dummy and lined up all those points with the same points on the dummy.<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15871619932" title="Winter Soldier Arm by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7478/15871619932_9775738366.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Winter Soldier Arm"></a></center><br />
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I then drew out a diagram of the Winter Soldier's arm in Adobe Photoshop and created a PDF that I could print out as a stencil. I'm going to make both the PDF and PSD available for free download at FreakishLemon.com for anyone who wants to play around with it. I have it sized to my arm, but if you're familiar with Photoshop, you can alter it to fit your own arm measurements. The stencil print out for me took 6 pages (printed poster style).<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15846440746" title="Winter Soldier Arm by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7564/15846440746_cdc49ca105.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Winter Soldier Arm"></a></center><br />
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I cut the stencil in half around where the elbow would be and lined it up with my arm dummy to check the measurements. If the points on the dummy and the points on the paper are far off, you might have to rework your stencil.<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15252603543" title="Winter Soldier Arm by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8619/15252603543_04764e8afc.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Winter Soldier Arm"></a></center><br />
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I then started cutting out each panel and pinning it to the arm dummy. I left spaces where the gaps in the plates (the blue lines on the paper) would be and taped the paper together where the ends meet on the back of the arm. It's not exact, but it worked well enough for me. Put larger gaps where your arm will naturally bend.<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15872260575" title="Winter Soldier Arm by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7583/15872260575_5f6e4c7715_n.jpg" width="320" height="240" alt="Winter Soldier Arm"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15686490517" title="Winter Soldier Arm by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8597/15686490517_bbc2e7ef76_n.jpg" width="320" height="240" alt="Winter Soldier Arm"></a></center><br />
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And then I continued in the same way up the rest of the arm. The star is shown there, but I ignored the edges of the star in the next step. I left it there for the plates that go through the star. Once the whole thing is pinned together, I used fabric paint to paint the lines where the plates gap.<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15684750008" title="Winter Soldier Arm by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7479/15684750008_f92a51b5ab.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Winter Soldier Arm"></a></center><br />
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I did the first coat in a silvery fabric paint. I didn't know how it would turn out, so if I really screwed up I could repaint the whole arm. I took it slow painting one side of the arm, letting it dry for half a day, and then painting the other side of the arm. Try to keep your hand steady as much as possible and don't worry if it looks weird at this step. Just try to keep the line in the middle of the space between the paper pieces.<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15252610363" title="Winter Soldier Arm by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7483/15252610363_78a845cb39.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Winter Soldier Arm"></a></center><br />
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Once all the silver paint was dry, I took off all the paper pieces. The paint is different enough from the leotard that the lines were clear to follow. I then took a smaller brush and did a thing line of black fabric paint in the center of my silver lines. Again, first one side of the arm, waiting half a day for it to dry, and then the other side of the arm.<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15686250649" title="Winter Soldier Arm by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7514/15686250649_9e7e16bbe2.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Winter Soldier Arm"></a></center><br />
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Once everything was dry, I printed out another copy of the arm star for a stencil and put on my fancy pants leotard with arm lines on it. I lined up where the star should go in the mirror and pinned the star in the right place with a couple of safety pins. I stuck the arm back onto the dummy and traced a star in red fabric paint. Once that was dry, I removed the star and painted in the rest of the red for the star. I goofed on my paint choice, so my Winter Soldier arm has some sparkles in the star, but it didn't end up being all the visible against the leotard. I only painted the one coat of the red, so the coverage is slightly uneven. That was fine for me. It looks more like an inlay with very definite border lines in the movie, but I like the look of the star being painted on rather than built in.<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15871626142" title="Winter Soldier Arm by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7463/15871626142_c719d9bc55.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Winter Soldier Arm"></a></center><br />
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And that's the arm!<br />
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And the face mask ended up being the cheapest part of this costume. I bought a pack of 10 dust masks from the dollar store, chopped them up, taped them together, and painted them black. I only ended up using 3 masks. Here's a series of photos of me putting them together and adjusting them to my face:<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15685346658" title="Mask Tutorial by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7546/15685346658_5376f78c62_n.jpg" width="320" height="240" alt="Mask Tutorial"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15870872601" title="Mask Tutorial by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7515/15870872601_5b208f73e9_n.jpg" width="320" height="240" alt="Mask Tutorial"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15686846049" title="Mask Tutorial by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7483/15686846049_b81c8025bf_n.jpg" width="240" height="320" alt="Mask Tutorial"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15253202883" title="Mask Tutorial by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8578/15253202883_033f825acb_n.jpg" width="240" height="320" alt="Mask Tutorial"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15870871131" title="Mask Tutorial by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7545/15870871131_1bf0aa823f_n.jpg" width="240" height="320" alt="Mask Tutorial"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15685345248" title="Mask Tutorial by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8571/15685345248_3159043bb5_n.jpg" width="240" height="320" alt="Mask Tutorial"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15685346838" title="Mask Tutorial by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8622/15685346838_2444f1720e_n.jpg" width="240" height="320" alt="Mask Tutorial"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15685531460" title="Mask Tutorial by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7538/15685531460_fc45756e9f_n.jpg" width="240" height="320" alt="Mask Tutorial"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15872864385" title="Mask Tutorial by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7530/15872864385_64a4a7397e_n.jpg" width="320" height="240" alt="Mask Tutorial"></a></center><br />
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And that's how I put together my Halloween Winter Soldier costume. <br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15684915868" title="2014-10-31 10.43.41 by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8604/15684915868_3d0886552e.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="2014-10-31 10.43.41"></a></center><br />
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Also, that's a record for the number of photos taken of me within one month. I felt absurd taking that many photos of myself. I'm not a fan of how I look in static images (or, you know, how I look in general). I'm a bit better about video due to YouTube video stint that lasted a few years before I drifted away from it, but I've always had a hard time with photos. It's easier for me when I'm in costume, but even then it can be a bit much for me. I just don't like my face.<br />
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But I find that I really like these photos of me with my face mostly covered. I mean, with the mask on, you're missing out on the worst parts of my face, so my eyeballs and eyebrows look pretty good there. And my hair's not too bad in the actual Halloween photos either. <br />
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But it's still weird to post photos of myself online when I've spent so long avoiding photos of myself. <br />
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.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19556198.post-26600074773342682852014-11-17T20:30:00.000-05:002014-11-17T20:30:03.974-05:00New England Fiber Festival (Sheep and Wool)The first weekend in November I went up to the New England Fiber Festival for the first time! By myself! <br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15813730941" title="NE Fiber Festival by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8257/15813730941_3907065114.jpg" width="500" height="396" alt="NE Fiber Festival"></a></center><br />
I'm really glad that this fell right after Halloween. I was so focused on getting Halloween done right that I really only had one night to panic about going up to Massachusetts for a sheep and wool festival on my own. Only one night to compare driving directions and spot out places to stop in emergencies and make my short list of things that I'm allowing myself to buy.<br />
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I never go to new places by myself. I've always had a friend or sibling or parent to go to a new place with me, but I drove myself up to Massachusetts (I'm in CT) to the Eastern States Expo groups for this festival! I was actually surprised at how easy it was for me to get there. I mean, I missed the turning for the parking lot and had to turn around and then I had to have a terrible three minutes fumbling with my car door and a five dollar bill at the parking booth wherein I dropped my five bucks into a puddle and had to chase it a little bit all because my driver's side window doesn't roll up and down properly. But I made it! And I loved it!<br />
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The first part of the festival space had a huge space of raw fiber that was submitted... for competition? I don't know. I walked into that area on the wrong side and didn't read the sign. I was a little overwhelmed on my own. But there were a bunch of alpacas grouped with booths in this first part, so I calmed myself down greeting those guys. I made my first purchase right away. <br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15630441737" title="NE Fiber Festival by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7494/15630441737_f9c785c6f5_n.jpg" width="268" height="320" alt="NE Fiber Festival"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15630763890" title="NE Fiber Festival by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7540/15630763890_8390c712fd_n.jpg" width="320" height="281" alt="NE Fiber Festival"></a></center><br />
Tada! Soap and hand lotion. I haven't used the soap yet, but soaps like this have been all I use for the past year and a half and they're great. I tested out this hand lotion at the booth and it made my hands a little greasy after applying it, but it really worked well other than that. I put this little jar upstairs so I can use it while I'm spinning. A little bit of greasy hands there is actually a help, so I'm excited to get back to spinning. <br />
