Platformnine Designs

Hooray, I’ve finally gotten some time to make an update! Spring is finally here after a long, long winter. NJ got hit with 3 or 4 really big snowstorms and we broke our record from 1996 (when I was just a wee girl!). I learned to snowboard this winter, which was awesome and I love it! And I’ve finally gotten back to working on my fiber projects.

Spinning
I’ve been working away on my wheel. I have so many different projects going at once. I’ve been working on the SW Merino braid that I talked about in my last post, and it’s still looking very nice. I’m carding up the other half of it into batts. I’ve also been working on the rest of the pound of corriedale that came with my wheel when I got it a year ago, I’m thinking of making it a 3-ply yarn. Plying-wise, I n-plied the merino/silk/firestar single that I talked about in December. I still have the other 2oz batt to spin up. I also finally got some oil for my wheel since it’s getting to the point where it desperately needs to be oiled.

Weightloss
I’ve been going through a mental plateau from the end of January through most of March, but I’m finally back on track. Now I’m at 65lbs lost and I’m feeling great!

Love
My last boyfriend turned out to be a liar and a bit crazy. On the ski trip we took he showed his true colors, and he dumped me shortly after (right before Christmas). But I’ve been seeing one of my friends-turned-lovers for about a month now and I’m quite in love with him. He’s hands down the best boyfriend I’ve ever have. He’s doting, sweet, and a complete gentleman.

Knitting
I’ve got several projects on the needles, as usual. I’m working on a scarf for my boyfriend, two scarves for myself (GASP, I’m actually making scarves!), still working away on the vest from the summer that is hibernating in my basket, and I’ve started a few re-useable grocery bags. :)

My birthday is next Wednesday, March 31, 2010. I’ll be turning 21. This is my last big milestone and I’m very excited about it. I’m going to spend the night in NYC next Wednesday, and then on Friday I’m hosting an Alice in Wonderland themed cocktail party with my friends.

All is well in the knit-happy life of Mary!

Fair warning: This post will be LONG.

Spinning
Ok, I mentioned in my last post that I would be experimenting with a spin project. I received this gorgeous painted roving from a friend. The roving is from Sunshine Yarns and was in the colorway Lockhart, which was beautiful! But not my style, SO I decided that I would card the roving on my drum carder to attempt to make a more heathered color.

The roving started like this:

Then I broke it into color sections, separating mostly blues/dark colors and mostly yellow/light colors. I carded the blue section first into a batt (the blue & white batt) and then I carded the yellow section (the yellow/blue batt) and then I blended those two batts together and put it through the carder about three or four times so that it was really smooth and fluffy! I ended up with a really nice color, lighter than what I was expecting, but I really like it!

I’m spinning it with a little less tension so that I can have less twist in my singles. This is giving me a “fluffier” yarn that does have a technical name that I don’t feel like looking up right now :) The test plies look really lovely though! Here’s how it’s spinning up so far:

Books: Intentional Spinner & Color in Spinning
I just got them! I found them both on sale on Amazon, so I splurged and got myself early Christmas presents hehehe! I haven’t gone through Intentional spinner in depth yet, but thumbing through it earlier I already found a few nifty tips that can improve my spinning! I love Color in Spinning, the color theory charts are awesome and the samples of the colorways in the book are really helpful!

Other spin projects and Knitting
I also just wound this into a cake for storage until I ply it. It’s my Rootbeer batt from Corgi Hill Farm! I finished 2oz before I left for Alaska, and I still have about 2oz to spin. It’s Merino/Silk/Firestar :D

I also carded up this gorgeous BFL/Kid Mohair/Mill Ends/Silk/Bamboo batt that spurred me to create my first spinner’s notecard! The card has a batt sample, plied fingering weight sample, and a tiny little knit sample. I also put my carding notes and fiber percentages/colors notes on my little note card. It’s really shiny and soft and silky, I’m so excited to spin it!

