Alyoops!

Whoops!

2012-01-15T11:34:00.000-08:00

I've been so busy attempting to get back into the swing of school/work/misc that I forgot to mention that I did a guest post for the blog of one of my awesome online friends, Carla! She runs the blog Tiny Angry Crafter.

So, if you're interested in designing knit toys, or just interested in a little bit of my process, check out my post on Carla's blog!

Retrospective

2012-01-01T08:18:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone!

2011 was incredibly crazy for me. I published six designs, made four pairs of socks, knit a sweater for a cat, sold toys at a craft sale... and that's just the knitting!

I made a little collage of all the things I've finished:

The project from 2011 that I'm most proud of is (of course) my Blackbird Shawlette.
The project from 2011 that I use the most are my Pomatomus Socks - I love having socks of my own!
The strangest project from 2011... well, that's hard to decide.

Of course, I didn't include photos of the 12 hedgehogs that I made for the craft sale, or the pile of bricks that I'm knitting for a project I haven't blogged about, or the latest design that I'm slow cooking. I DO have a camera, though, I got one for Christmas, so... expect more blogging!

December has been incredibly busy, but, I know that I'm going to be able to use these next few days before school starts up again to hit the ground running.

What's in store for 2012? Not even I know!

How about everyone else? Best project? Biggest mistake? What are you happy to be finished with?

Notes From my First (Kind of) Craft Sale

2011-12-09T15:47:00.000-08:00

Wow, it has been a crazy week! When the Metal Works Club approached Hooks and Needles about doing a craft sale, I thought "Whoa, cool!" It seemed really easy.

1.) Make a bunch of stuff

2.) Sit at the table from 10AM - 4PM, M-R.

3.) ???

4.) Profit

Half of the profit would go to Hooks and Needles, since we're seriously in need of funding. Right now, it's funded out of the pockets of the e-board, which is kind of stressful at the beginning of the year when we need supplies and when we want to do ANYTHING. The other half goes to the person that made the item.

To answer your question, no, I'm not the only person who made stuff! Or sat at the table! W even helped out and sat at the table when no one else was around... bless his heart!

At first, people were being kind of rude, remarking how the stuff was expensive. If they just offhandedly said something, I ignored them, but if they made a point off it, I commented how, per hour, I make about $2 from each hedgehog - just factoring labor in!

But after the first two days, hedgehogs started selling like hotcakes. I took commissions, and I'm now 11 hedgehogs deep. Six of them are dark brown.

At $20 a hog... that's a lot of cash for the club!

I'm excited to count all my money when the craft sale is over next week :3 And, partially inspired to open an etsy shop.

Until then, though... I need to eke these babies out by Monday. So, I'm going to be dreaming of sewing scales onto hogs...

P.S. - We looked at the metal scales and the naked hedgehogs and invented this:

Metal hog!! I think I could thread the scales onto the yarn before knitting.

Blarglglarmp.

2011-12-04T09:13:00.000-08:00

Yes, I'm aware that the title of this post is not a word. It is more like an onomatopeia, an expression of the feelings I've been feeling over the past week or two. My new quarter has started, and I did a really stupid thing and picked 20 credits worth of classes. Also, I'm driving back and forth between Rochester and work, and putting in between 15 and 20 hours for them each week!

Factor in trying to have a relationship, being president of a club... there is little to no designing going on, and very little crafting!

But, I have an apartment! It's a different room in my old apartment, so it's nice and familiar. Also, I got to take all of my junk out of storage, which is always a plus! It's so nice to have a quiet space to study and do work in, and not feel like I'm troubling people all the time by sitting on the couch or at their table, or cooking in their kitchen.

I have been working for the Hooks and Needles craft sale, too! I managed to finish five softies and four hats, which I'm pretty proud of considering I haven't even finished W's puppets... I had a bit of an assembly line going for hedgehogs but I never finished them. Right now these are sitting on my desk...

With THESE...

Super delicious and colorful felt from Lupin Handmade. My housewarming present to me. :)

On top of all these things, the new DAL mood boards are done! My co-admin of the group made it, so, I'm really grateful. I seriously don't know what I'd do without her :)

Winter 2011 Mood Board Submissions!

2011-11-23T09:28:00.000-08:00

The next round for the Design Along is going to start soon, and mood board submissions are open until this Sunday! The theme is "Birds of a Feather." And as usual, I'm showing off the images I chose to contribute :) I actually have a LOT of bird photos, but they're all on my external hard drive, which I forgot to take with me during break. C'est la vie. So, I dug around the internet looking for photos for the board!

I saw these feathers as a background on a blog, and I bookmarked the image source - but not the blog! So, if you know where this is from, let me know please :)

These cute things were my wallpaper for a while. From Corby Wallpapers

I've also seen these two cuties on the internet in various places. Not sure where the original source is.

Then, these birds.

Finally, an awesome feather drawing.

I'm bummed out that I left my hard-drive in Rochester! If only the submission time was a little longer, I could post up my actual photos... but oh well.

Just like last time, even if you're not interested in submitting a photo, could you please vote in this thread on Ravelry? It helps me put the board together!

Hoof Mittens!

2011-11-19T10:17:00.000-08:00

A while ago I got an e-mail from Lesley at Lyonesque about this awesome mod to my Kitten Mittens!

She changed the colors to make hoof mittens :)

I love seeing people change my pattern, strange as that may seem. It makes me feel like people appreciate my work, more than wanting to make something from it. That the pattern inspires them to make something original, something new! So I was super psyched, and I kept telling myself "I have to blog about this!"

So, here it is! You should definitely check out her blog, too, because she has a matching hat that goes with them!

It's OVER! Oh, and I got to meet Anne Hanson!

2011-11-15T16:44:00.000-08:00

First thing's first... my academic quarter is officially over as of today! I am so, so, so relieved, and so exhausted. I can't wait for a good week and a half of vacation, then moving into my new apartment. It's going to be nice to have a room to myself with a desk instead of, say, this:

Oh, see that bright thing on the table? Monday, my friend Rebecca called me and said "The Rochester Knitting Guild is meeting tonight and I want to check it out... want to come with?" Another knitting club to go to? Hot swift!