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It took me a while to make my second purchase. This booth was in the very middle of the whole festival, so there was about an hour between my first purchase and this purchase. But this is actually the thing I brought home that I'm most excited about:<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15196189583" title="NE Fiber Festival by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7552/15196189583_e2495f55be_n.jpg" width="320" height="235" alt="NE Fiber Festival"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15813734601" title="NE Fiber Festival by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5609/15813734601_642e49ec21_n.jpg" width="320" height="240" alt="NE Fiber Festival"></a></center><br />
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Look at that thing. LOOK AT IT. This booth sold dyed roving by weight. So I could have bought any amount of roving I wanted.<br />
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That is a 1 lb 4 oz ball of roving. It's the size of a basketball. It's giant. 20 oz. For comparison, the kind of standard weight for roving sold is about 4 oz. And it was half the price I normally pay for roving. I just plucked this thing off the shelf and put it on the scale and the vendor thought it was great that I was just going to buy the whole thing. <br />
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My plan is the spin this into a ridiculous amount of yarn and make the Maple Leaf Shawl. It's going to be absurd.<br />
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For a size reference, here's a photo with my hand and a photo with a Reese's peanut butter cup.<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15815629185" title="NE Fiber Festival by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8417/15815629185_b78e1bcdfc_n.jpg" width="320" height="240" alt="NE Fiber Festival"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15815628495" title="NE Fiber Festival by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7576/15815628495_c2b6b89e13_n.jpg" width="320" height="245" alt="NE Fiber Festival"></a></center><br />
Ridiculous.<br />
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And then I finished walking through the festival. It took nearly two hours to go through the whole place. I then back tracked to a couple of booths and ended up purchasing this beautiful green yarn from a booth that had a huge fake tree canopy with yarn hanging from it. It was lovely. And this yarn is a one of a kind dye, so I'm really pleased.<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15813736801" title="NE Fiber Festival by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7569/15813736801_f4b81ac83e.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="NE Fiber Festival"></a></center><br />
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And then I had to scoot on out of there because the crowd had doubled over the time I was there and it was too much. But I got the things I was really looking for and it was a great experience and I'm really glad I went. Mom's already told me that she's going to reserve a weekend off next year for this event. I'm excited to share it with her.<br />
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And that was my last yarn event of the year! Huzzah!<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19556198.post-31224263857993345592014-11-09T19:50:00.002-05:002014-11-09T19:50:13.451-05:00Etsy Shop Update!There are new things available in the Etsy shop!<br />
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There are Christmas cards!<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15566513969" title="Christmas Cards (Shop) by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3952/15566513969_fb1c84751b_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="Christmas Cards (Shop)"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15132423294" title="Christmas Cards (Shop) by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3942/15132423294_3b6fc24c0c_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="Christmas Cards (Shop)"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15566525959" title="Christmas Cards (Shop) by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3939/15566525959_8ea7825bf8_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="Christmas Cards (Shop)"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15132436364" title="Christmas Cards (Shop) by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7515/15132436364_d9e5d5c837_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="Christmas Cards (Shop)"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15567221617" title="Christmas Cards (Shop) by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3939/15567221617_ccb7f39c50_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="Christmas Cards (Shop)"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15132982403" title="Christmas Cards (Shop) by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7567/15132982403_7a4ee490ce_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="Christmas Cards (Shop)"></a></center><br />
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There are Christmas ornaments!<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15752463035" title="White Ornaments by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7463/15752463035_44647af733_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="White Ornaments"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/13933194562" title="Red Kissy Face Ornaments by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5324/13933194562_822239d69d_m.jpg" width="240" height="152" alt="Red Kissy Face Ornaments"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/13207937923" title="12 x 12 green Kiss ornaments by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3731/13207937923_f3a12de94d_m.jpg" width="240" height="157" alt="12 x 12 green Kiss ornaments"></a></center><br />
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There are mini-skeins!<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15132352654" title="Mini-Skeins by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3938/15132352654_87da43c712_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="Mini-Skeins"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15132899913" title="Mini-Skeins by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7518/15132899913_02602bc879_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="Mini-Skeins"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15566879648" title="Mini-Skeins by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3946/15566879648_1704e13c50_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="Mini-Skeins"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15132905983" title="Mini-Skeins by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8585/15132905983_b3b5d628e5_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="Mini-Skeins"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15752308745" title="Mini-Skeins by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3949/15752308745_ee9edfd8e4_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="Mini-Skeins"></a></center><br />
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There are new stitch markers!<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15132533104" title="Stitch Markers by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5606/15132533104_f6fdc3ae34_m.jpg" width="240" height="166" alt="Stitch Markers"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15132532314" title="IMG_6726 by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7468/15132532314_6b7f7bc328_m.jpg" width="240" height="177" alt="IMG_6726"></a></center><br />
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There is a new Amy Pond cowl!<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15418052589" title="Amy Pond Cowl by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5597/15418052589_4803763db9.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Amy Pond Cowl"></a></center><br />
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Please check these out over at my shop! <a href="http://freakishlemon.etsy.com">Here's a link!</a><br />
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.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19556198.post-14978022297109215832014-10-30T21:17:00.002-04:002014-10-30T21:17:21.732-04:00Loki Socks<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15670496685" title="Loki Socks by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7512/15670496685_d24eca93e1_n.jpg" width="250" height="320" alt="Loki Socks"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15049754894" title="Loki Socks by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7509/15049754894_8c10010bef_n.jpg" width="233" height="320" alt="Loki Socks"></a></center><br />
<b>Pattern:</b> <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/wyvern-socks">Wyvern Socks</a> by Marnie MacLean Designs<br />
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<b>Needles:</b> US 2 - 2.75 mm<br />
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<b>Yarn:</b> Loki from <a href="http://shop.gnomeacres.com/">Gnome Acres</a>, which is a brilliant indie dyer who specializes in nerdy yarn colorways. Loki was actually the first yarn I ever purchased from them, but you've seen me knit socks in Robot Patina and Mustache Manifesto before.<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15484338778" title="Loki Socks by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7526/15484338778_cee79f4cea.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Loki Socks"></a></center><br />
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I finally got around to my Loki socks! I've had these planned for a couple of years now, which is terrible, isn't it? There are too many things to make, I swear.<br />
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Anyway, I saw some interesting patterns online for socks with a sort of scalloped scale looking pattern on them, which reminded me of Loki's armor. I ended up choosing Wyvern Socks for its scalloped shapes. This is a toe-up sock pattern. I'm not terribly used to those yet, as the majority of my socks have been top-downs, but I'm already noticing a pattern in my toe-up socks. I have a terrible time gauging how long the foot needs to be before starting the heel. I see to do pretty well judging the leg length of a sock before starting the heel going top down, but my toe-up socks have all come out too long in the foot. Not long enough to really be considered a problem that needs ripping and redo-ing, of course; just long enough to be noticeable and a little annoying.<br />
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I also think the stitch pattern gets lost in the colors of the yarn. That was also my mistake. I didn't anticipate how often the colors changed and how much of a contrast there was when knit up. Because I don't swatch. I know, I know, but I still like them! I'll just have to try out this pattern with a solid color or a more muted variation.<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15484340538" title="Loki Socks by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3938/15484340538_a3f4c422a1_n.jpg" width="320" height="240" alt="Loki Socks"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15049756544" title="Loki Socks by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7483/15049756544_0a1d969817_n.jpg" width="320" height="253" alt="Loki Socks"></a></center><br />
<br />
Overall, this is a great pattern. It was easy to follow and the pattern repeats were really easy to get down in my brain. I found it easy and comfortable to knit multiple rows without consulting the chart for the pattern. I definitely look forward to trying this pattern again.<br />
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And even though the colors drowned out the pattern, I can't help by love this colorway. The colors all look great knit up and I'm really happy that I have my pair of Loki socks now. <br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15484523207" title="Loki Socks by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3945/15484523207_8597119428.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Loki Socks"></a></center><br />
<br />
<i>(Photo shoot note: I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome a blast from the past to my photos - a pair of legs from an old unitard! I was in dance classes all through school until college, so I have a lot of weird costume pieces you wouldn't expect a guy like me to have floating around his closet. I mean, I'm pretty much a ratty jeans and T-shirt guy most of the time. <br />
<br />
This unitard was from a dance costume in middle school that I quickly outgrew, but I cut the legs off and saved them. This came in handy in high school when I did my first Captain Jack Sparrow costume and didn't yet earn enough cash for pirate boots. I wore these legging with black work boots and sewed black flappy boot tops to pin around my legs, so it looked like I had fancy pirate boots until you got close.<br />