My friend Scott was having a bad day the other day, so I knit him The ‘Stache. He was thrilled and it looked really good on him! I also finished my mom’s Christmas present, a Butterfly Beret. It seemed to take forever to knit! But it turned out lovely. I steam blocked it, which may be my new favorite blocking method. I had a heart attack and a half when I was weaving in the ends because my weave in at the crown snapped and ripped back four or five rows! I cinched up really snugly the second time around. The only projects I have left to knit before Christmas are my two brothers’ hats, my Stepdad’s hat, a cowl for my mommom and a cowl for my aunt. Five projects left!

My holiday knits are coming along nicely, I’m about halfway done. I’m hoping that I’ll be done in time to make ornaments to use as tags on presents, buuuut I’m not sure if that’s happening or not.

This week I’ve been working on getting back into the “spin” of things. My fiber addiction is slowly creeping back up on me and my wheel has been calling my name. And why shouldn’t it, I haven’t touched spinning since I left for my Alaska trip! I have a SW Merino that I received as a gift that I’m itching to spin. It’s blue, silver, and gold roving that I want to spin into a heathered yarn. I’ll post some pictures because the way I’m doing it is sort of an experiment. But before I spin that I need to get my groove back, so today I’m carding a few baby batts to test spin (and to test card so that maybe I can finally re-open my etsy shop!!!!). I’m also finally, for the first time ever, going to knit with one of my own handspun. I have a yummy worsted merino/silk that I’m knitting into a gorgeous cowl. I haven’t started it yet, but it’s in the works.

For Christmas my mom got me the Hiya-Hiya interchangeable needle set I asked for and I was allowed to have them early!!!! I ADORE these needles! They’re soooo much better than the KP Options that I have. For one, A 16” CABLE!!!!! They are about an inch shorter than the KP needles, but that doesn’t really bother me since I mostly hold the needles in my fingertips. I LOVE that they have the size printed on the needle, because with KP I was always pulling out my needle gauge to figure out what size I was holding. When they become available I plan on buying the individual needle tips in some of the larger sizes so I can have a nice set. I’ve also ordered extra 16” cables because I knit 3 or 4 projects at a time, and I love me some hats.

My family and best friends and my boyfriend are taking a holiday ski trip the week before Christmas to the poconos. Just a weekend trip, but it’s going to be a blast! I’m planning on exchanging gifts there, so I’ve been working my tail off trying to get those projects finished first!

Today also marks the 6 month anniversary of the beginning of my weight loss journey. To day I’ve lost nearly 40lbs (1.5lbs away!) and I’m truly amazed at my hard work and how easy it was to change my lifestyle and eating habits. I’ve discovered that I actually love working out, those happy endorphins do exist! I’ve been feeling great and I can’t wait for the next 6 months to be that much closer to my goal!

Temporarily putting the pattern here until Rav stops giving me technical difficulties uploading the pdf!!! >:C

ETA: PDF issues fixed, download now available!

Materials:
Yarn: DK weight, Red Heart Sport
Solids in MC, CC1, and CC2
Needles: 7 DPNs or 7 16” circulars
Gauge: 6 rows and 5 stitches per inch
Note: Original hat knit to fit a small head, for larger heads, use worsted weight yarn and go up a needle size or two, follow * directions for larger sized hats. This project was designed as a quick knit for the holidays for last minute gift-givers! Also great for beginners and easily customizable!

Directions:
CO 100 stitches onto needles and join in the round, being careful not to twist stitches.
Work in K2, P2 ribbing in MC for 5 rows.
Switch to CC1 for 5 rows, continuing in K2, P2.
Switch to CC2 for 5 rows, continuing in K2, P2.
Switch to CC1 for 5 rows, continuing in K2, P2.

Return to main color for 5 rows, then repeat the CC stripe pattern once more.

If a smaller hat is desired, begin decreases in MC. If a larger hat is desired, knit in MC for 1”-2”, then begin decreases in MC.

