Fricknits

Fricknotes

Do you have one of these?

It's my treasure box.  Organized it is not.  The broken ceramic picture frame with the little pink and blue ducks on it that was given to me by my fifth grade boyfriend to hold his class picture mingles with my Eurail pass and the record-breaking 21-page note my best friend Julienne wrote me in eighth grade.  The Fricklet's sono-glamour shot is tucked beneath the letter my Pop wrote to me when he decided that a poem I wrote him in high school secured my place in "Pop's Hall of Fame" next to Joe Louis and Babe Ruth.  It's a jungle in there.

But when I stand back to take the long view, it's clear what most of my memories are made of: paper.  Specifically, letters and notes.  I come from a long line of prolific letter writers.  My Granny still writes a letter a week to each of her three daughters- a tradition that began with each of their weddings.  My box contains letters from best friends, from my MFA advisors, from loved ones living and gone, from the boyfriends of my awkward adolescence. There's air mail from Madagascar, Holland, and Spain.   Some of the letters make me cringe.  Some make me cry.  Others make me laugh out loud.  They're all treasures.

Do you have one of these?

It's my own stationery...station.  Increasingly, as I've come to appreciate the handmade over the mass-made, it's filled with Etsy finds. Which brings me to Fricknotes.  A father-daughter venture.  A fiber lover plus a pro photographer.  Something new!  I'm really excited about it and would love to hear your thoughts on the shop. 

People are always saying that letter-writing is a lost art.  I don't know about art, but I do know about treasure.  Write a letter today, will ya?

Holy Guacamole!

The theme of this post is GREEN.

Ravelry is GREEN!  In case you haven't been able to keep up- and I spend about six hours a day on this and don't keep up as well as I'd like- we've raised over $50K for Ravelry in the last few days.  The response to Ravelraiser has been overwhelming.  We bought the server, and then went on to erase Ravelry's startup debt to put them in the black, and then Casey put Ravelry "in the green" by contributing to projects that build and maintain renewable energy resources in order to offset Ravelry's carbon costs.  If you gave to Ravelraiser, please do post your story in the Why I Gave thread.  It is officially Jess's happy place now! 

I celebrate Ravelry's greenness with my completed Balsam!


2 hanks Malabrigo Worsted in Verde Adriana, Raveled here.

Speaking of GREEN, my dad, who is a pro photographer, and I are thinking of making a little of it.  He took most of the photos in the Flickr set for the Ravelraiser prizes, and is becoming quite the yarnie.  Texture, color, yarn that looks like food- he's reading up on it all (he may be in your Flickr sets RIGHT NOW!).  He comes over to our house and steals the Ravelraiser packages before I can even get home.  (The postman has given us our own little basket under the mailbox, as we were getting so many packages each day.)  Yesterday he made a little groaning noise over some Malabrigo.  Yep.  My dad.  So we're thinking of going into the notecard-making business.  More on this to come!  I celebrate this new venture with my Tudora!

Less than one hank Malabrigo Worsted, Forest.  Raveled here.

Oh- did I mention that all these are GREEN cowls?  (You can argue with me about the Tudora, but I will stick my fingers in my ears and hum La Marseillaise and go to my happy place where all non-dangly neckwear has one name.)  Yes, I'm still knitting cowls.  And making Flickr groups for cowls (come join!).  And moderating Ravelry groups for cowls (git yer 'tocks in there!).  And soon to come- cowl swap, which will be organized through that Ravelry group.  (Didn't I tell you to join?)  And to add a lovely exclamation point, I present my Aibhlinn.

A tad more than one hank of Malabrigo Worsted, in Olive.  (I modified the original pattern to be a one-skein-er.)  Raveled here.  And on a side note- I LOVE BOBBLES!

Sorry, Kermie.  It's SO easy (and fun!) being green today.

Ravelraiser!

It's a year this month since I joined Ravelry, and like so many things including Netflix, my yarn winder and swift, and cabling without a cable needle, I don't know how to picture my knitting life without it anymore.  Between keeping up with what my friends are knitting and queuing, finding the just-right pattern to go with some mystery stash find, and watching radar when I really should be grading papers, Ravelry has proven over and over to be my best resource, a bubbling well of inspiration, and a place I always can count on to leave the light on for me when I need somewhere to go.

To make a long story short, I was hanging out with my pals in the Ten Lousy Bucks group when it occurred to me that it might be time to give Ravelry a boost.  A call to Jess and Casey confirmed that a new server is on the wish list- we're loading them up with good data that needs a home.  I emailed around a bit and received my first donation- two hanks of handspun from Jared of Brooklyntweed.  And from there it yarnballed into RAVELRAISER '08!

So here's the skinny.

