LadyFest Knitting Frenzy

'Starting off with a picture that's a metaphor for this weekend; knitting & rock 'n roll! (note the whiskey on the side!)'

At the LadyFest, I spread the knitting word in a MULTIPLE of ways. Prepare for a picture-fun post full of knitting crazyfunkyness!

COMERCIALLY, I sold some of my own knitting and promoted Debbie Stoller's work through posters, flyers and books. The Dutch publisher of the books naturally agreed that a LadyFest, with lots 'n lots of (feminist) ladies, would the best place to (re)introduce knitting and sent me lots of stuff to make it happen.

ARTISTICALLY, I was DJ-ing for 3 hours while Kim watched my booth and presented me with a small list of orders on my return. Thanks again Kim! Being a total knitting obsessive nerd, I had to knit while DJ-ig, 'fcourse. When I spread the word, I spread it well! And not one person laughed at me... they were surprised, had question marks in their eyes, but everyone was amazingly friendly and open! 3VOOR12 Rotterdam journalist Sander wrote a really cool review. In English (loosely translated):'Female DJ's Saskia (while knitting) en Valesca (smoking a cigarette) talk to the crowd and show us what women are good at; doing more than one thing at a time. The fine tracks they're playing and the hospitality that's radiating off off them, gives you the feeling that they run the LadyFest bar....'

EDUCATIONALLY, I came up with a workshop that was all about knitting 'tags'. I've read about the idea and love, love, love it. You knit swatches and heat up the urban landscape by attaching them to lampposts, car antenna's, bike's, banisters and what not. It's such a friendly and funny way of leaving your mark. And by doing it, you just KNOW you're going to make some people smile. So during the day there were a handful of knitters that got a swatch done, attached and photographed. I'll be posting them in about a week, when the pictures from the 'cardboard' camera have been developed. Some other knitters didn't get the swatch done in time, the were hopping back and forth from bands to knitting, to the bar, to knitting, to another band, to the vegan food stand, and back to knitting... and so on. They fully enjoyed the festival with everything it had to offer but couldn't let their project go completely. Then there were those that got creative and made something else out of their swatch. But none of them knit one or two rows and left it at that... they were all very committed And I have to say, that means something with all this other stuff going on. Some were even so committed that they were at my booth for most of the time, missing out on everything else. That's what knitting will do to ya!

'If I knitted more skull wristbands I could've become a zillionaire... This is Leyla, showing her made-to-measure green skull arm warmer that I made live @ the fest for her and CC showing a black and white version.'

About this moment Sander (the journalist) wrote: 'Close to a delerium, I noticed Saskia's knitting art, that -except from- knitting 'friendly grafitty' was also knitting handbags to hang from your ears. Great invention!...' Weird guy...
Annet Brugel (another journalist) also wrote about our knitting in this review.

'Kim knitting and beeing her charming self.'

'Silvia has been in the Netherlands for 3 weeks and speaks AMAZINGLY well Dutch. Her continental style inspired me to start learning it too. On the right there's CC, Valesca and Allison helping each other out.'

'me and Serfa chitchatknitting'

'knitting frenzy'

'here's Serfa, knitting like a pro and in the back you can just see Ruxandra & Andrea from Ladyfest Romania with Melény and Puk.'

'it takes a lot out of you, you'd HAVE TO smoke, to stay focused..'

'there was ONE boy, who was in touch with is feminine side enough to give it a go.
Should I mention he also was, well, pretty drunk...?'

'here's one I did earlier'

'Melény's finished tag'

It was an amazing weekend, I slept for about 8 hours the whole weekend, knitting the whole day through and on into the depth of night, but it was worth it.

One of the best things this weekend was that I got to meet this gal, who is even more charming in real life than on the net. We couldn't stop jabbering on about everything knitty. I have found myself a kindred spirit, definitely. She joined in the teaching and stayed as long as she could. we almost had to kick her back to her babies, she didn't want to leave. I should've made a clearer picture of her, but here she is, in the distance, teaching Melény.

Black and white pictures courtesy of Daniel Baggerman.
Read the reviews and see the pictures (and some more) on 3VOOR12 Rotterdam.

