Random thoughts of a fiber enthusiast - mostly fiber related, sometimes coherent

Month: April 2004

Felted Purse

Manos Felted BagI had to take a break from 3 mm needles on Sunday, so I made this. It’s a one skein purse made with Manos. It shrank a bit more than I wanted it to. All the other items I tried to felt needed 2 full cycles in the washing machine in our new place, so I didn’t think about it when I tossed it in with some laundry. I think I should have pulled it out about 1/2 way through.

But it’s cute isn’t it? I think this one is going to be winging its way south to Iris. It’s just the right size and colors for a little girl, doncha think?

(Although it’s a good size purse for those that like their handbags to fit snuggly under the arm pit, but I’m not one to carry that off. I’ll leave it to someone younger.)

    Stats

  1. one skein of Manos, colorway 107
  2. US 11 needles
  3. The finished size is 6″ wide and 3.5″ tall. The strap is 22″, end to end.

I’ll try another one as soon as I pick up another skein of Manos and try it for half the wash cycle. I really wanted this for myself. Unfortunately, it’ll probably have to wait until the weekend.

Gmail Update

I like it so far. I haven’t gotten enough mail to really see how well it works (slow mail days at Knitlist and Socknitters yesterday or was it typical?). However, it keeps the threads together so that you can view them all on one page instead of bouncing back and forth to see who said what, when. Unfortunately, this being the first day, I started in the middle of some of the threads, so I don’t have the full history of some of them yet. I’ll just have to wait for the next “what shops in Podunk should I visit while I’m on Spring Break?” thread to break.

Strangely enough, it’s identifying some emails, erroneously as spam. I’m still looking for patterns on these.

I almost missed the ads until I actually went back into it specifically looking for it. I guess I was just really used to ignoring the ads on Yahoo!Groups when I read the lists online. But the ads were well targeted. Yarn shops, knitting supplies for the most part. It brought up closet organizers during a discussion on organizing and displaying your stash. The really neat part of the “ads” section are the “Related Pages” section below the ads. I don’t think these are paid sites, but it was displaying links for ChicKnits and free knitting patterns at Knitting About and other related items. Occasionally, it would bring up something generic like leather briefcases when it doesn’t know what to do with the “me too!” emails.

Gmail doesn’t do folders, it does labels. You can apply one or more labels to each email (you can do this via filters). You can also flag a thread that you are interested in, and Gmail will place them in a separate section for perusal.

Now the really good part. This is for all you geeks out there. Gmail has keyboard shortcuts that are a blend of pine and vi. Nifty. You can navigate your emails without using the mouse. Cool.

Gmail and Mailing Lists

I’ve been on digest or no mail on all the Y! mailing lists that I’m on, because I just don’t want to deal with all that clutter in my mailbox. Not to mention possible viruses. So, I peruse the lists online when I have a chance.

Well, that all changed this morning. I created my Gmail account this weekend. I decided to put it to the definitive test. How well will it handle the volume of email that goes through Socknitters and KnitList? The experiment starts today. I’ll let it run for a week and post back with the results.

Spring T!

While waiting around hospitals during Mom’s various annual exams (I was the chauffeur of the day), I started a new spring T. I’m using Karen Alfke’s Unpatterned Top-Down Koigu T-Shirt pattern. Instead of using Koigu, I’m using yarn that I spun with Lorna’s Laces rovings last year. The colorway is Tahoe. Instead of 6.5 sts/in, I have 6. But what’s wonderful about Karen’s Unpatterns, is that it’s a recipe, with all the information you need to change the pattern to match your gauge and your body. Nifty. Yes, I know. Nothing earth shattering if you’ve read Barbara Walker’s Knitting from the Top, but I fell in love with this T, and Karen’s enthusiasm is contagious.

Sarah Hauschka showed me the basics of combined knitting last month. I’ve been reading about it in Knitting in the Old Way. I decided to try it on the sweater while I’m still working the neck area in the flat. It’ll take a little use to before I can knit without watching my hands again. I’m also noticing that my purl row tension is a wee tighter than my knit row now. I’ll get better, I’m sure.

I’ll get pictures once I get further along (and I have more time). Tomorrow is South Bay Opening Day, and I’m cooking breakfast. I have to be at the club at 6, or was that 5? (BTW, I finished those darn course flags, and they were installed yesterday.)

Have a great weekend!

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