<br />
So I found these while pulling out props for knitting photo shoots and they looked perfect next to my socks. Movie!Loki does wear some tight black pants and kid!Loki from the comics has some black legging type pants and yellow against my skin isn't a great combo, so I wore them for the shoot. <br />
<br />
It was actually really nice not to have to worry about how my skin was going to show up on camera, so I might break them out again for other sock shoots.)</i><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19556198.post-56293706350190238912014-10-22T21:38:00.002-04:002014-10-22T21:38:28.996-04:00Amy Pond Cowl<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15418575978" title="Amy Pond Cowl by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5598/15418575978_64cecc33ef.jpg" width="500" height="415" alt="Amy Pond Cowl"></a></center><br />
So, I'm really trying to cut into my yarn stash. A problem that I really had a hard time with was buying a couple of skeins of yarn that would work for my Etsy shop projects. I had this red sock yarn that was my go to for Amy Pond scarves and whenever I had a 50% off coupon or it was marked down on sale, I picked up a couple of skeins.<br />
<br />
And then the yarn was discontinued. Dun dun DUN. Yeah. So I knew I didn't have enough yarn for a full scarf, but I figured I probably had enough for a cowl. And I was right!<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15419092670" title="Amy Pond Cowl by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3935/15419092670_4c1503e0ed.jpg" width="362" height="500" alt="Amy Pond Cowl"></a></center><br />
<br />
I used the same needles and pattern that I do for the Amy Pond scarves and then joined the ends to make a cowl loop. It was quick and I already had the pattern memorized. It also gave me the opportunity to try a 3 stitch garter border on the scarf instead of picking up stitches and crocheting a border. I think I like the garter stitch border better. It's easier to keep the same tension while I'm knitting the scarf, as opposed to trying to keep the tension the same while crocheting. <br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15418052589" title="Amy Pond Cowl by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5597/15418052589_4803763db9.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Amy Pond Cowl"></a></center><br />
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Overall, I'm really pleased with how this turned out. This cowl will be up for sale in <a href="freakishlemon.etsy.com">my Etsy shop</a> with my November shop update. So if you're interested, keep an eye on my shop after Halloween!<br />
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.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19556198.post-7718337159236864162014-10-20T20:05:00.004-04:002014-10-20T20:05:22.748-04:00Autumn Scrap Garland How ToI have a tutorial for you today!<br />
<br />
Sort of. I mean, it's really easy to pull off and it looks pretty cool, so I thought I'd share how I made some autumn scrap garlands for decorating things.<br />
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Here's what you need:<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14966739414" title="Autumn Scrap Garland by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3932/14966739414_4a5e1b2e81.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Autumn Scrap Garland"></a></center><br />
-Scrap fabric<br />
-Thick Yarn<br />
-Scissors<br />
-Patience<br />
-A large workspace<br />
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That's it, folks. I used a long thick cut of yarn as my base for the garland because that's what I had. The one you're seeing in these photos is the one that I made for my cubicle at work, which measures a total of 4 yards (12 feet), but you can make them at any length you need. The ones on my windows that you'll see in the final photos are about 4 feet long.<br />
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For fabric, I chose whatever I had on hand that looks autumn-ish. Yellow, orange, brown, black, red, little bit of green... Those kinds of colors. You can choose whatever colors you want or have for whatever season or holiday you like. If you don't have a ton of scrap fabric like I do, you can get remnants or fabric quarters for pretty cheap at most fabric and craft stores. And if you have trouble matching colors, check out jelly rolls. At my local Jo-Anns' a jelly roll costs about $10 and has a variety of matching/complimentary 2.5" strips of fabric. I've used them for quilts, but they'd be great for a project like this.<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15584821011" title="Autumn Scrap Garland by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3938/15584821011_18f9a70853.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Autumn Scrap Garland"></a></center><br />
<br />
Cut a bunch of strips of fabric about 5" long and 1" or 1.5" wide. Mine range from 4" to 5.5". You don't have to cut them evenly at all. Some of my pieces are weird shapes because my fabric scraps did not all have square edges. There's some triangles and trapezoids and half-circles in there. <br />
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I started with the fabric I had the least amount of so that I knew I could space it out evenly. I started tying scraps to the yarn about a foot apart, leaving a knotted loop about 6" away from the ends of yarn (so I can use the loops for hanging the garland). The scraps are tied using a basic square knot. Once I had my first groups of scraps tied on, I started tying pieces halfway between each piece to slowly fill in the garland.<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15588318732" title="Autumn Scrap Garland by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5616/15588318732_71c64c134b.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Autumn Scrap Garland"></a></center><br />
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And just keep tying scraps to your yarn until you like how full the garland is. You can leave them spaced a little or scrunch them all up close so that you don't see the yarn at all. <br />
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Once you like how it looks, hang it up however you like! I mentioned before that I tied some loops about 6" from the ends. For my window garlands, I used these loops to hook the garland up on some Command hooks on my walls. For my cubicle, I used T-pins to pin the yarn to my cubicle wall, which were easily hidden by the scraps. <br />
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Here's what the finished product looks like on my bedroom windows:<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15401869670" title="Autumn Scrap Garland by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3934/15401869670_f49c12185d.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Autumn Scrap Garland"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15588317782" title="Autumn Scrap Garland by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5606/15588317782_c931f6b578.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Autumn Scrap Garland"></a></center><br />
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Well, that's not quite my windows look like right now because of Halloween, but these look just as cool over some of that creepy Halloween fabric. And everyone who's stumble across me putting these up has said that they're really cool, so if you want something a little different to decorate for this autumn, give this a try. <br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19556198.post-49746558742167251172014-10-15T18:11:00.000-04:002014-10-15T18:11:02.460-04:00WIP Wednesday<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15347123216" title="Made some progress on an Amy Pond scarf for the shop. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3914/15347123216_15a9ae375d_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Made some progress on an Amy Pond scarf for the shop."></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15197593690" title="Made some progress on my Events socks in the car on my way back from the Yarn Crawl. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3835/15197593690_59d6625061_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Made some progress on my Events socks in the car on my way back from the Yarn Crawl."></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15200265647" title="Added the H and corner border to my Halloween sampler. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3914/15200265647_65366f190c_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Added the H and corner border to my Halloween sampler."></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15218575220" title="Hello, Halloween things. Welcome back. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3930/15218575220_4d6d82d443_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Hello, Halloween things. Welcome back."></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15223903217" title="Desk display! Plus one of those rag garlands around the cubicle wall and dancing skeleton window vinyl clings on the overhead bin. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3927/15223903217_1580eeeb34_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Desk display! Plus one of those rag garlands around the cubicle wall and dancing skeleton window vinyl clings on the overhead bin."></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15415974455" title="Couldn't help myself. I had to cast on the Eyelet Swirl Cap immediately. This stuff knits up beautifully. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3928/15415974455_dd5bb56ba2_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Couldn't help myself. I had to cast on the Eyelet Swirl Cap immediately. This stuff knits up beautifully."></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15436265401" title="The dollar store had drapey creep fabric, so I bought 3 more to layer out the 4 pieces already on my windows. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5598/15436265401_9eb979c2df_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="The dollar store had drapey creep fabric, so I bought 3 more to layer out the 4 pieces already on my windows."></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15253087857" title="The dollar store also had these haunted houses. The lights weren't included, so I've got a cheap LED flashing necklace in there. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2949/15253087857_95f85f5cac_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="The dollar store also had these haunted houses. The lights weren't included, so I've got a cheap LED flashing necklace in there."></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15252904809" title="And these were $1.50 each at Ocean State Job Lot, plus electric tea lights from the dollar store. I consider today a success. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3929/15252904809_2b72b63770_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="And these were $1.50 each at Ocean State Job Lot, plus electric tea lights from the dollar store. I consider today a success."></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15445756041" title="I may not be able to knit because of resting my right thumb joint, but I've got an extra left arm to help me out when some costume stuff comes in. Finding/being given 5 extra bags of fiber fill means I don't feel guilty about stuffing the lumpy torso eith by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3933/15445756041_120d7b24e7_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="I may not be able to knit because of resting my right thumb joint, but I've got an extra left arm to help me out when some costume stuff comes in. Finding/being given 5 extra bags of fiber fill means I don't feel guilty about stuffing the lumpy torso eith"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15276279760" title="Spinning some extremely soft alpaca/sheep wool blend to get my thumb back into craft motions. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3933/15276279760_ae1ba6863f_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Spinning some extremely soft alpaca/sheep wool blend to get my thumb back into craft motions."></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15451256136" title="I just keep adding to my fake candle things for Halloween. I'm really liking the glow. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3953/15451256136_0a50d77994_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="I just keep adding to my fake candle things for Halloween. I'm really liking the glow."></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15323158040" title="Managed a couple of lollipops in the L square today. Thumb joint still isn't pleased with the movement, though. :/ by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2948/15323158040_8bc71989fd_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Managed a couple of lollipops in the L square today. Thumb joint still isn't pleased with the movement, though. :/"></a><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15320865518" title="I'm alone in the house and it feels like a cookie day. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3956/15320865518_619be99b28_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="I'm alone in the house and it feels like a cookie day."></a> </center>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19556198.post-39727728471123743462014-10-13T21:53:00.001-04:002014-10-13T21:53:57.372-04:00Stitches East 2014This past Friday my mom and I headed to our final yarn event of the season, Stitches East 2014!<br />