Anyway, I went on their website and saw that Anne Hanson, from Knitspot, was going to be there! I've been following her blog for a while, and I though - huh, funny, I never really looked at her patterns. So I spent a few hours doing that on Ravelry - yes, maybe a good hour and a half. There are a LOT of patterns! I finally decided on making some Longjohn Socks. It just seemed like a great mindless sock project for me to work on... and I'm loving it so far.

It's been hard for me to knit with all the stress I've been under. I enjoyed listening to Anne speak, but I liked being able to sit and knit just as much! It was also really cool to hear about her inspiration and see photos of her finished works juxtaposed against the photos that inspired them. At the end, she even signed a paper copy of a fingerless gloves pattern that I bought!

It was also really exciting to see her trunk so - and to see all the versions of projects that people had brought with them. I wish I had brought W's DSLR so I could have shot photos of the night!

And, at the end of it all, I went home and made a creamsicle float.

30 Day Character Challenge!

2011-11-06T15:30:00.000-08:00

This week has proven to be less hectic than I thought, but much, much more miserable! I have actually knit negative stitches in the past 7 days, since my DAL submission is a mess. I don't know how I'm going to finish it on time - it is, (GAH) a real failure.

But, I've started another thing - mostly inspired by my friends from school. It's called the 30-day character challenge, and there's even a little Tumblr for it! It's really fun to see my friends' ideas... so, I thought I would try it out! Mine is a little different, though, since I thought that each character I make could be a toy design.

I feel like posting a single post every day would be a little too much work for me (it IS finals) so I'm going to post my character on the challenge Tumblr every day, then do a kind of consolidation post each week :)

So... for days 1 - 5...

These are two deer - they're named Dearie and Spot. Not really much else here.

Day number two is Lola. Lola is the only kangaroo out of her friends that doesn't have a kit, and such is incredibly depressed and a tad jealous. She spends her time growing plants in the wasteland for others to enjoy.

Day 3 is Nina. Yes, her name is Nina, and she is a pretty ballerina. I have the complete ABBA discography! Don't judge me!

Day 4 is Windy. Everyone calls her "wine-dee" but her actual name is pronounced closer to "Wendy." She suffers from a genetic condition where instead of getting fatter when she eats, she just gets longer. It's known informally as "Snake-ism."

Day 5 is Senior Lemön, one of two lemon brothers! They cause lots of trouble for small western towns... not really enough to inconvenience people. No one calls them by their names, mostly because they don't know how to say the o with two dots over it...

Anyway, there's week one! Week two will have better pictures (I hope) - I don't have a tablet like other people that are in the challenge (tears) so I'm just scanning doodles that I make throughout the day.

My Random Monday - Halloween Edition!

2011-10-31T08:34:00.000-07:00

1. I'm not that big on Halloween. Candy? It's a nice indulgence but why eat a bunch of it in one go? You just make yourself sick. Costumes? You go out and buy it, then wear it once and never again. It's weird, because Halloween used to be my favorite holiday. Now, not so much.

2. Maybe I'm just being a wet blanket because this week is the busiest ever for me. I'm travelling for work, then I have a 3-day summit for school. It should give me some good knitting time, at least.

3. Oh.... this:

I joined a crafty directory! I had a lot of fun looking at all the different blogs in it... so, you should check it out and join, too!

4. Here's something spooky... GMOs. I'm a big non-GMO proponent, and I guess I'm not in the majority. This poll asked people "Would you eat genetically modified salmon?" and when I took it, the majority said "NO WAY!" Sadly, most of us ARE eating GMOs every day. It's not enough to just buy the stuff that says GMO-free on the label - if you're in the U.S. you should go to the Center for Food Safety. They have a form that you can fill out in thirty seconds to write to the FDA. Even if you don't think it'll work, at least give it a try if you feel strongly about the issue!

Best Gift EVER!

2011-10-28T20:36:00.000-07:00

I have the greatest, most greatest BKFF (Best knitting friends forever). At club last night, Ash gave me THESE...

PLAYMOBIL HAZMAT TEAM.

I am seriously going to treasure these forever. I can't take my HazWOpER refresher this year because I have a class that meets - this totally makes up for it. I had them clean up some cocoa today.

Part of me just wants to carry these around with me and photograph them cleaning up spills.

The most amazing thing is that I've had a pretty crummy week, and these have just made it. I've found that my happiness can be won over with presents. What cool things cheer you up, Internet friends?

Lotus's Bad Week

2011-10-26T09:31:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted up photos of Lotus! She had a pretty crummy week last week. After her bath on Wednesday, she got a nail tangled in the towel that I was drying her with - it was caught like a hook, and there was no way to get it out without clipping it. It was like torture to her. Then on Friday night in the wee hours she bumped her face on her wheel and got a nasty bruise, and refused to do anything all weekend. Finally she came out Sunday night and I played with her on the bed, and she fell into a corner and was so embarrassed she wouldn't let me hold her for a good hour. She's finally eating a lot and running on her wheel again, so I'm not worried. I just hope that she doesn't end up like the wheel horror stories I've heard...

Anyway, we like to sit and read together (well, I read, she naps) and then usually W comes up and we go to sleep. And by we I mean W and I. Lotus doesn't sleep at night - she's too busy guzzling down water, knocking down her food bowl, and running around on her wheel. It's actually hard for me to sleep when she's not running - then I know she's upset or something is wrong. (That's how I knew that she had hit herself.)

When I was putting her back W got out his iPhone and took some photos. She's afraid of bright lights and sudden noises, so the DSL camera doesn't turn out so well. As I held her she started licking my hands and foaming.

In the bottom picture it looks like she's biting me, but that's just the face that she makes when she foams. She's learned that when she bites me I yelp, and that's not a fun experience. She still bites W occasionally while foaming, but not mean, leave-me-alone bites. More like tastes :)

And yes, I have huge boobs. Sorry they just happen to be in every one! XD Blame W for that!

My Random Monday - 10/24

2011-10-24T09:44:00.000-07:00

1. It is now week 8. If there's anything you know about RIT, you need to know that there is a lot of work. Some people might say "Hey, I'm in department A and you're in college B, I have more work than you," but I completely disagree with this. I think we're ALL overworked and cranky, but it prepares us to be overworked and cranky in the real world, so it's not so bad. When it's over. Right now it's pretty dumb.

2. I haven't been knitting so much, but I have been working on W's puppets all weekend. I'm kind of disappointed to say they despite swatching, it took me three tries to get most of the body parts right for his little puppet.

