Wall of Fame

I made the relatively-new Wall of Fame at my part-time restaurant job only six weeks into it! I took this quick photo last weekend...

The Man can't keep me down!

Miss NINA FLOWERS IS MY WINNER!!!

Thanks to all my guessers last post! I believe the finale of Drag Race will air tonight, and my girl Nina should take it easily, making it imperative for me to find out when the Absolut Pride Tour will pass through Boston so I can see her in person in all her larger-than-life quirky fabulousness.

Edited to add: I watched the finale and am saddened by Nina's loss. Bebe is really fierce and her look is larger-than-life, even if it's not my style, so I applaud her.

And the randomly-drawn winner of handspun is: Madgoogler! Please write me at weaverbergh13@verizon.net with your favorite colors!!! Oh, and Miss Jill, please email me as well, because you have won a prize for making me aware of the show in the first place.

Since I'm knitting like crazy under some serious deadlines (and I'm holding myself to a very high standard for these projects, which are very much my point of view), let me showcase the coolest stuff from other knitters. First, Hannah sent me a happy-almost-spring present:


Tone-on-tone Malabrigo that I think is particularly 60's fabulous with the Big Trotsky Look.

Secondly, check out Craftivore's mittens made from my 2-ply chunky handspun! I love the way the yarn knit up, and this is a fantastic non-hat use for cosy handspun. Chris has been pestering me for such a pair of mittens, so after the deadlines I'll make him a handspun pair.

Finally, behold the Tempest Twinset by knittyvritty. We'd emailed eachother about the idea of a coordinating tank (her suggestion), and I'm blown away by what she created, how it echoes the design details of the cardigan but stands alone as well. I'm kicking myself for trading away the leftover yarn from my own Tempest.


And I've spun more yarn. This one is heavy worsted weight, 146 yards, and will make one long transition from red-brown to blue-brown. It's merino and super, super soft. Progressive color-shifting Shackleton Hat? I think so! Check it out on etsy!

You Better WORK!

Okay, so most of my current knitting is for future publication and can't be shared, but I have two new favorite things in my life, and I'm going to share them. First, Costco. Before Monday, March 16, 2009, I had never been to a Costco... on that date, mom and dad Bergh took me. I was not prepared for the crazy awesome that was Costco.


Now I have 25 pounds of King Arthur Flour (employee owned, that company, why buy flour from anyone else?), 10 pounds of sugar, a 7-pound can of tomatoes (it was $3.49), a pound of cinnamon, 9 pairs of gym socks, and the other goodies pictured above. Thank you Bergh parents for helping feed the Weaver-Bergh family!

When I told my friend Hannah that I had made my first Costco visit, her response was: "Did you know that you can buy coffins at Costco? And that you can buy a PINK one!??" Now I know. Now YOU all know.

Let me not forget New Favorite Thing Number Two. RuPaul's Drag Race. Words fail. Go see it and see if you can guess who my FAVORITE is. Write your guess in my comments, I'll draw a winner from the correct answers, and I'll send you a skein of handspun yarn in a color scheme of your choice, girlfriend. Thanks for this one, Jill, I mean it.


Many people who have made my very first knitty pattern, Neiman, have remarked that the waist shaping takes place too quickly, and my mom agreed and asked to have her Neiman's waist shaping redone. She's my mom, I love her, so I ripped out the bottom 7 inches and reknit it... and the hem facing... you can see the reknit portion because it's kinky from the reused yarn (a good soak will clear that up). Love you, mom, and thanks for helping feed the Weaver-Bergh family!

More yarn for etsy coming soon. In the meantime, MAKE YOUR GUESSES!!! AND MAY THE BEST WOMAN WIN!!!

Gabriella!

