Entrelac class today.

Today was "The Ins and outs of Entrelac" taught by Lynne Vogel of the Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook. This was an all day class with lunch included. The morning session was "five Stitch Entrelacs" in the round and the afternoon session was "Back And forth 5 Stitch Entrelacs".

Here I am fully engrossed in the last few stitches before taking lunch. I used two contrasting yarns to ease the process, Alchemy synchronicity in colorway "She Threw Brick" and Karaoke Mermaid. Entrelacs in the round took some time to work all 5 DP needles with some comfort. Making socks on 4 DPs will seem much simpler now.

I almost look relaxed. But really on the inside it was relief because it was lunchtime.

Of course we had to get the obligatory pic with the author and teacher for the day. I must express my thanks to Lori Lawson for all her help throughout the day.

We also picked up a few patterns and some yarn. I know we didn't really need yarn.

Here are the two swatches from the flat entrelac session. Mine is not quite complete but Mrs. Twisted sailed through the exercise.

Some hand dyed and hand spun superfine merino yarn

Spruce colorway 4 ply cashmere

Lynne Vogel brought some hand spun hand dyed yarn like the 100% merino above.

100% Blue Faced Leiceter in purple multi plied

Some of Lori Lawson's hand dyed and hand spun as well

Someday soon, this beautiful hand dyed roving by Lori Lawson will be hand spun by me into a nice hank of yarn.

The organization continues at Casa de Twisted

We slowly march on with the organization process. I was not happy with the over flow on the other CD rack so it was back to Ikea for the matching CD racks. The first picture is one from a few weeks ago before the yarn re arrangement


This was after the movement of the rack and locating all the CDs in one place.

We went to Ikea thinking we have approximately 500 to 550 CDs and thought three racks would be enough for the time being, but it was quickly evident that we would run out of room.

six hundred and four and counting. One positive note, My car is very Ikea package friendly. The three boxes from last night or the two large boxes from last week fit like it was designed to slide inside a Nisan Xterra perfectly. I plan to pick up one more rack soon but not today. Tomorrow is the entrelac class so it will be mid week before the music collection is settled. I must admit that they are alphabetized by artist like a good psycho does. Hey, at least I don't go as far as separating by genre first then alphabetize, but I have thought about it more than once. Problem is, some of these bands are hard to define by a specific genre when they cross multiple genres in the same album. So, I just stopped worrying how to classify the music and just enjoy it as it should be.

ut oh

There is a new man in town. Mrs Twisted and I went out for some franchise Mexican food and she was totally smitten with this mystery man.





After some investigation I found out his name is ............

Mr Nibbles

She swooned in his presence. Dashing, debonair and embracing the danger of his racing career. The purple racing car was the clincher.


OK she gets a bit excited with some of the Children's meal toys, some of which decorate her work space.

Cupcake Hat, Cherry or no Cherry?

Mrs. Twisted's Birthday today. A nice quiet celebration together.

We had a nice breakfast out. Then off to do some clothes shopping and a swing by A Mano yarn Center for some Tilly Thomas. Nice dinner of Steak and Shrimp.

I also picked up a ball of Tofutsies that is made from Chitin ( made from Crab parts) and a hank of Socks that rock to make some man socks.

I also picked up some square needles to try out. More toys for the boys

Yesterday we went to Alamitos Bay to pick up a hank of Lorna's laces Helen's Lace in the Valentine colorway. This stash building is OK because they are both gifts.

Here is the question:

Cherry or no Cherry? Please let us know what works better? These are going to a baby shower next Saturday. This is the FO from the cupcake pattern last week.

Don't you just love the Matching mittens?

Guitars and music

It's been a long while since I did a music post and I had occasion to see a few shows lately. Yesterday was one of those really fun days for me. We have a guitar show that comes in January and late summer. It's a chance to go talk to local builders and some not so local and see some really beautiful works of art. I had missed the show last year and was a bit sick in late summer so I was looking forward to seeing and touching all the wonderful instruments. The Mrs. goes to look at the freaks and read the t-shirts of the attendees. it's always fun to see the wild shirts. We live in a small place and I really don't have room to buy another guitar, so it's more ooohs and aaahs.


Here is the shirt I wore. Several people commented on it.