The cast-off parts have turned into a little bunny, which I still need to sew together and stuff... but I kind of like her.

Hand felting is a total chore - I'm not thrilled by it.

3. I'm on a mission to try all the noodle restaurants in Rochester, in preparation for this coming winter. I will figure out the best! A few weeks ago I went to Aja Noodle (twice) and I was impressed with some stuff but pretty disappointed in others. Tonight I'm going to try Mamasan's Noodle Cafe.

5. And finally... You should try this!

I got loyal, restless, courageous, and sweet. I'm interested to see what other people see. No cheating!

Pretty Shawl Photos

2011-10-19T11:36:00.000-07:00

I love my Blackbird Shawlette. Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. I blocked it really quick on Friday, and realized Monday that the decreases in the center were wonky. So, I re-blocked it, taking my time.

The difference between the blocked and un-blocked version is phenomenal. It's like my shawlette is me, tiny and with a lot of potential. Unassuming, but when teased and stretched it's something to be reckoned with. It's elegant and beautiful, like a butterfly in a glass case. I almost don't want to take it down... it won't be this gorgeous.

Repurposing W's homosode was such a good idea. The pins slide into it, and I don't have to worry about someone stepping on it - I can take the board and prop it up against a wall. Or maybe mount it on a wall! It does seem like it could be a work of art more than an article of clothing. It isn't very warm.

But blocking also brings out the bad. I found mistakes I didn't know about (in addition to the ones that I knew about but chose to ignore. Below you can see where I messed up an eyelet row.

Also, I dropped a stitch at the veeeerrrrrryyyy beginning.

While I'm knitting something, I look at mistakes as nonconformities (sorry, engineering school) that need to be fixed, but on the blocking board they're not mistakes, they're things that make my shawl unique and different, like a birth mark.

W and I tried to do an impromptu photo shoot but it just didn't work out. We got a few pictures taken but they were HIDEOUS. I'm transitioning to paleoshowers, and I'm still kind of greasy. I told myself I would give it until the end of the academic quarter and decide if I would continue then - it's only been 8 days.

But I did get one shot where I don't look terribly hideous. I usually hate photos of myself, but every once in a while W takes one and I think "Oooh... I like that picture." Then W says something like "It's overexposed."

Beck from Rhinebeck!

2011-10-17T09:59:00.000-07:00

Rhinebeck was pretty super awesome. I blocked my shawlette while the friend I went with, Rebecca, packed. We drove to Schenectady Friday night with it in the back seat of my car, and then it sat there until Saturday morning, where I took it down while we waiting in traffic for an hour and a half to park in the fairground.

W let me borrow his camera, but remember those nice blog photos I put up on Thursday night? I was an idiot and left the cap on. So, I can tell you about the sheep, the crowds, and the YARN... I can even tell you about the projects, and the people watching, and they lady that wore three shawls... but no photos.

I wish there was some kind of way to describe the Rhinebeck feeling. I get through the gate and I feel like it's Christmastime. I glimpse bloggers that I follow waiting in line to get food or coffee. I get to look at and touch yarn that I only see photos of online.

Maybe I can describe it with the photos of the swag I got.

It's a pretty modest haul. I got sock yarn for me, and enough yarn for two W socks from the same stand that I got my Opal Sock Yarn last year. No Opal this year, though... but Regia isn't so bad, I guess...

I also got a sweater's worth of yarn! I saw the Maple Creek Farm stand that I bought yarn from last year, and I saw their Jade colorway and KNEW I had to have a sweater made from it! It was only 678 yards - nothing to laugh at... but not enough for a cardi for someone as busty as me. So I got the lighter color, Sherwood Forest, to stripe with it and maybe push it a little more.

I would definitely recommend checking them out if you ever have the chance - there's supposed to be a website for them, but the link on Ravelry is broken! Even if you don't want to spend some money... just go and smell the yarn. W thought I was crazy, sniffing yarn, but it just smells so good!

Crazy luck got me this lace yarn. I was suffocating in this crowd in one of the buildings, and I slipped into a booth to cut towards the exit... but I was fixated by the colors! I ended up picking up Sweet Nothings Silken in a colorway called "A Rose By Another Name." I would definitely recommend them... Bittersweet Woolery.

I also managed to snag a project bag from Go Monkey Design! I keep all my projects in little ziploc bags... Now I have a REAL project bag! :)

Speaking of snagging...

Ash couldn't come with us - she has been really sick - but she gave me money to buy her some goodies. I'm not going to reveal the bag until I give it to her, so I'll save it for a later post. I really hope I can make her happy! I would be nervous giving cash to someone and saying "I'd like a tote bag and... I'm sure you'll find good things for me."

RIT After Class Showcase!

2011-10-14T13:49:00.000-07:00

Today I spent my day in the SAU, hanging out and telling people "Yes, we're the knitting and crochet club." "No, really, everyone tells me they've never heard of us. That's why I'm here!" We probably had the most traffic out of any of the other (four? six?) tables there, mostly because of our choice location.

Mostly because of these guys. I REALLY need to make at least a hundred more so I can sell them at our craft table in December. Gak.

Plenty of people joined to show all of our awesome skillz. Or, just sit and craft and eat ice cream.

All and all, a good day, and also, there was this:

I've claimed some of W's homosode board (he's not shooting until November, anyway, right?) and I'm going to block this baby tonight. Rhinebeck, here we come!!

Stop Motion Knitting - Pre-Knitting.

2011-10-11T11:00:00.000-07:00

As you might (or not, I'm not sure if I've mentioned it on the blog before) know, W is working on his thesis. I'm working as his "Fabricator" - a fancy word for how I'm helping him build his puppets. He's doing all of the shop work, and I'm making all of the outside parts.

The plan is to have felted puppets with an underlying wood and wire armature. I'm trying to make the outsides so that if W needs to change the inside armature, he can just take the knit parts off like clothes and put them on a new armature.

Designing these puppets has been similar to designing toys, but you have to take a few things into consideration. For one, the covers can limit access to he underlying armature, so if the armature breaks you would have to knit a whole new cover over a new armature (gulp!) or cut the cover. Another is that these "toys" will get a lot of play time, so seams need to be tight and neat (because they're on camera! :) )

Anyway, I haven't actually knit anything (aside from a felted swatch) but over the weekend W and I sat down, looked at our supplies and my stash and made decisions about what fabrics I'm going to use.