So, my Lorna's Laces pattern IS available! Check it out at Angelika's Yarn Shop (scroll all the way to the bottom of the page)! On the pattern it's modeled on what I like to call the "disembodied torso," which is curvy and gives a good idea of the negative ease. Here are a few more photos I took before I sent it away; first, a detail view (I'm really proud of the design details, but don't be afraid! It's a pretty easy pattern, and you don't need a cable needle!):


Here's one of me modeling it in overwhelmingly warm light; I'm wearing the size meant to fit about a 34-inch bust, that actually measures 31 inches across the bust. The yarn has a lot of stretch, as shown by the fact that the pattern photo demonstrates the same top on a 34-36 inch bust:

This yarn is unbelievable. Luxury. It was a joy to work with and design in this yarn; and, as Amanda from Lorna's Laces noted, the Montrose in the last post was part of my compensation for this work!

More goodness in the etsy shop:

Hope everyone is having a good week!

New Yarn, for me and for you

A delivery of new yarn, especially free yarn, makes the yuckies go away. Behind my is a sweater's worth of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted in the new color Montrose. I did a pattern for Lorna's Laces this winter in their Pearl yarn... I'll show you photos as soon as I see it up for sale; I don't think it's hit stores yet.

Hank Chinaski is giving me a kiss in that photo, an adorable touch, I think. In more Other People's Patterns news, I'm making an Anais, for which I purchased the yarn (Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light, 4 skeins) over a year ago. The back is done... resting here with some fiber I have prepped to spin. It's such a simple pattern, just what I need right now... I have some serious business later this week, and after that I should be back to some designing and math-type work.


And in spinning news, there is new stuff in the etsy shop... this is my favorite, so I've named it Awesometown 2-ply. It's a heavy worsted weight Romney (soft and crisp and shiny), and 141 yards. There will be more coming every few days, all different fibers and color schemes, but mainly 2-plys, because I just love the way the colors swirl together. It's an effect that I think is very difficult - impossible? - to reproduce in commercially spun yarns.

Enjoy! And feel free to email me if there's a particular color or type of yarn you're looking for...

Time for OPP

Other People's Patterns, that is. This is my most recent finished object, a test knit of Hannah Ingalls' (iknityouknot) Effervescence Hat, a pattern which is now available for purchase... it's a lot of fun for $3, and can be made in any worsted-weight yarn you have around. Bobbles can easily overwhelm a design, at least for my style, but in this case I think the look is really modern since the bobbles are the main design element, rather than being combined with other flowery or cabled motifs.


I think it looks great with my one of my wardrobe staples these days, The Black Sweatshirt (add that to the Too Large Cropped Fatigues and I'm good to go).

I've been preoccupied with life issues lately, so designing is temporarily on hold... I'm just too distracted. However, spinning is going on full tilt, so there will be more in the etsy shop early next week... I'm also working on a few simple pattern ideas that make use of handspun, including the use of handspun odds and ends to accentuate simple knits.


Pull self together and deal with life, take a deep breath, spin, deep breath...

Michigan Boys

wear Weaverknits hats! These two hats were done by my friend CJ in my home city of Grand Rapids, MI. Matthew, on the left, wears a Nouveau Sack Hat (pattern available for download to your right) and David, on the right, wears a Shackleton Hat, made from some of my very own handspun that CJ won in a silent auction to benefit the family of one of my mom's students.

Both Matthew and David are students in a gifted and talented program called ACT that my mom runs in her district's public schools. The kids have a worm poop farm (the poop is actually called "castings", and is a valuable fertilizer), Lego Robotics competitions, crazy recycling drives that my mom organizes (tons -- literally -- of platic bags filled her classroom last year - you can see the kids lounging in this bag mountain on the website I linked above), all the sorts of learning activities that do not involve or prepare a kid for any sort of quantifiable testing. I wish I had been part of something like this when I was younger... I think it would have curbed the cynical slacker attitude I had toward school until I got to college and New York City.

In the next post I'll share my own knitting, but right now I'm finishing up a quick and awesome secret test knit (pattern available soon!), and just sent out the final pattern for a design that will be available in June - for free! I promise more spinning as well, as all my yarn has sold (you guys really are the best).

As for Unemployment, well, things will come out right. Thanks for all the support. And hey, more free time is more patterns, free and otherwise. Everyone wins, when winning does not involve money, and the kind that doesn't involve money is always the best kind.