I saw a few really special guitars. The first one was a shell pink colored Fender Stratocaster vintage from the 70's. Most would think a guitar made in Japan would be less desirable than an American made from the same period, but there are fewer of they these and are highly regarded for workmanship and quality. I saw this at the booth of a guy I met years earlier who is known in the industry for his talent in restoration of vintage guitars. I know, too much info but if you ever get a chance to meet Steve Soest or better yet hear him play, take the opportunity, top notch guy. There were various guitars catching my eye as we walked the show. Next was a guy who started out doing inlay work on wooden furniture in Maine and progressed to marquetry and inlay work on guitars.

This guitar will go back to Gibson for the hardware to be attached before it's ready for sale.

For more info you can follow the link. It's so much more than the music, its a work of art, creating art.

http://www.macdonald-marquetry.com/g3.html


This guitar is special made from Myrtlewood which is native to southwest Oregon - near our blogfriend Punkin.





Next notable stop was when I saw this hand made amplifier cabinet in tiger flame maple. Not everyone wants their gear photographed so these were taken on the sly. Thank goodness for a good zoom.









Next was this one of a kind work of art. Not my style, but it was someones inspiration.









I stopped and talked to a guy who was showing at the last show. Joe Till Guitars

http://www.tillguitars.com/

He is local to Southern California in Westlake Village. Exotic woods and fine workmanship in every detail.




This one was made from Lacewood native to Brazil and Australia.


While walking through the show we saw a crowd forming and then heard a guitar start in the middle of the crowd. It was in the Warrior guitar booth. Rick Derringer came over to play and promote the brand at the public show while the industry people were at the Anaheim Convention Center for the NAMM show. Sorry for the quality of the video but the camera takes reasonably good video and the Youtube conversion degrades it a little.

What can i say, I love the purple guitar. Pictures don't do it justice. There was a pearl white guitar in the same booth that was stunning as well.

I know I haven't mentioned the shows we had recently attended but I'm not the best at posting when I should. We went to see one of my favorite bands of all time on the 4th. Not that most of you will know who they are or like the music, NOFX is happy fun punk with a message. I don't agree with all the messages but the music makes it all fun. The crowd that attends their shows are usually 20 years my junior but the band has been around for 20 years. It amuses me when these kids come up to me and ask "hey, what are you doing here?". I typically respond with "I was a fan of the band before you were a gleam in your Daddy's eyes."

Two days later, we went to a tribute show by invitation from a former co-worker. Small club in Fullerton named The Alley, the place is actually in an alley. Six bands for the price of $6.00, what a deal One of the bands in the show had a lead guitarist who passed in his sleep at the age of 22. Some heart issues were in the family from what we understand. The two opening bands were playing their first gigs. 13 to 15 year old boys who show tremendous talent and drive for their age. The bands in the show are part of a Christian Speed Metal genre and all close friends of the boy who died so young.

So punk on Thursday and Speed Metal on Saturday. Not bad for a couple 40 something geezers!

Billy Don't be a Hero - Organize that Stash!

Some of may get the humor in that. We have been fighting a yarn storage problem for the last year or so and it came to an end yesterday with a trip to Ikea.



I'll give you a before pic just to get a point of reference. We had been using laundry baskets for a long time.





We had been looking at the book cases for a while at Ikea and had settled on the "Billy" to eventually cover the one wall for the yarn and various books to ease the congestion in our apartment.

Behold the Naked Billy. (It's what Ikea calls this storage system, not the naked part.)

Here is what it looked like at some early morning hour, loaded with all the goodies sorted by fiber type.

We also have a CD problem but that should be under control in a few weeks when we go back for more book cases. The car can only carry so much in a trip. We have as many CD's as we do balls of yarn. Oh and look there is still room for more yarn. and just wait till we add a few more pieces, we won't have to worry about what we buy at Stitches next month. Seriously, it feels good to have this under control or at least not under foot.

FO pics, new baby project and silk sock yarn

Mrs. Twisted made some hand warmers for a lady at work as a birthday present. They are made from one hank of Knit Picks Memories in colorway Rocky Mountain Dusk. We were quite happy with the way it knit up and the feel of the finished item. Very soft and not scratchy. The color looks much nicer knit up than it did on the hank.





Oh we had to go find some baby yarn for a new project for a baby shower a week from this Saturday. She is making a cute cupcake hat in the perfect Yellow for the cake and strawberry pink frosting. It's a 100% acrylic DK weight yarn that feels like silk and even has the sheen but it's baby proof and machine machable.






While I was there I picked up a couple balls of Regia silk sock yarn to try out.

Oh I forgot to add something, Wednesday night I learned how to purl backwards so I wont have to turn my work around while doing entrelac or short rows. Thanks again Anne