Decreases:
Round 1: *K2, P2TOG, K2, P2* (repeat around)
Round 2: *K2, P1, K2, P2* (repeat around)
Round 3: *K2TOG, P1, K2, P2* (repeat around)
Round 4: *K1, P1, K2, P2TOG* (repeat around)
Round 5: *K2, P1, K2TOG, P1* (repeat around)
Round 6 & 7: *K2TOG* (repeat around)

13 stitches remain. Break yarn, leaving a 6” tail. Weave in all ends and wet block if desired.

This pattern is free, no profit is to be made from it unless permission is given by the author.

(C) 2009-2010 Mary Veterano, Platformnine Designs

Life’s a whirlwind, what can I say?

On the knitting front: Christmas projects are in full swing. My poor Little Lace Vest has been put aside, halfway finished, until I can get these Christmas knits out of the way. So far the status is 1/14 complete, sooo 1 down, 13 to go. I have 5 of those started - 2 hats, a little girl’s cropped vest, a cowl and a neck wrap. I’m halfway done the hats, through 1 out of the 2.5 lace repeats on the cowl, a third of the way through the vest, and have done 4 of the 15 lace repeats on the neck wrap. Sooo, Christmas knits are in good shape. Knits for me, on the other hand, are suffering from Christmas season lol.

On the school front: Arrgh, it’s the last week of this class and I have a rough draft and final paper to write and I Do. Not. Want. To. Do. Them. The next class block (which is the last block before I get a 2 week Christmas break :3) I FINALLY have an IT class annnnnd another god damn Com class :| This time it’s Business Communication for the IT Professional. Kill. Me.

On the boy front: We’re most definitely in love. Also, officially the longest serious relationship I’ve had.

On a new front: I don’t think I’ve mentioned yet, but I’ve made a lifestyle change for the healthy. So far I’ve lost 30lbs since June and I’m feeling super awesome. I’m back to the weight I was at in my senior year of high school and lately I’ve been confined to dresses and skirts because my clothes do not fit and I hate belts lol. In fact, last night I was running upstairs to get something and my pants fell down around my ankles!!!!! That’s definitely the point when you know you need pants.

So much can change in two months, it’s amazing! Alright, so I haven’t done half of the things I said I would do on that summary list a while back… and I probably won’t because classes just started up again this week and I’m lazy lol. I also just got back (well, 2 weeks ago we got back….) from my Alaskan Cruise vacation which was seriously PHENOMENAL!!! Go to Alaska. No, really, go there right now. I mean it. If you’re interested in the pictures that I love to spam people with, you can find the links to my public albums on facebook below. Ignore me and my sister acting dumb most of the time lol.

Pictures on facebook (public albums):
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12| 13 | 14

I took two projects with me, one I finished (a blanket square for a charity project) annnd the other I didn’t. I actually started over cause I did that thing where I knit while I’m exhausted and I end up falling asleep and it became a tangled mess… fail. I cast on again last night. I haven’t gotten far, just the first three garter stitch rows before I decided I needed to sleep. It’s the Little Lace Vest from SweaterBabe.com and I looooove this pattern. I also bought the tunic vest to make for the fall, so hopefully I can finish this fast enough.

Also, on the boy front - the guy I mentioned with the classic car and disney love (Steve) was kind of a blip. I think he was seeing me and another girl at the same time and picked her over me. Whatevs, I say. After Steve I met Josh (who is now my ex) who I dated for a little under a month, but he turned out to be a tool. I went on a few dates with 2 guys after Josh, but then I met John. I’ve been dating John for a month and I’m falling fast for him. He is literally perfect. I don’t think he could possibly get any more perfect, but then he does something that makes him that little extra bit of perfect :) After years of being told that the best things come when you least expect them, I was hardly a believer. Then I met my John :3

I now return you to your regularly scheduled web browsing!

Sometimes knitting inspires you. Sometimes it speaks to you. But sometimes, it just stares at you like a creeper.

Got my new camera, yaaaay! And while I was making a case for it today, this little guy cropped up.

