Things I learned from Plarn

Last week I took a class all about knitting with Plarn. You do know what Plarn is, right? Plastic Yarn made from recycled plastic grocery bags.

Lesson #1: Plan on a long evening at home. Making plarn involves cutting up lots of plastic bags and then connecting them.  Me? I was watching back episodes of Stargate SG-U: 1.0.

Lesson #2: Plarn rustles. No knitting with plarn in church! It starts out fairly wide but as it passes through your hands, it stretches and becomes much thinner. But it also makes a lot of noise . . .

Lesson #3: Plarn is easy to make mistakes with. The stitches blend together and it is very easy to lose track! I've been frogging quite a bit for using recycled plastic bags.

Lesson #4: Plarn can be very pretty! Eventually I will have an Ilene Bag - a very nice, stretchy shopping bag. Until then, though, I just have plarn.

And just in case you wanted to see a work in progress - check out Kate E. Austen's "How to make Plarn" video tutorial . . . 

(Oh, and that Saturday Seven? Pretty sure it was more than seven but I took two shopping bags full of dishes, trays, mugs and jackets over to a rummage sale. It was going to rain so I just skipped the photograph and dropped it off. Use your imagination!)

My new sock?

Okay, so I was overwhelmed by the sock love going on at the Minnesota Knitters' Guild's June "Sockapolooza" meeting - all kinds of sock techniques displayed made me hungry! - and I started another pair of socks.

The "My Vampire Boyfriend" sock from Knitty.com is a knit-a-long project over at Ravelry.com and now it's giving me heart palpitations!

I'm using some lovely Claudia Hand Painted Yarn (Fingering Weight) in the "Rubies Playing" colorway. It's a deep, rich variegated red. The pattern? Grrr. I've ripped back twice.

I'm thinking a nap should clear things up. I had a 1 mile swim this morning and while it was an okay workout and not that hard of a distance, I really had a problem sleeping last night. Lots of sighing!

The rain held off and my time was about seven minutes slower than in a pool. 

(Editor's Note: Times were posted today and my time was actually 31:12 - that's actually only 1 minute slower than my pool time! Yea!)

And I ran into fellow knitter Shelly Kang! She was doing the 2 mile swim and looked fantastic!

Today's Saturday Seven starts out pretty slowly - no photos except for a "Kent Co-Pilot Kids Tag-a-long bike." 

Our neighbors gave it to us after their own grandson stopped using it. Youngest Child is biking on his own now and we needed to find it a home. So, off to Freecycle with it!

Running with the big dogs, er, guys!

By 9 a.m. this morning, I'd run a 5k race, had a beer and brat and was on my way home. As Mr. Daisy said, "This could be a recruiting poster for the Army!"

For some reason, Mr. Pringles led off the race, the Lederhosenlauf 5k at the Germanic-American Institute. 

I was happy it was an early morning - it was pouring rain by 10 a.m. After knocking back a few chores, I think it's time for knitting and watching "James and the Giant Peach." I've started Not Plain Jane's Hedgerow Socks (only down 2-at-a-time as in 2-at-a-Time Socks: Revealed Inside. . . The Secret of Knitting Two at Once on One Circular Needle Works for any Sock Pattern! - a great resource!) and they are at the tricky getting-the-pattern-set-up part so I'm not taking them around town just yet.

As for that Saturday Seven, I found three curtains (from who knows where!), three tee shirts and a pair of sweat pants. 

When you have curtains you can't remember buying, you have to many curtains!

World Wide Knit in Public Day - coming to shop near you!

I'm not sure where I'll be for WWKIP - I'm thinking of going to Lila & Claudine's Yarn & Gifts on the 19th but here's plenty to choose from:

Alexandria, 206 Broadway, Central Park across from The Runestone Museum, Hosted by: Beth Olson on June 12, 2010

Circle Pines, Double Ewe Yarn Shop in Circle Pines, Hosted by: Kelly at Double Ewe on June 12, 2010

Mahtomedi, Lila and Claudine's Yarn & Gifts, Hosted by: Kirsten Skoglund & Polly Hart on June 19, 2010

Marshall, 349 W Main St, Hosted by: Janna Milbradt on June 17, 2010

Minneapolis, StevenBe: 3448 Chicago Ave. S., Hosted by: StevenBe on June 20, 2010

Minneapolis, Top of the Hill near the Peace & Rose Gardens in Lyndale Park, Hosted by: Ravelry knitters ChrisRKnits and PurplePurlGirl on June 20, 2010

Rosemount, Yarn Garage: 2980 West 145th St, Rosemount, MN 55068, Hosted by: Yarn Garage on June 19, 2010

Warroad, Soulutions, Hosted by: The Warroad KnitWits on June 12, 2010

Winona, Farmers' Market, Hosted by: Blandine on June 12, 2010

Where will you be knitting this weekend?

My, oh, my. A Knitting Gun!

I should be swimming right now (getting ready for a mile open water swim next week!) or even running (race tomorrow, though. Don't want to get too loose!) but intstead, I'm fiddling around on the internet. And I found this:

http://www.designspotter.com/product/2010/06/knitting-gun-Strickwaffe.html

I know that while I'm swimming, I'll be mulling over what I could make with a knitting gun. A vest? A handbag? Hmm . . .

Rainy days make for spinning days

This has been a week short on knitting - literally. I've been making chenille washcloths again.

The great thing about washcloths is that they are extremely portable - even more than socks - and if you make a mistake, no one will know. The chenille yarn (the remains of Crystal Palace Yarns Cotton Chenille from the last set of washcloths I made!) is extremely forgiving!

Today has been my first day using my Lendrum since Shepherd's Harvest - I've just haven't had the time to get things set up - but I've been spinning with a vengeance. That wretched free fleece? I've worked it up into a series of greys and black yarns and I'll be using it for something where itchiness isn't a factor. Hats? Bags? Mittens?

I've been using this rainy Saturday for spinning mostly so I can get caught up on episodes of Stargate Universe.

This is a fabulous sci-fi show with a plot very much like a "lifeboat in the stars." Using the Stargate technology (from the two previous Stargate television shows), survivors from an alien attack have ended up on an ancient starship going goodness knows where. They are trying to get home, all get along and figure out the ship's controls at the same time. Very intense! And it has Scottish actor Robert Carlyle as a good/bad scientist . . .

I did take a break to assemble today's Saturday Seven. Luckily, Oldest Daughter is moved to a new apartment this past week and supplied me with some cast-off clothes.

A pair of jeans and two tops came from her - I contributed two turtlenecks, a swimsuit cover-up, and a cycling jersey. I think this covered all the seasons! Back to SGU!