I tried to give him a lot of options, since we didn't have a lot of options in the main color department when we went to JoAnn Fabrics - we noticed that most big box stores that we went to didn't have a very large selection of colors for 100% wool, but JoAnn's had the best. We even found a little bow for the girl puppet!

The monsters' horns are going to be wrapped in yarn - we have 3 options for that. One is an acrylic, one is the Samba that I bought the other week at the Yarn store, and the last one (our top choice at the moment) is some handspun that I bought at Rhinebeck last year. I wrapped each option around an index card so we could compare how they looked.

The other choice we had to make was what yarn to use for the monsters' socks. We could order sock yarn, but without being able to see the color, we were hesitant - and don't get me started on the sock yarn options at the big box stores we went to (almost zero). So, we looked into my stash and I wound up the possible combinations on this card:

I kind of like the idea of wrapping yarns around cards, especially when planning colorwork. I think this could be a useful in the future - it's quick to make, and easy to see how colors blend together.

My Random Monday - 10/10

2011-10-10T07:19:00.000-07:00

1. OMG FIVE DAYS UNTIL RHINEBECK AND THIS SHAWL IS NO WHERE NEAR DONE HELP WHAT DO I DO?

2. Okay, for some reason I'm not at Defcon 5 on this project. I am convinced that I can take it with my in the car on the blocking board. So, it will be worn on Saturday!

3. All of my spare time has been spent playing Glitch this week. I think my friends have conspired to make me not finish this project. Glitch is VERY addictive, so if you like online game you really shouldn't click the link!

4. Between school, actual-get-paid work and not-paid-really knitting, I think I am the most miserable person in the world. I have a team project in every class and they are all giving me ulcers.

5. W has been working on his thesis, and he has a blog, too! It makes me very excited. I have a post about my work on that... I should post that tomorrow. A lot of posts that I write get lost in neverland and never published. I need to work on that.

6. I made Jambalaya completely in the rice cooker yesterday. I was really proud, but it didn't taste as good as I thought. It looked good, though!

7. This week is HUGE, Rochester, HUGE.

My DAL Design (And a little about how I got to it)

2011-10-05T17:54:00.000-07:00

Goodness gracious, September went by REALLY fast. Thankfully, I finally have a design for the DAL, and part of it knit to boot! But I'm going to have to work really fast if I want enough time to have the pattern tested and edited before the November 25th deadline. I feel like it's going to be down to the wire for me again, but at least I won't be weaseling out of this like last time! :P

This round has been a bit hard for me. I had a ton of ideas when the theme was announced ("fairytale") - but when I put the mood board together, I got a bit of a blank. I spent time doodling on this piece of paper that I keep near my desk, and it took a huge beating. I narrowed it down to three ideas:

There was a Seven Raven's Shawlette, which would have been double knit, reversible, and SO MUCH WORK. There was the Princess and the Pea socks, which I really liked the idea of, but... they looked oddly familiar to Warren's room mate's socks... which I had never heard of, but am fascinated with! They're called Solmate Socks. Cool idea, but... why not do something original?

So, I settled on a gingerbread house inspired cardigan. Wait. Freeze.

I've never knit a cardigan before. In fact, I've never designed a wearable before (unless you count socks, but really... I don't) and, seeing as I've only ever knit one adult-sized article of clothing, maybe I should scale it down in three months?

So, out went the pockets. Out went the contrasting i-cord trim in white and the multicolored "gumdrop" bobbles that would have transitioned the edging from the stockinette stitch base. (It looked so good in my head, but the look I got when I explained my idea at Hooks and Needles made me reconsider. Writing it down now, and reading it, I understand) I cut it down so that it would seem more like a knit object that babies would wear and less like... well, a gingerbread house costume. It will have bright red buttons, though! That I will not compromise on.

So, that's where I'm at right now. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to work the decreases for the yoke (having never worked one before) but I think I can fandangle it! I even did a swatch, although that's been entered into service as a brick... more on that some other time, I think. I have a lot of projects going on right now, and I feel like I need to finish at least 8 before I can breathe again.

My Random Monday - October 3rd

2011-10-03T07:40:00.000-07:00

1. I have bronchitis. This explains a lot of how I've been doing these past 10 days. The health center thinks that I got a cold, then it's developed into bronchitis because I haven't been "taking care of myself."

2. Considering that I've been sleeping for twelve hours at a time, forcing myself to eat, and still managing to do the chores around the house and "most" of my homework, I seriously wish someone at the health center would define "taking care of myself!"

3. Also, my lost camera has not turned up. I only assume that it's living a happy life taking photos for someone else's blog (though, if my camera benefactor ever reads this, if you could send me the touristy photos I took I'd really appreciate it, since all W really took were artsy photos of birds.)

4. Speaking of W, he is letting me use his camera but it's a Nikon D300 and it's really, really fancy. It took me 20 minutes to take photos of the yarn I bought on Saturday.

5. Oh, I bought yarn Saturday.

Plymouth Encore in bright colors for an upcoming craft table that Hooks and Needles is going to do as a fundraiser. I'm going to un-vent some flowers, and make little Inkly's, and maybe some hedgehogs if I can find the yarn.

Mini Mochi to go with the Mini Mochi I already have in my stash to make a Mini Mochi striped scarf (like a Noro striped scarf, but without the Noro because... I'm still not convinced I want to try Noro) for myself.

Some cotton that was in the sale bin that will make good fingerless gloves. It's organic, naturally dyed cotton and it only cost $3.90 for the two skeins! Who says yarn stores are pricey? :P

6. I ended up finding another mistake on my shawlette last night (besides the surprise stitches) - I had messed up the lace pattern beyond tinking back, so I just frogged back to the lifeline. Stitch count for the entire weekend: -15.

Progressing Steadily Towards a Rhinebeck Project!

2011-09-30T19:22:00.000-07:00

So, despite a mountain of work, 800 pages of reading (between all my classes combined) and a massive cold (when I cough, it sounds like the swamp-mobile in "The Rescuers") I've knit almost 2 inches on my Blackbird Shawlette! I'm really excited, because I feel like I may actually get to wear this at Rhinebeck.

But, tonight, I noticed a problem.

(Please pretend my iPhone photos are clear. I lost my camera in Canada, still hoping someone will mail it to me.)