Ladyfest

Hi there, here's a small bit of info that's particularly interesting for my dutch knitting friends:

Ladyfest is in town!
This weekend @ WaterFront. It's a great thing, organised in the US for the first time and since then ladies all over the world have followed the example to promote female creativity and arts. There's bands, workshops, films, spoken word, food, cocktails, a festival market and an exposition (with work from a.o. Miriam). Great, great stuff. It's going to be a fantastic weekend by girls for everyone! Check out the site!
Now on to the knitting part:
Since I'm the communication manager at WaterFront, I thought it would be a great opportunity to promote Knitting in general and the Stitch 'n Bitch phenomenon in particular. I contacted the dutch editor of Debbie Stoller's books and now I'm there, at the fest, at the festival market promoting her books and selling some of my own stuff. I'm there knitting on friday and saturday from 14:00 on. It would be great if you want to join me. Let me know and I'll save you a ticket.

Ubernatural Beta Blogging Sollutions

So I took the plunge and changed the blog to the new Beta format. It was a bit scary but I survived. I had to make some changes to go back to the way it looked before and I did some alterations on the color of tekst. I didn't get that part of html so I'm happy now, this Beta thing is much easier to alter.

Back to the knitting.

A bunch of you asked what the problem with my holes was. One knittingfanatic actually made a swatch to figure it out. Só nice...!
Well, this is what's wrong with the pattern , I'll copy-paste the first part where the mistake is, and then I'll copy-paste the way it should be in my humble opinion.

This is what is says:
S [M, L, XL]
Cast on 40 [50, 60, 70] stitches.
Row 1 (WS): Knit
Row 2 (RS): Make button hole, knit 7 [9, 11, 13] yo pm yo, knit 4 [6, 8, 10] yo pm yo, knit 18 [20, 22, 24] yo pm yo, knit 4 [6, 8, 10] yo pm yo, knit 7 [9, 11, 13]
Row 3 and all odd rows (WS): Knit 3 stitches, purl to last 3 stitches, knit 3 stitches.
Row 4 and all even rows (RS): Knit to the marker, yo, pass the marker, k1 yo., knit to second marker, yo pass m, k1 yo, knit to third marker, yo, pass m, k1 yo, knit to fourth marker, k1yo, pass m, yo, knit to end.

And this is what it should say:
S [M, L, XL]
Cast on 49 [59, 69, 79] stitches.
Row 1 (WS): Knit
Row 2 (RS): Make button hole, knit 7 [9, 11, 13] yo k1 yo, knit 4 [6, 8, 10] yo k1 yo, knit 18 [20, 22, 24] yo k1 yo, knit 4 [6, 8, 10] yo k1 yo, knit 7 [9, 11, 13]
Row 3 and all odd rows (WS): Knit 3 stitches, purl to last 3 stitches, knit 3 stitches.
Row 4 and all even rows (RS): Knit to the marker, yo, pass the marker, k1 yo., knit to second marker, yo pass m, k1 yo, knit to third marker, yo, pass m, k1 yo, knit to fourth marker, k1yo, pass m, yo, knit to end.

etc. etc.

Other than that I knitted the neck edge two times, so Row 1 and Row 2 are knitted in my version.
It was knitted with about 4 skeins of Lana Grossa's Multicot. I bought it for only 1 euro a skein. The buttons were the most expensive. And the labour ofcourse...

So all in all I'm really happy about this FO. But... there's one thing off... 'What?', you ask. Well, it doesn't fit me...I tried the top on, it was flexible enough and fitted fine, but the bottom, with my child bearing hips and a cast off that's a wee bit too tight, it was never going to work. Not to worry, not to worry! I have plenty yarn left to make me 'anotherbiggerone' and I'm passing this one on to my dear friend
Miriam. As soon as the recipient recieves it, I'll set up a fashion shoot and post this Ubernatural beauty including some filling! hehehe!

Thanks for thinking with me and trying to solve the problem!!
I can definitly recommend the pattern, it's a very quick knit (took me a week with 2 hrs a day approximatly) and it's a cool pattern.

ps for people that end up here with Ubernatural problems. Irma (one of the readers) send these links with other Ubernatural makers.
http://knittybug.blogspirit.com/tag/Ubernatural http://www.cosmicpluto.com/blog/?p=293

Fairy Godmother

apparently I have a fairy godmother... At my birthday she came in the form of Boyfriend Dear's grandmother.