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(I say last, but I'm pretty sure I'm still heading up to the New England Sheep and Wool Festival in November, so... we'll see.)<br />
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This is our second year going to Stitches and I think we managed to plan a little better this year.<br />
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<quote>- We planned to eat lunch at the Arch Street Tavern this year. We managed to skip lunch entirely last year due to being overwhelmed and running on crazy adrenaline.<br />
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-We printed out maps of the show floor and, on our first tour of the show, marked down the booths that we wanted to return to for purchases. Last year, we had to split ways and run around in opposite directions because we couldn't remember where we saw things we wanted.<br />
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- We brought snacks. I guess you're technically not supposed to do that, but when we sat to munch on a couple of granola bars, a lady raised a sandwich out of her purse in solidarity. I have a tendency towards blood sugar issues and my mom was hurting through some flu shot side effects (she gets sick after them every year, but she's a nurse so she has to get them), so we wouldn't have made it through the show without snacks.<br />
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-We both came to this show with a stronger resolve to buy for specific projects instead of just whatever we found to be pretty. Last year was pretty haphazard, in terms of purchases. I ended up buying more spinning roving this year than yarn for that reason. You generally know what you're going to do with roving and there's plenty of time for me to figure out if I want to use it or sell it while I'm spinning. Last year we were immediately blind sided by a booth with Lord of the Rings themed color ways, so budgets were pretty screwed from the start. The only I bought without a clear plan is the clearance yarn I'll show you below and the only thing my mom bought without a clear plan is some of the Lord of the Rings themed color way from the same booth left over from last year (in Bree, which is a gorgeous auburn variant).<br />
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-We made a stop on the way home to buy loose leaf tea from Teavana at the mall. This doesn't sound like much, but when you spend hours doing nothing but walking and then have to drive the hour home, it can wear on you. It does on me, anyway. Getting out to check out the new Disney store and buy some fancy tea worked out some stiffness in my legs. My mom bought her very first loose leaf tea (pumpkin spiced brulee), which was exciting. </quote><br />
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<br />
And now the part that everyone likes, the stuff!<br />
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<br />
<b>1. The Buffalo Wool Company</b><br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15345317560" title="Stitches East 2014 Goodies by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3933/15345317560_643d740365_n.jpg" width="320" height="292" alt="Stitches East 2014 Goodies"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14910787873" title="Stitches East 2014 Goodies by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3943/14910787873_31fa5790a7_n.jpg" width="320" height="257" alt="Stitches East 2014 Goodies"></a></center><br />
I bought a set of mini-skeins from The Buffalo Wool Company. This booth was really cool. And by booth, I mean a big travelling van set up to be a store that spilled out onto the show room. The lady running the joint had tons of information about buffalo wool and its properties and there were a handful of really interestingly textured buffalo wool and buffalo blend wool. <br />
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A lot of it was pretty pricey, but I couldn't leave without something buffalo. This set of mini-skeins was only $20 and there were some fantastic cowls on display with them. I'm planning on a striped cowl, which will easily use up all of the yarn without leaving very much left over.<br />
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<br />
<b>2. Holiday Yarns</b><br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15507304436" title="Stitches East 2014 Goodies by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5601/15507304436_1b7b7c93f2_n.jpg" width="320" height="312" alt="Stitches East 2014 Goodies"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15531799662" title="Stitches East 2014 Goodies by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5600/15531799662_9a698f0f86_n.jpg" width="320" height="284" alt="Stitches East 2014 Goodies"></a></center><br />
This booth was lovely. Lots of beautifully dyed yarns, but what caught my eye was the sock kit display. There were almost a dozen mannequin feet with fantastic superhero kits socks. I didn't see all of the superheros from the models as kits on the racks, but the Wonder Woman kits were there and I really liked how the Wonder Woman yarn was dyed up. So I bought a kit. Can't go wrong with too many socks, right?<br />
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<b>3. Swan Hollow Studios</b><br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15344944457" title="Stitches East 2014 Goodies by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5597/15344944457_a068081436.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Stitches East 2014 Goodies"></a></center><br />
My hands ache to touch this stuff just looking at the photo. Swan Hollow Studios had a big sprawling booth filled with incredibly soft fibers for spinning and silky yarns. The fibers were all piled around in these huge open sacks, like giant bean bag chairs, so you could just stick your arms in the wool and touch it. I kept walking in circles in the booth coming back to this beautiful mass. It's a blend of camel, tussah silk, and Shetland sheep wool. It's so soft that some of the more calloused parts of my fingers could barely feel it. I'm am very excited about spinning this up.<br />
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<b>4. Ummm...</b><br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15345319820" title="Stitches East 2014 Goodies by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3936/15345319820_7534795064.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Stitches East 2014 Goodies"></a></center><br />
I'm terrible. In my excitement, I forgot to get the name of the vendor at the booth. Also, this was a skein I pulled out of the clearance for $9.00 bin, so it doesn't have a label. The receipt doesn't have the vendor name and I paid in cash, so there's no electronic receipt. It's mystery yarn that's worsted weight (I'm guessing). All I know for sure is that I love the colors and it's soft.<br />
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<b>5. Highland Handmades</b><br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15530966415" title="Stitches East 2014 Goodies by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3944/15530966415_8e4f456b90_n.jpg" width="320" height="240" alt="Stitches East 2014 Goodies"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15344948397" title="Stitches East 2014 Goodies by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5610/15344948397_3f4eda3f7c_n.jpg" width="320" height="280" alt="Stitches East 2014 Goodies"></a></center><br />
And more roving. These are colorways The Rom and The Edge of the Inferno from Highland Handmades. They're both braids of BFL, which is a wool that I consistently have enjoyed spinning. It's soft, but sturdy. I find that the fibers aren't smooth enough to pull loose if I spin the wheel too fast, but are very soft and don't irritate my dry hands while drafting.<br />
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I also love the colors that she uses in her dyes. All of the braids in the booth were beautiful color combinations and it was hard to pick just two of them. I hope to buy more from her in the future.<br />
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<br />
And that was Stitches! I didn't manage to really get any photos of the show floor or anything. I was too excited to be putting my hands all over all the yarns and things, and there were too many people around for me to feel comfortable taking photos. I don't mind taking photos around a lot of people, but I feel very uncomfortable taking photos of strangers when you can see their faces clearly. It's a thing. Maybe I'll get some photos of the booths and things next year. All in all, a great event that I'm glad to say is probably going to be an annual thing as long as it's in Hartford.<br />
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.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19556198.post-52690421544313358552014-09-29T21:29:00.002-04:002014-09-29T21:29:56.566-04:002014 Western Connecticut Yarn CrawlThis past weekend was the Western Connecticut Yarn Crawl! Seven stores got together to plan out a cool weekend for yarn-folk up and down the western side of our little state. My mom and I spent two days driving around meeting some great shop owners and checking out some great shops.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Friday</b><br />
<br />
<b>1. Knit & Purl - Avon, CT</b><br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15210002840" title="Western CT Yarn Crawl 2014 by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3839/15210002840_9b8e6bc56a.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Western CT Yarn Crawl 2014"></a></center><br />
This is a great shop. My aunt heard about the yarn crawl and called me up to make sure I was going. She was really excited that Knit & Purl was a part of the crawl. Apparently, she stops in there often. <br />
<br />
We were immediately welcomed, even though it was technically before the shop opened, and everyone setting up was so excited about the crawl. There was a great selection of yarns at surprisingly good prices. Mom ended up buying some alpaca there and it's a shop that we both want to go back to sometime.<br />
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<br />
<b>2. In Sheep's Clothing - Torrington, CT</b><br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15373665296" title="Western CT Yarn Crawl 2014 by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3883/15373665296_172a979616.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Western CT Yarn Crawl 2014"></a></center><br />
Mom and I have known about this shop for a couple of years now, but just have never taken the time to go looking for it. When we found it, we were both smacking ourselves for not having taken 2 minutes to look for it before. It's literally one storefront off of Main St. and I'm down in Torrington all the time for my weekly errands. <br />
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This one's a smaller shop and it's a little cramped in there, but there's a decent selection of yarn and there was a pleasant rack of spinning roving in the corner. Also, the shop owner let me know that I can order Ashford spinning wheel parts from her, which I might take her up on. <br />
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And here's the roving I bought there! And she threw in a needle gauge for free!<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15396687075" title="Western CT Yarn Crawl 2014 by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2944/15396687075_ced3cec914_n.jpg" width="320" height="225" alt="Western CT Yarn Crawl 2014"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15209937679" title="Western CT Yarn Crawl 2014 by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2943/15209937679_46ee80e667_n.jpg" width="240" height="320" alt="Western CT Yarn Crawl 2014"></a></center><br />