I have 3 stitches more than I'm supposed to.

Three. Meaning I did just mess up, I had to have perpetrated a number of mess ups to end up with this number, since the pattern decreases by 4 stitches every other row. So, I don't know. I had just cast a lifeline so I had two options.

1.) Frog back to the lifeline (1 row) and re-knit another repeat of the plain section, but only decrease by 3 stitches instead of 4.

2.) Forget it ever happened, keep the 3 stitches and just knit them together later in the lace pattern.

Typically, I would be the #1 type of person, but today I just don't feel like fighting it. They say that the Amish always make a mistake in their quilts, on purpose, to show that no human is perfect (only God.) So this is what I'm calling it. My "I'm not perfect" feature.

Viva La Canada!

2011-09-26T08:09:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I had the joy of going to the Ottawa International Animation Festival with W. Ottawa is the most beautiful city I've ever visited. Aside from seeing a lot of really gorgeous buildings, foods, and (of course) animations, I got a good portion of my blackbird shawlette done.

We DID visit a yarn shop, but it was a little small and not so impressive - I told myself we'd have to stop at some of the others I saw on knitmap, but by the end of the weekend we had run out of money. I DID buy this:

It's a little owl whose head spins back and forth.

And there was hot cocoa in a bowl and beautiful pastries at the Byward Market.

There were so many beautiful things, I can't decide what to put up, so here's a mishmash:

Anyway, I'm off to catch up on the 100+ blog posts that piled up in my google reader over the weekend... oy!

Busy As A Bee

2011-09-20T08:20:00.000-07:00

I've been busy, mostly because I don't have any assignments for work, so I've been doing homework - and the best pair to reading is knitting! I managed to finish my baby cardi last night at Hooks and Needles!

I'm so proud! The pattern is Cascade, from Petite Purls, and the buttons are from Jo Ann's... I'm really happy with the pairing. The yarn is Cascade Pacifica, in colorway 507. I made the 6 month old size and used pretty much exactly one skein. I'm going to make an elephant to go with it (her theme is "jungle") and hopefully I'll get to send it off!

I also sat down with some Sculpey yesterday and made a ton of little stitch markers. I just wanted to Do something and have it pay off instantaneously. Well, faster than knitting does. It still took time to sculpt the tiny figurines, bake them, then add the fixtures, but compared to a sweater... not long at all!

I made three hedgehogs,

An owl whose eye fell off

Two markers whose jump rings were too small - I'm going to dub these the sock yarn markers.

And a sort of set. The flowers are supposed to be hydrangea's... but they're still pretty.

I also wound yarn for a super secret Hooks and Needles project... hee hee.

You know I would divulge it, but we need approval from the school to do it, and once that happens we'll be knitting our butts off...

I'm really bummed out about things, like this horrible cold I have, but I'm trying to keep busy and do everything I'm supposed to because tonight is the season start of Glee, and this weekend is OTTOWA with W and his friends! Something big is happening every day this week, really, so I don't have time to slow down.

My Random Monday - 9/19

2011-09-19T14:00:00.000-07:00

1. Arrrr! Today be me favorite holiday, it is! Talk like a Pirate Day! Be sure ye celebrate by riling up yer wenches and heading to the saloon for rum, arrrrr!! Or, if ye work in an office place, give yer interns donuts. Or chocolate dubloons. Us interns love chocolate.

2. Also, there be this survey through Technorati called "State o' the Blogosphere" spreading around like scurvey on rough seas! If'n ye have minutes to waste while ye should be swabbing the deck, take the survey, Arrr!

3. Ye knowst by now that I am a green lass, caring about the trees and what, and this video on the tube of you has scared me, mateys, scared me from eating those tasty french fries:

4. Arrrr... the sea, she calls me, but the homework, she screams at me. It's like seeing the most beautiful wench when you've already paid for an ugly one. Or something. Arrrr.

Taking on the Heritage Festival!

2011-09-17T16:43:00.000-07:00

For some reason we keep forgetting things, and keep coming home every weekend. I'm not mad, because it gives me peace and quiet to do my homework and once in a while cool stuff like this happens - the Heritage Festival! It was way better than it looked from outside of the park - we almost didn't go in because you had to pay $4 and we "just wanted food." Well, definitely well worth $4! I met a ton of really cool people from around W's hometown that do all sort of crafts. Here's a snippet:

This guy used to sell lanterns, then decided to collect them. He had the same lantern that my brother got me as a birthday present when we were small.

One woman quilted Civil-War Era replica quilts, and had an amazing tent full of those. Another did bobbin lace - completely fascinating, but even more of a time suck than knitting.

Walking through the festival, I seriously had to tell myself. "You don't want to be a serial crafter. You don't want to get a serial crafter. RESIST!" No stall tested my moxy more than this one:

Dyeing! The yarn in the stall were all naturally dyed, hand-spun wool. The woman even led me over to the garden of the replica house and showed me the plants she used! "This is indigo," etc! She had a whole range of materials, and suggested if I wanted to try to check out the books she had on display.

I also got my shopping on (well, I made W buy things) and bought these bone earrings for $4! The guys collects bones from a local butcher that dresses meats for hunters and farms in the area. Kind of gruesome, but if you think about it, he's basically taking trash (the butcher gives him the bones) and making something cool out of it.

There was also a knitting lady that I chatted with, who was happy to find someone who appreciated her work! Her stitches were so neat, perfectly done on every sweater. She told me "If you like something, just steal it with your eyes. You seem smart enough to figure it out!" As we walked away, W and I fantasized about selling things at craft sales. Of course, what would I sell!?

Also, do you see that yellow sweater on the bottom right? I have some yarn in that same color - and I figured out what to do with it! A sweater for W's mom! :)

Anyway, I also bought a Christmas ornament made with a craft called quilling! It seems too delicate to put on a tree, so I think I'm going to have it framed. Maybe one day I'll make some snowflakes to match it and have a set for Christmas time!

All in all, I'm happy I took two hours from my homework to go!

Goal Setting

2011-09-14T12:26:00.000-07:00

Above is my Blackbird Shawl. I want to work on it. I don't know why, but it seems like the timeline for this shawl has been slightly screwy from the get-go. Let me demonstrate:

Week 1: 1 inch of progress
Weeks 2-3: Another inch of progress, finished two charts and started stockinette stitch section

Weeks 4-7: Half inch of stockinette stitch knit.