Rulez

1.  Make a donation through the button atop this thread on Ravelry  between now and APRIL 25 (please note date change!!) and include the word "Ravelraiser" in the comments box.  (See how to do that here.)  If you use the special button above it won't matter as much, but it's still helpful.
2.  Each $10 donation wins you one chance at fabulous prizes!  Therefore, a $30 donation would win you three "tickets in the hat."
3.  If you are allergic or averse to wool, you may write "cottons" in the comments box as well.  This will mean that your name will only be added to the drawings for non-wool prizes.  Due to my desire not to overload Casey and Jess with extra work, no other special prize "requests" can be honored.
4. Jess and Casey will draw winners at Maryland Sheep and Wool on May 3!

Prizes
I will  keep a running thread about them here in the Ten Lousy Bucks group- feel free to come by and oogle and comment!  In addition, there is a Flickr set full of gorgeous photos to drool over and links to explore. Donors are highlighted in this thread.

The four "Grand Prizes" are "Dream Stashes."

Earthy Stash:

Brights Stash:

Cottons Stash, including Lexie Barnes knitting bag!

Handspun Stash (which is growing as I write this)

In addition to the dream stashes, there are many other amazing prizes including:

• two bags of Malabrigo Silky Merino donated by Yarnzilla
• an exclusive colorway Fiddlehead Mitten Kit donated by Adrian at Hello Yarn
• a Lexie Barnes needle case
• a three-month membership to the Yarn Pirate Booty Club
• two Scout's Swag $15 gift certificates
• Jess's Delight- three skeins of Jess's favorite yarn from Meg of Twisted Fiber Arts
• a Guess Who? gloves kit from Holli at Bee's Knees Knits
• Ravelry swag donated by Jess and Casey themselves!

If you are a spinner or dyer and would like to contribute a prize, please contact me!  The more winners, the merrier, I say!  I'll be updating the Flickr set and Prizes Thread often.

Talk to Me

• I have high hopes for this fundraiser.  Is there anything that isn't clear?  Any way you think it could be improved?  Donations you'd like to offer?  Places to advertise on Ravelry?  Please let me know.
• Please feel free to advertise Ravelraiser on your own blog, pointing folks either here or to the thread on Ten Lousy Bucks.
• Come over to this thread after you've donated to talk about why you did so.  Was it a particular prize?  Something you love about Ravelry?  Was I standing behind you, twisting your picking/throwing arm?  (I can be such a bully.)  You can also read, there, a little personal story about why Ravelry has been important to me.  Join up with the Ten Lousy Bucks folks while you're at it.  We're nice!

Thanks

I owe a lot of thanks for all the help I received putting this together. 

• To everyone who donated- your yarns took my breath away, and it was all I could do not to run off to Mexico with them once they arrived.  But then, where would I get more?  Good thing your stores are all linked in the Flickr set!
• To my dad, who photographed all of the yarn as it came in and in the process became a bit of a yarnie himself.  He spent hours fretting over white balance.  He showed up at my house every day to check for new packages.  He endured taunting from my mom.  Thanks, B-Bear!
• To Ashley, Kirsten, and Beth, who helped me solicit prizes.
• To Jared, for being first.
• To Jess and Casey, of course, who will keep track of donations.
• To Elizabeth, who helped me make an ad to run on the Rav.

Now let's get together and Raise the Rav!  Donate now!

Get on Board!

Cowl is the new scarf.

Whether you believe bitch is the new black, black is the new president, or Grandpa Munster is the new Reagan, I bet you like your neck nice and snuggly warm, right?  I bet you've knit yourself up a whole mess o' scarves- beautiful, dangly scarves in cables and ribs and lace and so-calleds and stripes.  I bet they've dragged on the wet ground, been chewed on and tugged by babies and dogs, and gotten caught in your car door.   I bet they've failed to live up to your oh-but-all-the-French-girls-do-it hopes of instantaneous chic.  And they take up a lot of danged room in the closet, hours and hours of knitting time, and at least two skeins of yarn.  Here I am, gesturing to you invitingly, cozily, with nothing dangling off of my neck region.  Come to the cowl side.

Dolores Park Cowl designed by the lovely and talented Parikha.

Malabrigo Chunky, Stonechat.  Raveled here.

Cherry Garcia designed by the excruciatingly cool maven of all things wool, Adrian.

Malabrigo Chunky, Whales Road.  Raveled here.

Luxe Neck Warmer from the book Knit 2 Together by Tracey Ullman and Mel Clark.

Malabrigo Chunky, Lettuce.  Raveled here.

...and that's just the tip of it, my friends.  Many more cowls are OTN due to the fever that overtook me during Malabrigo March, thanks to my friends in the Malabrigo Junkies group on Ravelry. 

And for those who asked on Ravelry and Flickr, yes, my hair is getting really, really long, and I hope it stays that way.  I came close to cutting it, but then Timmy put the fear of "mom hair" into me.  So now I invest heavily in rubber bands so that the Fricklet doesn't leave me bald.  And the lip gloss is Bobbi Brown SPF 15 Lip Shine in Blackberry, a color that really looks good on everyone.  Malabrigo Chunky is fabulous and highly recommended.

Hmm.  The words "cowl swap" just popped into my mind. 

Must repress, as RAVELRAISER '08 will be consuming me, starting Friday!  Mark your calenders, because the prizes just keep arriving!