I don’t actually have time to blog about everything I should have written about in the last month. Fail, Mary, FAIL. So, instead for now, I’ll give you a tiny summary of what’s been going on at the Platformnine HQ.

• May’s Phat Fiber box came. It was awesome, as usual. I am now addicted to Milk fiber, thanks Roo! I will have a review post up soon… I swears >__________>
• GOT MY BUNNIES!!!!!!!! Love ‘em! They’re goofballs. Keva and Carine ♥ They will be getting their own intro post of disapproval soon.
• Got some spinning done, woo! Pictures, or it didn’t happen!
• ALMOST done with two gift packages. One’s for a Spring exchange, one’s for the swap I run, KFSKS.
• PAID OFF MY CREDIT CARD. HELL. YES. I am elated about this, because for about 6 months I lived in fear of creditors and debt. That shit is fucking SCARY.
• Got the shore house open. Been going down every weekend/every other weekend when I can! After my summer job starts (as a nanny) I can guarantee that I’ll be down every weekend for sanctuary.
• Ordered a crapload of fiber. Love it all. BeesyBee, Moonwood Farm, Sheep Shed, Gritty Knits.
• Made 6 sales in the shop in the past week!! YEY!! It was really really exciting because 2 of the sales were HUGE orders!! And one was a custom order!! My name is getting out there and people are enjoying my products :D
• Signed up for Tour de Fleece, Team Lantern Rouge 2009! I’d love to spin everyday (and, being the type of person I am, would probably have signed up to spin with the Hopelessly Overcommitted), but that’s a pipe dream if there ever was one LOL!
• Got a Blackberry Curve 8330. Love it more than anything. Addicted to it.
• Have a new man in my life. He’s a sweetheart. He has a classic car. He likes Disney. Does it get any better than that? XD

I think that’s the vast majority of things, in no particular order. Tune in later for some more updates and posts without bulleted lists!

I’ve been a busy bee again! I don’t know why I always say that, since I’m never not being a busy bee haha! While I’ve been hammering out my May samples for the PhatFiber Box (see pictures below for a preview of samples), I’ve also been finishing up my first, for-realz-actually-sat-down-and-did-it knitwear. Nothing terribly exciting (well, it is to me), just a cute little shrug/bolero/cropped jacket thingy. Why are there so many names for them? It was a seriously quick knit, I love it! The pattern I used was Shoulder Holder. On top of all of that (and school, family, my meager social life, etc) I was hit hard by the design bug last night. I was re-watching Leverage season one before the new season starts (May 25th!!), and the character Sophie was wearing this positively adorable long sweater vest at the end of the second episode. I did some detective work (ie: got out my photoshop and doctored some photos so I could get a closer, in detail look at the vest), and I sketched up a few mock ups of some ideas I have for the sweater. I’m way excited about it :D

Sample preview for May:

2 different handspun samples, each a different colorway and different weights. Spring Showers and Hyacinth.

1/2 oz fiber batts. Twice carded cotswold locks with angelina blended in.

(For the rest of the pictures, and the full sized versions, go here!)

When I saw on the Rav Phat fiber group that some of the contributors started to get their boxes I bolted for my mailbox! Sadly, it wasn’t there yet :c It finally arrived at 4:40PM!!! My mail was SOOOO late today! Anyway, I brought the box in, but I couldn’t crack into just yet - we sat down to a really early dinner today.

As soon as I finished eating I ran up to my room and grabbed my camera. Excuse the poor setting (the dog cage turning into a rabbit cage, LOL), I was too excited to go anywhere else. When I first opened up the box, this is what I saw:

First of all, the little card holder is SOCUTE. I love it. LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT!!!! It’s my new makeup bag for my purse! Then I peeled back the tissue paper (also cute!) and ZOMG STUFF!!!! I was hit with STUFF overload and I didn’t know what to pick up first!