This seems like the exact OPPOSITE of what's supposed to happen, since the shawl is worked from the bottom up, so there are less stitches each row. According to my calculations, after the last row there will be zero stitches and I won't work on the project ever again - wait, that's supposed to happen.

All jokes aside, I don't think I will ever finish this shawl unless I set a goal, so here it goes:

This shawl will be finished before Rhinebeck.

That's a little over a month. Fingers crossed!

My Random Monday - 9/12

2011-09-12T11:30:00.000-07:00

1. The flower of the week is goldenrod. It is EVERYWHERE around here!

2. I cleaned up today (more than usual) and unpacked some figurines that W got me for my birthday:

They're supposed to be for kids, but I just think they're cute! <3

3. School is REALLY busy and kind of frustrating. It's hard for me to read things that I don't like/don't agree with, how I got this far in the environmental field I don't know. But, this really made me spit out my coffee today:

"... is becoming increasingly central to religion, science, medicine, literature, the arts and women."

Really? Why women and not men? Are women more eco-contientious? This just seems sexist to me! It's from Ch. 1 of Paul Hawken's "Ecology of Commerce." I'm going to refrain from critiquing this gem for the sake of my future career.

4. Sometimes I wonder if I'm doing the things I'm supposed to - I guess the mystical-sounding word would be "on the path of my destiny." If I am on the right path, I'm a little peeved that that path has led me to live in my boyfriend's run-down college apartment with three other people I barely know and who seem to have a problem with the fact I keep fresh veg in the crisper.

Damage Control

2011-09-09T18:53:00.000-07:00

As you might (or might not) know, there's been a lot of rain in my hometown, and even more in W's hometown. Roads are flooded, people are drying off knickknacks with hair dryers in the laundry... etc. W's mom's house has had some major changes.

Grass has been pressed down and covered in mud - you can see how far the flash flood reached.

The creek is still really high - you can't even tell where the banks were originally!

This tree appeared in the yard - we walked upstream and looked and peered but couldn't figure out where it came from!

The water is orange-ish because of the clay-ey soil in the area.

I also found this:

What kind of shrub is it!? I'm going to have to look it up when I get back to school.

I also checked the garden for save-able veg; most of the pumpkins and squash are still going strong, and the tomatoes are still ripening. I picked a bunch, but some had burst from all the rain.

You can't eat fruits and veg that have cracks like this - some people insist it's okay, but I firmly believe that you should put these tomatoes in the compost pile. The cracking lets in bacteria - if you wouldn't buy it in the grocery store, don't eat it from your garden. *steps off soap box*

There was also two flowers that fell down, so I cut them up and brought them in so they can live out the rest of their lives in the kitchen.

Happily, the single rose bush appears to be fine! When I look at it I think of the rose in The Little Prince.

Then it got dark and we went out for pizza, which was FULL of refugees - well, people that were too worried about their crop/livestock being safe to want to cook.

At home, we found a refugee of another kind!

I'm not sure what kind of caterpillar is, but check out the tail!

While the damage WAS pretty bad, no one was hurt and the only thing that was lost was a few tomatoes, some junk that was stored in the basement, and part of the yard. I'm sending prayers to those downstream, where the flooding wasn't flash - the photos that I've seen from Binghamton are absolutely horrible. I also found a photo of the facility I used to work at! Yikes.

My Random Monday - September 5th 2011

2011-09-05T10:15:00.000-07:00

L is for Limonium - flowers I bought :)

Also, the club fair was yesterday - Hooks and Needles got 78 new members! I bought lots of cups and juice for the first meeting, tonight. I can't wait :)

Fall 2010 Mood Boards!

2011-09-01T07:56:00.000-07:00

Whoo hoo! Despite the horrible rain cloud that's been hanging over my head since last weekend, I've got the mood boards up for this round of Design Along! I tried something new this time, and had people vote on images - last round, I had to do a TON of cropping, rotating, and resizing to get each image to fit into the three pages. This round, I took the images with the most votes and plugged them into the boards with minimal formatting - I just stopped when I ran out of room. The result is less images in (pretty much any images with less than 5 votes didn't get in) - I'm not sure how much I like them, but it was SO. MUCH. EASIER!

Anyway, the theme for the round was Fairytale.

Click on the images for larger ones - they are quite big :)

And now I want to say thanks to everyone that contributed!
sosoclever

Melissa J. Leavitt Designs

soxnshawls

Bakuhatsu no Subarashii

DaneMum

wayfaring knitter

And everyone else who doesn't have a blog that I can stalk ;) If I forgot someone, let me know and I'll add you!

So, hope this inspires you - I can't wait to see the designs that come out of this round! If you'd like to participate, check out the Design Along group on Ravelry - it's a TON of fun, and the community is really great.

Swatching!

2011-08-25T17:49:00.000-07:00

I don't usually swatch, but I'm starting a baby project and wanted to perfect this pattern that I'm un-venting. So, I took out my trusty winder (really, winding yarn into center-pull skeins needs to be less fun - NOT.) and found this!

I don't know a lot about spinning, but my hypothesis is this is the leader. How often does this happen? Maybe we could calculate odds, and find out how lucky I am! I'm assuming that this doesn't happen very often.

Oh, the yarn I'm using is this new stuff from Cascade, "Pacific." It is very soft, but sort of has an un-plying problem (anyone that's every used Caron Simply Soft probably knows what I'm describing.) For a merino-acrylic mix, it has the feel of soft acrylic, but blocks out well. Just from one swatch, I like it!

I like to keep my labels with my skeins, so here's a pick of my trick - a label extender - in case you were wondering how I did that. As you work from the middle and the skein gets smaller, just move the tape.

Free Pattern - Sunflower

2011-08-25T06:52:00.000-07:00

Originally, this pattern was supposed to be a whole scarf - tons of tiny sunflowers sewn together to make a stole. But, I gave up on that - other projects got in the way. I still want to make that stole, some day, maybe... eventually...

Anyway, these flowers would make a cute summer garland, or maybe a headband, or just knit up individually as coasters, brooches... whatever! The uses for knit flowers are seriously limitless. I know. I've made around a dozen of these puppies. For amazing results, pair one with two knit leaves!