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<b>3. Black Sheep Yarns - Kent, CT</b><br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15210185807" title="Western CT Yarn Crawl 2014 by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3860/15210185807_1f8ecf46ef.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Western CT Yarn Crawl 2014"></a></center><br />
Oh my god, getting to this store was an adventure and a half. Firstly, our directions kept telling us to turn onto BlahBlah St which turns into Something Lane and all that, when it could have just said follow Rt. 4 West to Rt. 7 South. Then, the street name in the photo there? Old Barn Road? It's not particularly a road. It's more of a parking lot and it doesn't have a sign on the actual street. It's a little shopping avenue type thing. So we passed through the town shops, turned around, passed the "left" we were supposed to make, turned around, parked on the street, and then walked to the shop. It was a little ridiculous. <br />
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This was a great shop, too, with some great yarns. They were a little pricier than the other shops we had been to, but there was some great quality stuff there. The shop owner also ran a food drive at the same time as the yarn crawl and it looked like she got a bunch of stuff to donate to the food pantry, which is great.<br />
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I bought this really soft blue yarn to go with a green yarn for an undetermined color work project.<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15209935339" title="Western CT Yarn Crawl 2014 by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2941/15209935339_3ec252b7f8.jpg" width="500" height="397" alt="Western CT Yarn Crawl 2014"></a></center><br />
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<b>4. New England Yarn & Spindle - Bristol, CT</b><br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15393513761" title="Western CT Yarn Crawl 2014 by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2950/15393513761_c68ce6cda7.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Western CT Yarn Crawl 2014"></a></center><br />
Ah, Bristol. This is my local yarn shop. I don't actually go in all that often because I'm trying to bust stash, but I like to stop in from time to time. Mom hadn't been there in a long time and was surprised at the new layout. It was nice to poke around. It's a small shop, but has some good staples. I picked up some orange yarn to do some undetermined color work with some red yarn I bought from their sidewalk sale a couple of weeks ago.<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15396680515" title="Western CT Yarn Crawl 2014 by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3921/15396680515_87dac311ff.jpg" width="500" height="374" alt="Western CT Yarn Crawl 2014"></a></center><br />
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<br />
And that was it for Friday. We finished at about 3:00, which is not bad time driving around to all those places. I spent some time winding skeins for myself and mom into center-pull balls and then pretty much chilled out for the rest of the day.<br />
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Mom had to work on Saturday, so she worked and I did my weekend errands/laundry/whatever. And then Sunday, we resumed the crawl!<br />
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<b>Sunday</b><br />
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<b>5. A Stitch in Time - Bethel, CT</b><br />
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(Not pictured here because I forgot! Whoops!)<br />
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This is a great shop. We got a little lost on our way there, but it was a weird off-ramp issue, so... not our fault! But we weren't turned around too bad and were able to find the place easily enough once we got into Bethel. <br />
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Mom and I had a great time in this shop. It's set up with all these little nooks full of yarn on one side and needlepoint stuff on the other. In the middle of the shop is a counter with lotion bars and wool soap and stuff. I tried out a lotion bar which I liked and might go back to buy when I've got some more spare cash. I ended up buying one skein of yarn to go with a very similar yarn that I bought from a stand at the NY Renaissance Faire. The store owner also threw in a wool soap sample.<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15396677605" title="Western CT Yarn Crawl 2014 by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2946/15396677605_b4fc1ae43d_n.jpg" width="320" height="240" alt="Western CT Yarn Crawl 2014"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15209927509" title="Western CT Yarn Crawl 2014 by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2943/15209927509_b940e5bbdf_n.jpg" width="320" height="240" alt="Western CT Yarn Crawl 2014"></a></center><br />
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<b>6. Nancy O - Ridgefield, CT</b><br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15210091948" title="Western CT Yarn Crawl 2014 by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3880/15210091948_b6ce0a57ce.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Western CT Yarn Crawl 2014"></a></center><br />
This shop was a combination yarn shop and clothing shop. The actual yarn selection was a bit limited and some of it was pretty pricey, but it was a pretty shop and was very busy when we went, which is always good. And the lady who stamped our passports was a Doctor Who fan, so that was fun! We had a brief nerd talk when she wasn't swamped. And they had cookies. Bonus!<br />
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<b>7. Westport Yarns - Westport, CT</b><br />
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After a quick pit stop at The Gabbers' new apartment, we went to the last shop! Westport Yarns is a pretty small shop. It might have been the smallest of the shops and was definitely the most expensive, but Westport is rich people country, so it wasn't unexpected. The Gabbers ended up buying a ribbon yarn from the clearance bin, which worked out. <br />
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The yarn shop was busy and the shop owner was courteous, but it seemed to me like the other patrons weren't thrilled to have crawlers in the shop. I was getting some annoyed vibes off of a couple of ladies in there. I don't know if the patrons were just sick of yarn crawlers getting all up in their local shop or if my T-shirt and jeans were too low class or that I'm dude-identified in a primarily lady space or what. It didn't seem like they minded The Gabbers or my mom, but I didn't feel welcome in the shop after a few minutes.<br />
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<br />
But we didn't stay long. We were starving and wanted food, so we skipped out of there and got some Five Guys.<br />
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And then we dropped off The Gabbers and trekked back up home. <br />
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A successful crawl! It was really fun and we're planning on doing it again next year now that we know the ropes. The Gabbers said that she might take that Friday off and do the whole this with us next year, so that'll be fun.<br />
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Next Yarn Event: Stitches East!<br />
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.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19556198.post-44705398681971374732014-09-24T20:13:00.003-04:002014-09-24T20:13:38.807-04:00WIP Wednesday<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15041565529" title="Finished piecing the pieced squares. Pretty soon I can put together the rest of the quilt top. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3926/15041565529_f87cd351e5_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Finished piecing the pieced squares. Pretty soon I can put together the rest of the quilt top."></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15272884865" title="Fall colored rag garland for my front window. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5553/15272884865_a7c2542d7e_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Fall colored rag garland for my front window."></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15086192200" title="Fall colored rag garland on my side window! by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5590/15086192200_f4c6809170_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Fall colored rag garland on my side window!"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15106626479" title="Finished the A and some of the skull border. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5596/15106626479_74f944526b_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Finished the A and some of the skull border."></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15299548815" title="I'm classing up my chicken pattie sandwich with handmade cheese from the farmers market and my homemade red pepper hummus. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5595/15299548815_b0fbe0751f_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="I'm classing up my chicken pattie sandwich with handmade cheese from the farmers market and my homemade red pepper hummus."></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15312075685" title="Finally catching up on some @coverville podcasts and piecing together this quilt top. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3906/15312075685_b4b9f8cb6e_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Finally catching up on some @coverville podcasts and piecing together this quilt top."></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15291214596" title="Quilt top achieved! Not bad for an afternoon. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3868/15291214596_dc3dd63cb5_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Quilt top achieved! Not bad for an afternoon."></a> </center>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19556198.post-6015770849138079142014-09-15T21:37:00.000-04:002014-09-15T21:37:02.452-04:002014 Coventry Farmers' Market - Fiber FestYesterday was my first official yarn event of the season! My family and I headed out to Coventry for the Fiber Fest theme weekend of the farmers' market!<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15253080185" title="2014 Coventry Farmers Market by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5583/15253080185_63e34af367.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="2014 Coventry Farmers Market"></a></center><br />
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I love this farmers' market. The Fiber Fest booths were fewer this year, but it was nice to walk through the tents and see some familiar yarn-folk and meet some new ones. My mom was keeping half an eye out for a yarn to match the yarn in the cowl she was working on because she needed another skein and ended up finding the exact match from the vendor that she's pretty sure she bought the original skein from! It was hilarious. She couldn't remember where she'd bought the yarn from and she had lost the label, but it all worked out. <br />
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There was a lot of lovely yarn and wool to touch everywhere. And the regular vendors for the market were great, too. Our favourite jam and pie folks weren't there this year, but we made a stop at the fudge stand and the new cannoli truck. There was a lotion bar and handmade chapstick stand that I grabbed a card from which I may end up buying from online. It was a great trip.<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15066477248" title="2014 Coventry Farmers Market by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3924/15066477248_10c3d746f6.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="2014 Coventry Farmers Market"></a></center><br />
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And The Gabbers brought Audrey the corgi to the market, which everyone loved. It was hilarious. Audrey doesn't particularly like other dogs and generally won't be social with them, but there were dogs everywhere. She avoided all the dogs her size and smaller and wanted to say hello to all the giant dogs. GIANT DOGS. A gorgeous black St. Bernard and an Irish wolf hound and another giant black dog whose breed I can't recall... But she didn't want to stick around too long once she'd greeted the dogs and all the big dogs were disappointed that they didn't get to play.<br />