Turns out I'm not at all stupid or backward or half evolved... Or at least not when it comes to the holes I showed you in my last post... The rest? Well, the rest is debatable... Turns out they were a mistake in the pattern. Such an ego booster!

So once I really got started, I couldn't be stopped. This cardi is a dream to knit. I'm using Lana Grossa Multicot, really soft and it has a very light flow about it. It's such a fast pattern. I started (for the 5th time...) on saturday and I hope to finish it by tomorrow morning. Keep in mind that I only knit for an hour or two a day. That's fast right?

Now that I know and like the pattern I'm thinking of making it in a less poisonous color. The Multicot was discontinued and I bought it for 1 euro a skein. Great value, bright color!

Weird thing though... I'm using only half (no kidding) the yarn recommended, which is really scaring me. It looks like it will fit, but I'm to scared to try...

I'll let you know in a day or so.

If it doesn't fit, I know a certain someone who might like it.

Meanwhile...Who knows where I can get big pretty buttons online?

Tweedly Tweedly Tweedly Tweed

I guess you must be wondering...
is anything -anything at all- happening at chez Sassy? All those projects, all those plans. So far all we've seen is mostly talk and very little action. Is anything actually being created?

Well I can tell you this:
- the one toed socks still lie untouched
- half a headband is too
- the lace scarf is getting minor attention
and all this because...

I've been spending my time with this baby

'What time? ', you ask, 'there's hardly anything there...'

Well, that's because the ratchet thing has been knitted and frogged about 5 times over. The green monster is driving me insane. Up to the point that I posted a question on the myspace Stitch 'n Bitch group to see if anyone could help.
You see, there's these weird holes that keep appearing. There should be holes, but not like these. And what's fascinating... they are CONSISTENTLY wrong. Look at this

There are four spots that have holes, WRONG holes. And the thing is. I make them like this ev-e-ry-time... It's driving me bonkers. Look here at the comments I got on my space. Do I purl my yo's?? Pshssssssssssss. COURSE I purl my yarnovers!!

So, to keep myself and my loved ones safe, I decided to take the example of a famous knitter. If she can. I can. The Yarn Harlot, after careful consideration and a still failing project, just started a new sweater.

And so did I.

It's Otis, from Knitty. I'm knitting it a bit longer at the bottom, before the in- plus decreases and I'm hoping that will work. It has to, otherwise my girls won't fit in. The girls must be warm, can't be having halfchilled boobs.

Can you see the lovely yarn? Course you can! It's Legende by Phildar*. It's got a wee bit of alpaca in it which makes it really soft. It knits like a dream. My friends Zita & Henri (mostly Zita I guess...) bought it for my birthday (31 now...gosh...). I got a whole whopping 6 skeins, but I'll have to get some more if I want to make a longer version.

Meanwhile I'm still looking for the perfect cardigan pattern. I'm not sure what it is I want, so that makes it harder to look for it. I'm liking the tweeds though. Two weeks ago I stumbled upon a basket with one euro skeins and got these:

(except the Phildar one, that's in there for the completion of the tweed shot)

I'm definitely liking the tweeds for a cardi! These babies here will turn into hats and maybe a very narrow scarf. But I need to find the perfect tweed (green preferably) and the perfect pattern for my perfect cardigan. Any ideas anyone? I like simple and classic but comfy.

Oh, and this is how I wound the bulky skein, very resourceful girl I am. I sometimes like to call myself: Sassy Mc Gyver...
Oh pleeeeeeeeeeeease...

ps I did finish a set of mittens and a beret, but I'm waiting to get some more yarn to finish the matching wrap and when it's all done, It will be shown, I thee promise solemnly!
pps Phildar yarns are available online from www.knitntyme.com in Canada, www.threadbearfiberarts.com in the US, and www.breiweb.nl in the Netherlands.

Dr. Andrews Barber, I presume?