Anyway! Hope you enjoy this little pattern - it's more a set of notes than an actual 'pattern' - and if you make something totally inspired, let me know and I'll feature you! :)

Knit Sunflowers

You'll need:

Around 30 yards of MC (brown) and around 15 yards of CC (yellow) - Sample was knit with Cascade 220, but since this is not wearable (or even stuffed) gauge is less important.
Size 5 dpns
Yarn needle for weaving in ends

Techniques : This pattern assumes a basic knowledge of knitting in the round with dpns, knitting, purling, working with more than one color. If you don't know any of these techniques - try them! :)

Abbreviations:

CO: Cast on
K: Knit
K2tog: Knit two stitched together - 1 st decrease
Kfb: Knit in the front and back of a stitch - 1 st increase.
P: Purl
Rnd: Round.
St: Stitch
YO: Yarn over

Directions:

CO 4 stitches with MC (Brown). For the first row, Kfb all sts. You now have 8 sts. Join these sts to knit in the round.

Rnd 1 and all odd rnds in MC: P all sts

Rnd 2: Kfb all sts (16 sts)

Rnd 4: *Kfb, K1* Repeat * to * (24 sts)

Rnd 6: *Kfb, K2* Repeat * to * (32 sts)

Rnd 8: *Kfb, K3* Repeat * to * (40 sts)

(Note: If desired, this circle can be made larger by increasing regularly in this pattern - just increase evenly by 8 stitches until the circle is one inch less than the desired diameter of your flower.)

K 1 round with MC before changing to CC.

Change to CC (Yellow). K 3 rounds.

Petal round: *K2tog YO* Repeat * to *

K 3 more rounds.

Change to MC. K 1 round with MC, then begin decreasing.

Rnd 1 and all other rnds in MC: Purl all sts (n/40 sts)

Rnd 2: *K2tog, K 3* Repeat * to * (32 sts)

Rnd 4: *K2tog, K 2* Repeat * to * (24 sts)

Rnd 6: *K2tog, K1* Repeat * to * (16 sts)

Rnd 8: K2tog all sts (8 sts)

Finishing: Cut yarn, leaving about 6 inches of tail. Using a yarn needle, thread tail through live sts and pull tight to cinch shut; weave in ends.

My Random Monday - August 22nd

2011-08-22T19:00:00.000-07:00

1. My short skews are not going well. I'm using the SKF technique - SWAG, Knit, Frog. I know how to do it... generally. I'm just being a little discouraged by all this frogging! I think tonight I'm going to sit down and actually THINK about what I'm going to do instead of knitting and guessing.

2. Lilac has been having lots of outside time. She loves it!

3. When Lilac is outside, I sit out on the porch, and I've been keeping my crafts in bowls and plates. It's so soothing to sew the little petals onto my knit hedgehogs...

4. I'm going back to school, but I'm not so sure what I'm going to do. My plans for school were kind of ruined when my internship unexpectedly ended, but I'm trying to make the best of things, even though I'm not sure where I'm going to be living at school I bought some supplies today anyway :)

5. Oh, I was published!

I designed this knit jellyfish last summer and submitted it to the Knitting Pattern-A-Day Calendar. Well, the 2012 Calendar came out, and I'm innit! They even sent me a complimentary copy! SQUEE!

New Pattern for Sale: Pink Lemonade Socks!

2011-08-19T11:05:00.000-07:00

I finally got a nice day to photograph my socks, and a good hour to load up the pattern, crop the pictures... etc, etc.

I LOVE these socks! What's great is they're one of those patterns that you can make without really thinking! The repeat is only four rows long, and you don't need a cable needle at all.

That's right, those aren't actually cables.

I tried to keep the pattern simple, but there are some little details - like the transition from pattern to cuff.

And the heel flap - the pattern carries up it. Don't worry! It's charted as well as written.

Pattern Name: Pink Lemonade Socks

Yarn: Kertzer On Your Toes, 4-ply sock yarn

This pattern is available for download for $2.50 - You don't need a Ravelry account to check out, or even a paypal account - you can check out with a credit card :)

You can click the button below to get yours today! Or click any of the images in this post to go to the pattern page.

Call to Contribute: Fall 2011 DAL Mood Board!

2011-08-18T09:45:00.001-07:00

I'm so excited that the Fall 2011 DAL theme has been decided! This round's theme is Fairytale, and the mood board already has a ton of fairytale-themed pictures up on it - I'm hosting mine up on this blog post :)

So, "Why do I care," you ask? If you're a Ravelry member, go to the DAL group and do either of two things:

Contribute a photo or image (if you so choose) to the mood board thread.
Go to the mood board thread and click "love" underneath the images that you like.

Even if you don't want to participate by designing in the DAL, you can still do either of these two things. This helps make the group funner for the people that DO participate, so please consider if you have any free time :)

And if you don't care, can you guess which fairytales I'm thinking of? No checking the thread! :P

Oh - one more really important thing! Submissions for the mood board close August 28th. So, if you want to contribute or vote, that's when that ends.

My Random Tuesday

2011-08-16T07:15:00.000-07:00

1. Yesterday I slept more than I was awake, though I did manage to work and visit with W. But no blog, so I guess I'll post my updates today! :P

2. My WIPs are all coming along steadily. I'm 95% done with my bead-along mitts, cast my second lifeline for my shawl (which I haven't shared yet :X) and ... well, I'm working on the socks.

3. The weather has been REALLY crummy every time W has come to visit, and I can't get anyone else to photograph my feet, so no nice photos of the socks yet. I want to release the pattern on Friday, so fingers crossed that that will get done - but chances are I may have to wait until Monday.

4. I have fairytales on my brain... that's the current DAL theme! I'm going to do a post on it sometime this week, too! So many posts to write, so little time XD

5. You may notice the photos for this post are especially random. Above is a cool embroidery I saw at the fair, and then at the top is a rainbow that graced our little street over the weekend.

My plans are as skewed as these socks!

2011-08-13T11:30:00.000-07:00

First off, can tell you a little more about how much I LOVE this sock pattern? This past week, I've been up late into the night knitting. That makes me feel very, very bizarre. I feel like a kid, hiding under the covers with a flashlight at night, but instead of a horror novel I've got... a sock. I've never felt this way about a pattern - waiting to see what happens next!

But I realized something as I finished the heel of the sock. Look at this. This is, most definitely, not an ankle sock. It's not even a half-ankle sock. W doesn't like long socks - he won't wear these.