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Frankly, I think it's Audrey's ploy to make other humans pay attention to her. Folks love looking at the little corgi sniffing out the dogs five times her size. And she got plenty of human attention, too.<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15252648972" title="2014 Coventry Farmers Market by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5577/15252648972_3f61791a2e.jpg" width="500" height="444" alt="2014 Coventry Farmers Market"></a></center><br />
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We didn't end up eating at the market, which is normally our tradition, but Dad had it in his head that we'd find some kind of outdoor cafe thing to eat at. We ended up eating Taco Bell in a park in Willimantic, which is fine, but I missed eating great food truck sandwiches. We then met up with Pickleface at college to drop off some stuff and catch up on his new college-ness and get ice cream. It was good times.<br />
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I worked on my Event Socks during the car ride, but didn't end up getting very far due to dog in the car and some elbow pain, but I did finish the gusset and did a couple of rows on the foot. So that's progress!<br />
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<br />
I didn't end up actually buying any yarn at the market. I did, however, re-establish my roving stash for spinning:<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15066326370" title="2014 Coventry Farmers Market by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3920/15066326370_91f1ae0b28_n.jpg" width="240" height="320" alt="2014 Coventry Farmers Market"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15249921261" title="2014 Coventry Farmers Market by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5565/15249921261_01b894faec_n.jpg" width="240" height="320" alt="2014 Coventry Farmers Market"></a></center><br />
Some white alpaca and a big ol' blend of alpaca/BFL/merino stuff that's really soft. I'll probably spin these together.<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15066442887" title="2014 Coventry Farmers Market by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3856/15066442887_06be65a919_n.jpg" width="240" height="320" alt="2014 Coventry Farmers Market"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15230012596" title="2014 Coventry Farmers Market by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3842/15230012596_b3f577c4d4_n.jpg" width="240" height="320" alt="2014 Coventry Farmers Market"></a></center><br />
This is some gorgeously dyed BFL that I had to have. It's beautiful. I'm including two photos because I needed everyone to see both sides of this skein.<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15066467038" title="2014 Coventry Farmers Market by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5559/15066467038_82f5c87e8d_n.jpg" width="240" height="320" alt="2014 Coventry Farmers Market"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15066468008" title="2014 Coventry Farmers Market by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3881/15066468008_2e8fea775f_n.jpg" width="240" height="320" alt="2014 Coventry Farmers Market"></a></center><br />
And these two braids are lovely as well. I think I'll be spinning these separately because I don't think they'd quite work as combo-plies, but that green is really calling my soul and I love a good autumnal red/orange/purple.<br />
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Next yarn event, Yarn Crawl!<br />
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.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19556198.post-85750504254504916212014-09-10T21:38:00.002-04:002014-09-10T21:38:14.979-04:00WIP Wednesday<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14981501086" title="Decided to go with A Piece of Summer from The Weekend Quilter. Using a scrap of magical dragon fabric to choose colors. DRAGON QUILT. I'm excited about it. I'm going to see what other fabrics from mom's stash I can use tomorrow. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5569/14981501086_5c3032b8c2_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Decided to go with A Piece of Summer from The Weekend Quilter. Using a scrap of magical dragon fabric to choose colors. DRAGON QUILT. I'm excited about it. I'm going to see what other fabrics from mom's stash I can use tomorrow."></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14825768970" title="Getting in some weaving and Farscape time. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3912/14825768970_0cf06c3e47_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Getting in some weaving and Farscape time."></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15010370321" title="Awesome. I can start the finishing on this scarf before the new Doctor Who episode! by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3842/15010370321_a24ed7270f_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Awesome. I can start the finishing on this scarf before the new Doctor Who episode!"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15024649962" title="Working on some cards for the Etsy shop. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5589/15024649962_21f9545ae7_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Working on some cards for the Etsy shop."></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14851840747" title="Slowly making progress on this bag. So many tiny stitches, folks. So. Many. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3917/14851840747_271b768349_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Slowly making progress on this bag. So many tiny stitches, folks. So. Many."></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15057919732" title="Turned the heel on the second of my Loki socks. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5582/15057919732_cef4eb2f43_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Turned the heel on the second of my Loki socks."></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14898304408" title="Labour Day sales/coupons kicked a dent in my paycheck thos week, but I got a free sandwich! Thanks @clamhoppers for the gift certificate from your graduation. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3921/14898304408_14f90050ab_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Labour Day sales/coupons kicked a dent in my paycheck thos week, but I got a free sandwich! Thanks @clamhoppers for the gift certificate from your graduation."></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15086260045" title="Starting the piecing for my dragon quilt! by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3926/15086260045_8ebd2d7dc5_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Starting the piecing for my dragon quilt!"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15073351216" title="Ironed out my piecing from last night. Really pleased with how the pieced squares will look. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3886/15073351216_14ed6bcace_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Ironed out my piecing from last night. Really pleased with how the pieced squares will look."></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15103126991" title="Now that the chaise is gone, we moved a computer desk upstairs for Mom's work stuff and I moved the rocking chair out of the tiny corner it was wedged into. Just have to wait for Mom to pick a chair for her desk from the 3 spares downstairs. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5580/15103126991_fa2bc2f0b4_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Now that the chaise is gone, we moved a computer desk upstairs for Mom's work stuff and I moved the rocking chair out of the tiny corner it was wedged into. Just have to wait for Mom to pick a chair for her desk from the 3 spares downstairs."></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15106617195" title="Finished my Loki socks. Time to wash and block these suckers. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5584/15106617195_a9858a08d0_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Finished my Loki socks. Time to wash and block these suckers."></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14926180950" title="Started a Halloween sampler fron The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery. Had a couple of false starts on 32 linen, but I found that size to be too uneven for good crosses. This 28 is working much better. I'll use the 32 for something else. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3875/14926180950_1062e2e949_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Started a Halloween sampler fron The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery. Had a couple of false starts on 32 linen, but I found that size to be too uneven for good crosses. This 28 is working much better. I'll use the 32 for something else."></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14970136887" title="Me and this glass of ice are going to try to get some spinning done. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3908/14970136887_cc22d50c98_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Me and this glass of ice are going to try to get some spinning done."></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14987703049" title="Finished a letter! by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3899/14987703049_12b6c7aeff_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Finished a letter!"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14998259668" title="Made some progress. This ghost is pleased. The other ghost I haven't done yet has more of a smirk. I'm looking forward to it. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5563/14998259668_2f532e4257_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Made some progress. This ghost is pleased. The other ghost I haven't done yet has more of a smirk. I'm looking forward to it."></a></center><br />
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.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19556198.post-80655584320404504902014-09-02T20:53:00.002-04:002014-09-02T20:53:45.760-04:00Varsity Stripe Socks and Other Stuff<b>1. Varsity Stripe Socks</b><br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14936376240" title="Varsity Stripe Socks by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3904/14936376240_9bd8b7b60b.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Varsity Stripe Socks"></a></center><br />
Pattern: Varisty from the book 2-at-a-Time Socks by Melissa Morgan-Oakes<br />
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Needles: US 3 - 3.25 mm<br />
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Yarn: Grab bag yarn from the Holiday Yarns booth at Stitches East 2013. As much yarn as I could fit in my hand for $20. Yep.<br />
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This was my first time doing socks on a really long circular needle and socks done 2-at-a-time. It was interesting. I purposefully staggered the stripe progressing so that I was working with two different colored yarns at a time to keep straight which sock was which. I like how the socks turned out, but I'm not entirely thrilled with the stretch to the stitches while the socks were on the needles. I don't know if my needles just weren't pliable enough yet, but the cord kind of stretched out the socks around the halfway loop. If you know what that means. Yikes.<br />
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(Sometimes I forget how ridiculous talking about knitting can be until I write it down.)<br />
<br />
Anyway, it was slow going because I was still learning and I still favour DPNs for my socks, but I wouldn't be averse to using this method again and I have some other patterns from that book marked for future projects.<br />
<br />
<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15120037251" title="Varsity Stripe Socks by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3905/15120037251_85286bc579_n.jpg" width="320" height="238" alt="Varsity Stripe Socks"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15120035881" title="Varsity Stripe Socks by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3902/15120035881_9f3bc40837_n.jpg" width="320" height="229" alt="Varsity Stripe Socks"></a></center><br />
<br />
