It Spoke To Me, I Swear!

Perusing Ravelry's "for sale" groups is dangerous business...

I should have been getting ready for bed, but instead I chose to check out the "Used Knit and Spin Equipment" group on Ravelry. I'd recently sold one of my Golding spindles through the group, a pretty Celtic design that I purchased at Rhinebeck from its maker, Tom Golding. It was much more of an impulse buy than a need and I just never bonded with the little guy (I mean the spindle, not Mr. Golding). So, I sold it to a 1st time Golding spindler. I hope the two are happy together.



While checking out the group I happened across several Goldings listed for sale - this intrigued me because Goldings are usually NOT so readily available for resale. Perhaps my listing set off a chain reaction? Perhaps the taboo of reselling a Golding was temporarily lifted? I'm not sure, but I saw about three others listed for sale. This particular one caught my eye and stole my heart:





It's an "African Mother and Child" ring spindle with antique sterling silver ring and accents. I learned from the seller that it was purchased on Mother's Day last year. It's so ironic that a year later it should become my Mother's Day gift to myself.

KnitKing 4000 / KnitMaster 4500-esque

My new-to-me knitting machine has arrived! It's a KnitKing 4000 (at least that's what my research suggests), which is very similar to a Knitmaster 4500. It's the perfect machine for intarsia knitting. I simply lay the yarn across the needle hooks and slide the carriage across the bed. Changing colors is as easy as grabbing a yarn end. It's that simple and I love it.

Here's a sample I did about a day after receiving he machine:



The machine came with some great tools too. Having two of each triple and double transfer tools make for easy cable knitting.



Multiple transfer tools: this one capable of handling 33 stitches! The other is an adjustable needle pusher capable of pushing up to 33 needles in any configuration.



And finally, the piece de resistance! A Knittax pattern cam that slides across the needle bed to select needles for patterning. It came with a set of 4 cams ( one is loaded inside):





Although the machine did arrive with some damage and the incorrect needles (which I repaired and the seller rectified) I'm delighted with this new machine.

Ferdez Craft Club - Origami

Every 3rd Thursday of the month my craft club meets to chat, chew and craft. We have show n' tell and focus on a new craft for the night. Last week was quilling - Nhi, a wonderful quiller, showed us how to create beautiful paper quilled flowers. More recently, we had an origami night. Magdelena taught us the meaning behind "one thousand cranes" and showed us how to make origami cranes, hearts and (my favorite) beautiful paper boxes.

Wow. Where have you been?

Ok, the real question is, where have I been... All over actually, with the exception of this blog.

I've been preoccupied. I've been machine knitting and rollerskating, sewing and spinning, crocheting and weaving, juicing and snacking. I've also discovered Pinterest, Tumblr, Instagram and Viddy - all after saying goodbye to Facebook.

Yeah, I've been busy exploring other parts of the Internet. Its good to be back. Now, what have you been up to?

iPhone 4 - is it worth all this?

My iPhone 4 Experience:
Went to upgrade at local Radio Shack. Mgr says I'm eligible for $200 upgrade. Decide to upgrade two phones. My son's is approved, mine isn't even though we're on a family plan. Pay double for my phone. We both leave happy. Get 1 block and my home button won't work. Go back, get another new phone. Go several blocks and some demo video comes onscreen. Go back to RadioShack. Mgr apologizes for putting demo software on phone in error, has to restore phone. I wait 30 minutes while he makes calls to find out how to remove the demo software. He tries again, restore takes 25 mins. He exclaims "uh oh" and informs me that there was an error and restore won't go thru. Asks me to leave the phone there till tomorrow. He's out of iPhone 4s and will get me one tmrw. I tell him I need a phone - reactivate my old 3GS. He tries but can't reactivate the sim. He gives me a new sim. I leave with my same old phone, $600 lighter. Tired, frustrated, angry and jealous that my son ha a new working iPhone 4. Maybe I'll have mine tomorrow.


- Posted using BlogPress from my (old) iPhone