First I opened the brown paper bag from Farm Girl Chic and I found some awesome wool/mohair locks mixed with some cotton and ribbon strips! It’s sooo soft and silky! Another big bonus is that there is hardly any VM in there! The last time I bought locks (from a different place) it was filled with VM :c

Then I oogled and molested the samples from Natchwoolie (yellow - peeps colorway) and Smoky Mountain Fibers. The packaging for the Natchwoolie sample is so adorable! The colorway (peeps) is a very lovely muted yellow that is a 90% Wool / 10% Mohair blend. The SMF sample is a gorgeous blend of blues and greens. It’s called beachglass and it’s a 100% merino roving sample that’s about a 1/2 an ounce! It looks like it’s going to spin up in sections of color, so I’d better learn how to navajo ply!

Next I was really excited to find the soap sample from Smoky Mtns Apothecary! I’ve never been huge on minty smells, but OH MY GOD the peppermint smells SO GOOD. All of the girls in my family are clamoring to have it in their bathroom! And I also got a sample of 80/20 merino/bamboo from 1,000 Petals. It’s really soft and shiny! And sparkle fiber from Enchanted!!! I love sparkle, so yaaay glitz! And a YUMMY yellow/pink/brown 70% Merino SW/30% SeaCell top from Knit It Up. This. Feels. AMAZING. I’ve been so excited to try seacell, but have never gotten around to it yet - here’s my chance!

And here is where I literally jumped around my room for a few minutes! I GOT A KIP BAG!! I’ve been so excited about these since I saw the samples of them for the March box. I can’t believe I got one!!! It’s from Ruddawg, and it’s sooo adorable! Next I found a gorgeous roving sample from Infinity Yarn & Fiber! It’s a beautiful superwash merino dyed in shades of green. Then I pulled out my first yarn sample from the box, a gorgeous organic merino fingering weight sample from The Unique Sheep in a gorgeous shade of green! This box is soooo working for me, I LOVE GREEN!!!

The next batch of samples I pulled out was a clever button from Wildhare and Fiber, a gorgeous laceweight sample from The Twice Sheared Sheep, and a very cool handspun sample from Coolclimates. The button makes me giggle because it says “Shop ‘til you drop” with a picture of a drop spindle on it! Clever, clever! The lace weight sample is absolutely gorgeous. It’s a really pretty shade of light blue. Another bonus is that it’s from recycled yarn! The Coolclimates sample is this really cool chunky homespun (what I call thick and thin, it’s just so chunky!) that’s got gorgeous colors in it. It’s a thicker single with greens and pinks and deep purples plied with a thin single that’s a really pretty violet color.

The final samples that I pulled out of the box was the awesome hank of Tulip yarn from My 8 Kids Mom, which is totally awesome and looks like it’s a really generous sample! I also pulled out the really pretty dreadlocks yarn from Giffordables, and the soft cotton sample from Katsara Luxury Handpainted Yarns. The sample from Giffordables is a squooshy yarn that I think would make a really cool bag. It has gorgeous shades of green in it, and it’s plied with a beautiful ice blue lace weight single. The Katsara sample is positively dreamy! It’s SO soft! I just keep holding it to my face and going “Mmmmm” haha! The colors are spectacular, too! It’s a wonderful blend of muted greens, blues, and purples. It’s beautifully dyed!

Finally, last - but most definitely not least, I pulled out the Merino/Silk sample from Corgi Hill Farm. Oooooh my god. That’s all I can say about this sample. I literally melted to the floor for a second when I opened it. It’s unbelievable soft, and all of the firestar in it makes it SOSHINY! The colorway is simply gorgeous. This is one of those things that you would describe as “BUTTAH” ♥ It came with candy too! I haven’t tried any yet, but it looks cool!

Note: for larger pictures, click here to see them!

All in all, I loved the box! It was my first one, so yay! (I tried for a March box, but it was stolen from my card twice!) I can’t wait to send in my samples for the May box, I think you guys will really enjoy them! I took pictures yesterday, so later on today I’ll be posting some previews of the handspun and batt samples!

Another note: Halfway through writing this post I went out for drinks and didn’t get to bed ‘til about 2:30AM. I had fun :D