Also, thanks to <a href="http://www.twitter.com/clamhoppers">@clamhoppers</a> for the photos of my actual feet! I was trying to take these photos with the 10 second timer, but the surface in the photo is actually a trailer that I had to climb onto, so without help all I was getting were photos of picking the grass out of my socks:<br />
<br />
<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/15100038906" title="Varsity Stripe Socks by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3912/15100038906_a79b6e2376.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Varsity Stripe Socks"></a></center><br />
<br />
<br />
<b>2. Other Stuff</b><br />
<br />
Speaking of <a href="http://www.twitter.com/clamhoppers">@clamhoppers</a>...<br />
<br />
(Who is my youngest brother Pickleface, if you didn't know)<br />
<br />
He's off to college! He's completed one whole week so far!<br />
<br />
And that's partially why the blog hasn't been updated. There's been too much going on. There was some drama at work going down that led to a lot of anxiety on my part. Both brothers were moving to college for the fall semester (Stovetop for his senior year and Pickleface for his freshman), which meant a lot of house and car wrangling for a while. The Gabbers' boyfriend has been up in our neck of the woods for work training, so she's been coming up pretty often to hang out at the house to kill time or keep herself from murdering her landlord or make tomato sauce. My mom's van tried to die, so there's been a lot of vehicle wrangling at home as well.<br />
<br />
With everyone out of the house but myself and my parents, there's been this a drive to get stuff sorted while no one else needs the space. There was some furniture gymnastics involving a very large chaise and some stairs and there has been a lot of organizing neglected spaces.<br />
<br />
And I've got more craft things started now than I did last time I posted! I'm trying to get things together for a fall/holiday shop update with new Christmas things AND a few scarves which are time consuming. I started a large-ish Halloween cross stitch pattern. I've started a new quilt. <br />
<br />
And I'm fretting about my Halloween costume which will be very easy and not so costly with the exception of one thing and I have to get that one thing right. If I get it right, it will be bad ass. If I get it wrong, I'll be very sad about it. <br />
<br />
But things are improving. I'm trying to get to work earlier so that I don't have to make up so much time at night/will only be working overtime at night. I'm working on balancing out all the craft stuff into manageable chunks. I'm looking forward to the madness of my upcoming yarn event schedule:<br />
<br />
<ul><li> September 9th - Coventry Farmer's Market Fiber Fest<br />
<li> September 26th & 28th - Western Connecticut Yarn Crawl (Mom's working on the 27th so we're skipping that day)<br />
<li> October 10th - Stitches East (actually 9th - 12th, but we need to limit ourselves here)<br />
<li>November 1st or 2nd - New England Fiber Festival (which I might be going to alone, depending on Mom's work schedule)<br />
</ul><br />
<br />
So excited about it. And worried. But it's the natural progression into the crisp goal-oriented worry of the end-of-year months, which can be mitigated by copious lists, tea, and spontaneous baking.<br />
<br />
Now if only summer would just leave and let fall settle in.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19556198.post-75936663655344000652014-08-20T21:30:00.002-04:002014-08-20T21:30:51.638-04:00WIP Wednesday<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14498579788" title="Playing with a new photo app and this WIP while waiting for some work to process. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3866/14498579788_436cd5a6bb_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Playing with a new photo app and this WIP while waiting for some work to process."></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14505101487" title="Taking it easy while my back heals up. Doctor's orders. I'm hoping to make some progress on this Amy Pond scarf for the shop. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3849/14505101487_aef1f28d50_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Taking it easy while my back heals up. Doctor's orders. I'm hoping to make some progress on this Amy Pond scarf for the shop."></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14691784454" title="Got bored working on the Pond scarf all day, so I finally cast on my Loki socks. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3851/14691784454_fbb269c9d9_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Got bored working on the Pond scarf all day, so I finally cast on my Loki socks."></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14703573165" title="Pond scarf progress. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3923/14703573165_961f0a6b24_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Pond scarf progress."></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14726645254" title="Sock progress! by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3842/14726645254_5d59bd930d_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Sock progress!"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14757461245" title="Made a little business card wallet thing. First chance I had to use my clearance sale rainbow thread. :D by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3901/14757461245_97bccd8325_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Made a little business card wallet thing. First chance I had to use my clearance sale rainbow thread. :D"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14825334503" title="Cast on a simple sock in a self striping yarn to be my Event Sock this season. These are the socks that will come with me on long car rides and fairs. Patons Kroy Socks in Rusty Stripe. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3837/14825334503_94b04f9205_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Cast on a simple sock in a self striping yarn to be my Event Sock this season. These are the socks that will come with me on long car rides and fairs. Patons Kroy Socks in Rusty Stripe."></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14829356541" title="Made some progress on my event sock yesterday at the NY Renaissance Faire. Read more about my trip at freakishlemon.com! by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5578/14829356541_942c32c415_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Made some progress on my event sock yesterday at the NY Renaissance Faire. Read more about my trip at freakishlemon.com!"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14681761198" title="I think today's book weeding will leave me with 1.5 empty shelves! AMAZING. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3876/14681761198_ce6d7268d2_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="I think today's book weeding will leave me with 1.5 empty shelves! AMAZING."></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14685654459" title="I ran out of this particular yarn that isn't carried by my local stores any more, so I turned this Amy Pond scarf into a cowl for the shop. Which resulted in some creative blocking. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3868/14685654459_92ebc2275b_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="I ran out of this particular yarn that isn't carried by my local stores any more, so I turned this Amy Pond scarf into a cowl for the shop. Which resulted in some creative blocking."></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14881193272" title="Finished one funky looking Loki sock! by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3907/14881193272_7e7d83a371_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Finished one funky looking Loki sock!"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14715843529" title="Working on Loki sock #2. Toe-up socks still feel a little weird to me. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3883/14715843529_b0245ffc24_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Working on Loki sock #2. Toe-up socks still feel a little weird to me."></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14952605945" title="Progress on my Event socks. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5588/14952605945_2d33e418a7_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Progress on my Event socks."></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14774026180" title="My mom bought me a present! by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3882/14774026180_1d50f7066b_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="My mom bought me a present!"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14788483218" title="Thinking about making another quilt and I like these 4 patterns from The Weekend Quilter. Which one do you think I should do first? by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3845/14788483218_566ffcd0b1_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Thinking about making another quilt and I like these 4 patterns from The Weekend Quilter. Which one do you think I should do first?"></a></center><br />
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<br />
.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19556198.post-54752739630165816032014-08-18T21:06:00.003-04:002014-08-18T21:06:24.361-04:00Under the Sea Handspun<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14777771110" title="Under the Sea Handspun by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3923/14777771110_aafba29edc.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Under the Sea Handspun"></a></center><br />
I finished some handspun a while back. This was spun from some alpaca wool I bought from Green Paca at the Coventry Farmer's Market last fall. I bought 4 oz of the white wool and 1 oz packs of purple, green, and blue-green. <br />
<br />
This was the first time I tried blending the different colored wools with my wool combs. The green and the blue-green blended wonderfully and really worked as a gradient transition between the two colors on that ply, but the purple and the blue-green didn't quite work out the way I planned. The resulting color was a little too dark to really work as a transition, but the color still looks good plied in there. I'm pleased with it overall.<br />
<br />
This will be in the Etsy shop in the next major update!<br />
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<br />
<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14964445695" title="Under the Sea Handspun by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3844/14964445695_b6605c7da4.jpg" width="500" height="439" alt="Under the Sea Handspun"></a></center><br />
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.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19556198.post-88655047762136765782014-08-09T15:43:00.002-04:002014-08-09T15:43:43.951-04:00Weeding My Bookshelf<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14681761198" title="I think today's book weeding will leave me with 1.5 empty shelves! AMAZING. by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3876/14681761198_ce6d7268d2_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="I think today's book weeding will leave me with 1.5 empty shelves! AMAZING."></a></center><br />
<br />
I spent most of today so far weeding my bookshelf. It's a necessary chore every once in a while. There's only so much room to put books and I am a product of my environment. My parents never get rid of anything, so breaking myself of that mindset has been something that I've been actively working since college.<br />
<br />
A while back I found out about Paperback Swap, which is a service that I really enjoy. I know someone is looking for the book I'm sending out and I can get some really interesting books in return. It feels better to me than just generally donating books. Also, most of the time, there's a period between listing the book and sending out the book that I can get used to the idea that this book is no longer available. I shut them away in a cabinet so that they can't be seen and I get used to the book not being a part of the bookshelf. It works for me. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://freakishlemon.paperbackswap.com/profile/">Here is a link</a> to my profile on Paperback Swap so you can have a look at the books I have listed. I think you need to signed into an account to see the listing, but that's a quick sign up. Feel free to order any books from me!<br />
<br />
<br />
I also have three series up on Ebay for sale. Two of them are complete series and one of them has most of the books in the series. I felt like it would be easier for folks to get these all at once on Ebay instead of one by one on Paperback Swap. If they don't sell on Ebay, I'll list them, but I know it's annoying to get a series one book at a time if all the books are available.<br />