Remember when I went to
Gran Canaria?
Well I had some blisters on my toes there and after careful consideration I thought they'd probably blisters from burning my foot on the hot black lava-sand they have there on the beaches.
I had a mani-pedi planned, since I was living the luxurious-free-holiday-beach-life, I thought I might as well…I asked the mani-pedi-woman and she agreed. Once finished I swiftly I moved to the nearby pharmacist and asked for a cream of sorts. She didn’t speak English…. You’d expect, in thek kind of holiday factory that town is, swamped with British individuals, that the lady in the pharmacist –where they sell DRUGS- would speak some English… but no. Imagine, going there with a headache and taking home hemeroid cream or something. Anyway, since I’m a gal of the world and speak* about as many languages as there are countries featured in 'it's a small world', I could manage to let her know what my problem was.

*when I say ‘speak’ I off course mean; sign, using hands and feet and a handful of words I read on the back of foreign shampoo’s and milk cartons.

So she gave me a tube of stuff and made very clear that I should NOT use it in the sun, because it would turn my skin black. HELOOW… I’m on a tropical island. Should I wear wellies (rubber boots) then? Or maybe just stay indoors…

Anyway, I’m making this into a book when it could be just a note. (again) Moving on… swiftly…

I returned home to see the blisters dry out. Yay, it was healing! I forgot the cream in Gran Canaria, but I was ok, it was healing. Then suddenly, more blisters appeared and they moved to my hands. To-my-hands… from my feet, to my hands…without touching my legs or upper body. I thought that was a little weird. And a few days on my hands were now really getting into the game and small clusters of blisters were having a parties everywhere.

First I called a doctor that was substituting for mine. Without seeing my hands and feet, solely listening to what I told the assistant, he prescribed a cream, let the assistant call me back and tell me it was some sort of (I can’t find the translation….) ehm…. Literal translation is: mould infection, but I knów that’s not right. Anyway, moving on…
The cream didn’t work and it only got worse and worse. So I decided to contact my own doctor as soon as he got back. I did, he looked, he frowned, he sighed… ‘Miss, this is Andrews Barber disease, you have a form of psoriasis.’ Lump in throat, swallow, sigh… from my part. Then he showed me a book with a disgusting picture of a hand covered in ‘pustules’, blisters with puss, EEEEEEEW, GROSS!! ‘Doctor, that is NOT what I have…’ ‘Well, see, this is a very extreme picture, but yes, this is what you have.’

I returned home with cream #3 to mail Boyfriend Dear a link so that he, at work, knew what was going on. I read the text and it was so different from what I looked up earlier that I started to doubt the doctor’s opinion. (I never self diagnose on line, I know not to ‘go there’, but when the doc was away and I was deciding whether this was serious enough to call another doctor, I did. What I found then (dyshidrotic eczema) that description was still way more in sync with what my hands looked like.)

I called the doctor, he told me it REALLY was Andrews Barber. So I decided to go with the cream, be a good girl, do what I’m told and see from there.

I shook Mr. Barber’s hand, so to speak:
‘Dr. Andrews Barber I presume? My name is Saskia, I have really painfull and itchy and dry hands, but I’ll be a good girl. Thank you for discovering the disease, or at least, naming it, sir. Have a splendid day!’

By now the blisters, with the mind blowing itchyness, are gone and I’m left with hard shedding skin on my hands and feet.

I’m a dragon.

The good news is, that I can still knit! In fact, when the itchyness kept me up at night, I’d go downstairs and knit like a freak to keep my mind occupied.
To protect my hands, and myself from scratching them open, I've knit a pair of Fetching handwarmers. Like Drea did, I used the same cotton, so I’m a big copy cat. ;-P They are really quick, you can make them in 2 days, while still doing some other stuff, like eating and talking…
I definitely need some more. If this thing returns I’m going to be ready for it with a pile of stylish cotton gloves and handwarmers/protectors. (Ideas for patterns are welcome!)

Slaying the dragon!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Remember when I got that box full of lushious stuff from Drea? Well, I figured out what I'm going to make with the extremely soft pinkness New Zealand Touch Exclusive Kid Mohair/ Merino blend...
EVERYTHING: mittens, a wrap and a beret.

I picked out patterns that were fast and simple because that lovely yarn doesn't need anything more!

ps can you see me with my extra large post, trying to make up for non-posting...?
here I am, this is it, Me blogging.
First picture: as a am.
Second Picture: trying to look extra glam... (pshhhh...)

Me with knitting bag and new sneakers 'on the go'.