Below are the 6 most recent journal entries recorded in spinning_tails' LiveJournal:

Sunday, March 7th, 2004
11:25 pm	CONTEST!! time to win stuff. i want a new name for my blogspot knitting journal (tailspun.blogspot.com). its the tailspun part i want to change... the title bar on the page, something something yarNerd, that was my friend michelle's invention, and i'm quite happy with that. rules: 1. must be short and sweet and catchy 2. should make reference to knitting, the lord of the rings, or some other aspect of ME. (if you're on my friends list, i hope you know at least SOMETHING about me...) 3. leave your entry in a comment, with a brief explanation if needed. 4. i reserve the right to modify and build on submissions (within recognition and reason). if i use your suggestion, or a reasonable likeness of it, you will win something. i have NO idea what yet, as i plan to cater it to whomever wins. the folks on my friends list are far too diverse for me to just pick one prize... suffice to say, the prize will be small, and fun, and suited to YOU and only you. good luck! (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, February 21st, 2004
3:14 am	my hands smell like sheep ... which, is to be expected when one has spent 5 hours in one day working on a project with semi-greasy wool. oh how i love the smell and feel of my green mountain spinnery yarn that i've chosen for rogue. i've been having... FUN. i forgot to post progress of rogue when i first took pics midweek, so i'll just start with its current state. this week has been a blessing... at least for this project. i got sick, and took two days off of commuting into disease-ridden manhattan. i spent those two days in bed, watching movies, working on rogue. and BOY did that give me a running start. two weeks ago, i cast on and started the twisted-knit hem facing. nope, just couldnt do it. my hands and the yarn couldnt compromise. then, i saw claudia's hem... and decided that was the one for me. so i frogged... and started over, this time knitting 4 rows, then picking up cast-on stitches and knitting them together with live stitches on the 5th row. this has given me a nice little hem that i'm quite proud of. ( progress pics ) Current Mood: crazy (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, February 14th, 2004
1:14 am	WIP's, future projects and designs i think i'll make this a memory and go back and either... post a new list every now and then and make that a memory, too. or go back and edit this and keep it current... i havent decided which yet. more pictures next time, but this is a words-only post. heh. there are actually more WIP's somewhere, but i cant recall what they are. so at the moment, i have a "what i can recall" list. i'm sure i have more PLANNED, too... but i'm always open to new suggestions! though... i HAVE to finish a few things before i add more to my plate. ( works in progress ) ( upcoming projects ) ( design projects ) Current Mood: dorky (Comment on this)
Thursday, January 29th, 2004
1:30 am	i'm back in the saddle again... its been a while since i've updated... i had all these lofty goals of keeping up this well-narrated knitting journal... but hey, i s'pose i could do worse. i havent COMPLETELY abandoned it yet, and i'm already making my what, second, third post? yeah, i rule. this will be a VERY photo-intensive post, as i've worked on/am currently working on a lot of things lately. now that i'm back in school, i now have the "benefit" of my long train rides every day to and from the city. so i've knit a lot, and gotten REALLY good at tetris! so, many many pictures to come. but first! a story: on the train tuesday morning, a rather large black man got on at the second stop, and sat down directly opposite me. he then proceeded to look at me more than necessary, and finally said "excuse me, miss?" at this point i'm thinking, aww geez i just want to ride the train in peace. "are you knitting? thats real nice." this is where my shock kicks in... "yea i used to knit a bunch. my dawgs thought i was CRAZY, but shit i was warm, man." and... my jaw's now on the floor. and i'm trying SO hard not to laugh because he's being really genuine. "so is that a feather and fan? yea i dig that." WOAH! so it's most certainly not a line at this point, he actually knows what he's talking about... so we had a lovely chat until he got off 3 stops later, and i got my nice restful train ride after that :) now, pictures!! ( livin it up when i'm going down... )thats all for now! tomorrow, if i remember, i'll update with the chart for the mallorn leaf, and possibly the patern for the elvish bag if i get to making it up durring class... heh. Current Mood: content (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, January 11th, 2004
3:41 am	of socks and oh man... i've never done socks before... i once did a practice heel-turn, just to see how it would go. so, when i came across the most beautiful socka colorway ever... i figured it was a cosmic kick in the ass to get me making socks. alright, already!! i've seen all the links to socks with two circs or with one long one... and as i HAD no small circs, i didnt feel like buying two addis (cause really, that's ALL i'll use now). so for sock #1, ever, i decided on the long-circ method. bought a #3 (3.25 mm i believe?) 24" circ. just long enough without being awkward and in the way. now, because i have to be difficult, i also decided to make my first sock TOE-UP. lemme tell you, i'm so glad i made the choices i did. the combination of toe-up and long-circ was perfect. whenever i felt i needed to do some figuring on sock size and all that, i'd just sort of bend the cable so i could slide the sock all together(marking the halfway point where i'd have to bring the cable back through afterwards) and SLIP IT ON. thanks to that, i didnt even really need a patern. i remembered quite a lot from the toe-up articles i had read, and decided to do a method where you cast on twice as many stitches as you need, then divide them to two needles for the toe, working around and increasing at the sides. i increased till it was the right width and covered my toes. then... realizing i'd want to be able to keep track of which was the top, i decided to have some fun, and put a simple little 2-stitch twist on the top of the foot. keeping track of how many rows i'd done (for the second sock, of course) i knit to the correct length for my feet. then comes trouble... i did my first short-row heel. my first short-row anything. this project was a lot of firsts!! this heel... it was far from graceful. as can be expected. final analysis of the project: my gague was pretty consistant, not bad. little holes at toe and heel, correctable. somehow, a garter stitch row in the heel. interesting. i like short socks, but not TOO short. and the toe up variety made it so i could get exactly the right height. i LOVE it. i think... because i had never done socks using a bigger yarn or a different sized needle, i'm more likely to be patient with these. heh. like... i started the hard way, i'll finish that way! cause i know no other... yet... (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, January 7th, 2004
1:52 am	christmas wrap-up i'm trying to get some sort of doccumentation of all the projects i've completed, which somehow makes me feel better about the massive amount of things in PROGRESS at the moment... phase one is complete, i just put finishing touches on my hats page (more to come later as pictures come in, i assure you). link: HATS if you're so inclined to take a peek. now just a few of the things i'm most proud of... BIG COLORFUL PICTURES are a good way to keep the attention of your audience. if i had one, i'd do that ;) ( g'wan, i DARE ya ) Current Mood: excited (Comment on this)