<br />
Here are the listings:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/171416036450?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649"> Remnants (Books 1-5, 7-12) by K. A. Applegate</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/171416067857?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649">Deltora Quest Complete Series by Emily Rodda</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/171416074278?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649">Deltora Quest: Shadowlands Complete Series by Emily Rodda</a><br />
<br />
<br />
Feel free to grab these, folks. I'd really appreciate you taking them off my hands.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<center>And here's a clean bookshelf!<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14682604148" title="Weeding success! The very top shelf is mostly empty and the shelf on the left side of the room is just crafty books and Game of Thrones, which doesn't fill the shelf. :D by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5571/14682604148_2675819160_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="Weeding success! The very top shelf is mostly empty and the shelf on the left side of the room is just crafty books and Game of Thrones, which doesn't fill the shelf. :D"></a></center>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19556198.post-75679151638698888552014-08-04T21:52:00.000-04:002014-08-04T21:52:20.061-04:002014 New York Renaissance FaireIt's that time of year again, folks. Ren Faire time!<br />
<br />
The New York Renaissance Faire kicks off the season in Tuxedo, NY. My family has gone to this one for about 14 years. We love going to see what's new and bringing new people to an experience that would never try without a group. This year Stovetop and Pickleface brought the two new folks and they had a blast.<br />
<br />
It was a good day. Good food, great entertainment, and it didn't rain, which is a minor miracle. The only real let down was the bathrooms were broken, so it was port-o-potties all day. They weren't bad until the end of the day, though, so even that didn't put too much of a damper on things.<br />
<br />
Some new things I saw this year:<br />
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<br />
<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14645503750" title="2014 NY Ren Faire by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3904/14645503750_af983c3424.jpg" width="500" height="374" alt="2014 NY Ren Faire"></a></center><br />
Viking camp! There was the stirrings of something like this last year, but this area was mostly poorly kept flower beds with a walking path last year. There were actors in there all day long, cooking and crafting. The photo is from so far back because there were crowds of folks gathered around to ask questions and I didn't want to grab faces without permission.<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14829145101" title="2014 NY Ren Faire by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5557/14829145101_487db59d6e.jpg" width="500" height="374" alt="2014 NY Ren Faire"></a></center><br />
Hey Nunny Nunny! We caught half of this show and it's definitely one I want to see in full next year. These two sing and crack silly religious jokes. Lots of puns and friendly ribbing. They ended the show with a song about the five constipated men in the Bible. It was delightful.<br />
<br />
In this photo, they were thanking their sponsors Damn It All! Use Damn It All to get rid of sin today! Now in extra strength Damn It All To Hell!<br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14645567539" title="2014 NY Ren Faire by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5588/14645567539_25895df0c1.jpg" width="500" height="374" alt="2014 NY Ren Faire"></a></center><br />
Wolgemut! Which is pronounced VOLE-geh-moot. My mom has a hard time remembering how it's pronounced and calls them Voldemort. She apparently saw them perform last year and wanted us to go see them this year. They were great. They play the German bagpipes (an instrument I was not consciously aware of), but ended up playing all French songs in the set. They kept laughing about that between songs.<br />
<br />
<br />
<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14645506570" title="2014 NY Ren Faire by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3852/14645506570_143c4d5ae3_n.jpg" width="239" height="320" alt="2014 NY Ren Faire"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14645593298" title="2014 NY Ren Faire by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2932/14645593298_1bc0bff409_n.jpg" width="241" height="320" alt="2014 NY Ren Faire"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14809228286" title="2014 NY Ren Faire by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3905/14809228286_b1c811f6b7_n.jpg" width="236" height="320" alt="2014 NY Ren Faire"></a></center><br />
The Gabbers and I stopped into a candle shop that has been there for years, but we never went into it. No idea why, but it's always been skipped. They specialized in large sculpted candles and this Avengers one was nuts. There was a Wizard of Oz one next to it and a ton of cool Disney ones. <br />
<br />
<br />
<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14645591888" title="2014 NY Ren Faire by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3890/14645591888_f71bf7912d.jpg" width="500" height="153" alt="2014 NY Ren Faire"></a></center><br />
And, of course, we all hung out at the end of the day at the joust. Here's all my folks. From left to right: The Gabbers, Dad, Mom, Stovetop, Stovetop's Friend, Pickleface, and Pickleface's Friend.<br />
<br />
(I was playing with the panoramic setting on my iPod camera and was only mildly successful. It's hard to keep that thing steady.)<br />
<br />
I only bought one thing at this faire other than food and drink and it was this skein of hand-dyed yarn:<br />
<br />
<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14809225876" title="2014 NY Ren Faire by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2930/14809225876_c31c48cb47.jpg" width="374" height="500" alt="2014 NY Ren Faire"></a></center><br />
This is from Reyen Design Studios, who work out of the Foxglove Silk booth. They started dying yarns in addition to silks recently and I love how they layer colors. The majority of the skein is deep red and brown, but there are patches of green and purple in there that don't show up well in the photo. It's lovely.<br />
<br />
<br />
And that was the first Renaissance Faire of the season. We'll be heading down to the PA Renaissance Faire next!<br />
<br />
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<br />
.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19556198.post-75133015182149839822014-07-31T20:39:00.000-04:002014-07-31T20:39:35.076-04:00A couple of new sewing projectsShowing off a couple of new sewing projects today. <br />
<br />
I mysteriously hurt my back a couple of weeks ago (stretched weird? twisted in my sleep? who knows?) and not being able to really sit for a long time without pain meant that I couldn't really play with any of my new sewing things. I'm really liking the speed at which I can complete some of these small projects.<br />
<br />
So after my run of anti-inflammatories and muscle relaxants to take care of the inflamed nerve and muscle spasms, I kind of went a little nuts. I had made one or two little mini-duffles from some fat quarters.<br />
<br />
And I got it into my brain that I really needed to make some more.<br />
<br />
<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14775059036" title="Mini Duffles by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3847/14775059036_e572658309_m.jpg" width="240" height="154" alt="Mini Duffles"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14775058526" title="Mini Duffles by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2921/14775058526_a34eeaacf2_m.jpg" width="240" height="177" alt="Mini Duffles"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14795691654" title="Mini Duffles by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3841/14795691654_c5f9d8614a_m.jpg" width="240" height="176" alt="Mini Duffles"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14794935271" title="Mini Duffles by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3857/14794935271_d939538860_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="Mini Duffles"></a><br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14775056616" title="Mini Duffles by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2895/14775056616_109efb55cc_m.jpg" width="240" height="158" alt="Mini Duffles"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14798051985" title="Mini Duffles by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5561/14798051985_e84d1b27a3_m.jpg" width="240" height="177" alt="Mini Duffles"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14611423108" title="Mini Duffles by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5564/14611423108_11db8af480_m.jpg" width="240" height="164" alt="Mini Duffles"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14794930561" title="Mini Duffles by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3861/14794930561_46b0865e9c_m.jpg" width="240" height="169" alt="Mini Duffles"></a></center><br />
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They're just so small and useful! I can't stand it.<br />
<br />
<br />
And since I've hurt my back, I've been using my electric heating pad thing a lot more. Unfortunately, it had one of those brown polyester cover that's kind of terrible and itchy. So I made a new one:<br />
<br />
<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14817886613" title="Heating Pad Cover by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2897/14817886613_038600fd0a_n.jpg" width="259" height="320" alt="Heating Pad Cover"></a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14775054536" title="Heating Pad Cover by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3916/14775054536_a50947a87d_n.jpg" width="295" height="320" alt="Heating Pad Cover"></a></center><br />
<br />
I made some calculation errors regarding the seam allowances, but some creative hand stitching fixed that and I'm really pleased with it. And it looks a hell of a lot better in teal and marigold than ugly polyester brown. :D<br />
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.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19556198.post-19898311470143782072014-07-28T21:14:00.002-04:002014-07-28T21:14:30.678-04:00Circle Mitts<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14749385676" title="Circle Mitts by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3841/14749385676_16eb913446.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Circle Mitts"></a></center><br />
<b>Pattern:</b> <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/circle-mitts">Circle Mitts by Sybil R</a><br />
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<b>Needles:</b> US 1 - 2.25 mm DPNs<br />
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<b>Yarn:</b> An assortment of colors of sock-ish weight yarn pulled out of a discount bin at the Holiday Yarns booth at Stitches East '13. I have no idea what the colorways are or even the specific blend of wool or whatever, but it was $20 for as much yarn as I could hold in one hand, so I'm not complaining.<br />
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I really like how this pattern turned out, but I don't think I'll be trying it again any time soon unless I get some longer DPNs in the right size or figure this out on circular needles. I have wide hands, which meant that the needles got really full at the widest point of the circle. I kept losing stitches off the ends because there was no room to move on the needles. <br />
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Part of the difficulty I had might have been with switching yarns every four rows, which made for some awkward gauge and ends to weave in during the circle increases. It might have been less finicky if I had used just one self striping or patterned yarn instead of switching yarns for each stripe.<br />
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Anyway, I really enjoy the end product and once I got into the rhythm of the construction of these, it made them a really quick knit. <br />
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29976799@N06/14585748439" title="Circle Mitts by Adrian Gergler, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2918/14585748439_ec2074384b.jpg" width="500" height="399" alt="Circle Mitts"></a></center>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2