So, there are two foreseeable options.

1.) I make the sock according to the instructions, and hope one day W will wear them when I'm around to make me feel happy

2.) I figure out how to modify the pattern to make the sock work. That involves frogging back to before the heel, and probably just knitting over and over until it works.

I'm leaning towards the second option, though I'm not quite sure how I'm going to manage it...

(I just thought of something, I /could/ steal the socks, but I feel like this would be cheating. Also, I would have to frog back to the toe so that it wouldn't be baggy. So just as much work, really.)

Essential Tools

2011-08-11T10:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday W and I went on an adventure to Rochester. We travelled up Route 14 through the gorgeous Finger Lakes Area, and then, on the way back, WE STOPPED AT A YARN STORE.

Notice the box? It's a ball winder!

I also bought yarn for future projects, but the ball winder was especially useful today because the Skew sock is not cooperating - at least, the skein wasn't.

So I set up the winder in the only surface on the ranch that I could - the front porch. It was quite romantic, winding yarn on the porch at sunset. And at the end, I got my perfect ball!

Hopefully the yarn will cooperate from now on!

Your August Crafting Horoscope - Brought to you by Lilac

2011-08-09T08:31:00.000-07:00

Hello again, hoomans! Lilac here, hopping onto the compooter to say, where is the fan mail? I mean, you comment and email about how much you love me, but where are the carrots? I have yet to get carrots in the mail. Then, I will consider myself a star.

Besides staring at my slave endlessly and sitting in front of my wind-making robot, I have also been studying the ancient hooman art of astrology. I am really a quite educated rabbit, and enjoy studying different hooman beliefs. Having lived with hoomans for 4 out of the 5 months of my life, I consider myself something of an expert in them. I thought it was time that I share my gift with the world, so if you want to read on after the jump, you can find your crafty horoscope for the month of August, based on your Sun Sign.

August 2011 Craftoscopes:

Aries:

As uranus travels through your sign, expect confusion! Don't be ashamed to put a project in time out if you just can't seem to pick it up - but don't frog it! If you put it aside for a while, things will click later.

Taurus:

Jupiter is slowly making it's way through your house, staying put until June of 2012. This means you and every other sign are feeling an increased practicality. Have you started your Christmas knitting yet? You might be able to finish it all this year!

Gemini:

Your key planet, mercury, is in retrograde for almost the whole month! This means bad luck for you! Be careful what new projects you start - you will be prone to making a lot of silly mistakes!

Cancer:

You really need to express yourself this month! Start a challenging project, pick up a new skill, maybe even branch out into a new craft - your creativity needs an outlet, you just need to find it! Be nice to your rabbit.

Leo:

Happy Birthday! Even though Mercury is in retrograde, it's travelling through your sign, so you shouldn't feel the effect as much as others. Your welcome! Instead of yarn, spend some birthday money on escarole, then mail it to your favorite blogging rabbit.

Virgo:

Venus in your sign later this month makes you feel like you are extra fluffy and cute and be-you-ti-ful! You may find yourself thinking about love, even attracting love (old and new!). Just don't knit them a sweater, okay? Trust me, I'm a rabbit. It's not a curse. They really just don't like sweaters.

Libra:

Mars is going to be squaring off with your house, so you may feel some anger building up to levels even your typically reserved self has trouble handling. Don't loose your temper when your hoomans refuse to give you more carrots, and don't take your frustration out on your crafting!

Scorpio:

Venus is square to you this month, making you feel a need for love, attention, and nose pets. If you aren't finding this in other hoomans, think about giving your rabbit carrots - she will pretend to love you. The projects for you this month are easy, quick ones that give you instant gratification. Have you ever tried knitting toys?

Sagittarius:

Though Mercury is in retrograde, it's trine to your sun, meaning you feel an easy time putting your thoughts into words when others are struggling. Now is a good time to write a pattern, tutorial, or think about teaching someone to knit or crochet. Your smooth words could even get you a discount in yarn - you never know until you try!

Capricorn:

Mars opposing your house leads to unbalanced feelings of rage! You may find yourself stomping your feet to scare away the hoomans more than normal this month. Forgive them! And, when you're crafting, watch your tension!

Aquarius:

Venus opposite your sun makes you feel like indulging, but don't break the bank! Self-discipline is your word of the month. When buying yarn, make sure that there's still enough room in your house for you to sleep, and when starting projects, ask yourself: "Will I be seeing this through or will I loose interest on the 123rd row of seed stitch?"

Pisces:

Mars trine to your sign makes you want to start new projects. Go ahead, but keep your feet on the ground! Do you have enough yarn to bomb that famous landmark? Is that alpaca farm really a good idea with a yarn your size?

My Random Monday - August 8th

2011-08-08T11:37:00.000-07:00

1. I spent most of my weekend working on this:

Yes, a new project!! I was inspired by reading Wildflower Wool Knit's project. It really is an exciting knit that keeps you on your toes. Plus, the way this is knitting up, W will have new socks for the new school year.

2. Lilac is adjusting well. Her favorite thing has been the tasty greens that I can bring her from my mom's garden. She also likes to sit in front of the fan - I mean, RIGHT in front - and close her eyes. It looks like she's imagining being somewhere nicer.

3. Speaking of Lilac, I left her for 24 hours Saturday night and when I came back, she was SO mean to me. She would hop up to me, sniff my hand, then huff away. I'm still not out of the bun-house, even after giving her two treats and taking her outside to sun.

4. My other weekend project!

Fruit Salad :) I used half a honeydew melon, one mango, one kiwi, and two small apples. The secret ingredient? Two tablespoons of lemon juice keeps the apples from oxidizing (The mom translation: "Getting all brown, gross, I'm not going to eat that.")

5. My other Bead Along glove is going well, I've had pretty bad tremors so the threading went really bad until my mom showed my a really cool technique that just uses a needle and thread. I think I'm going to put a tutorial up this week.

Bead Along Update - Oh, We're Halfway There

2011-08-02T09:46:00.000-07:00

I finished the first glove for the Bead Along over the weekend between cars, trains, and subways. I'm not really happy with how it turned out... I like it, but it's not wearable for me. The first reason is the knuckles - it doesn't cover mine!

A few other irks and grumbles I have about this pattern.

1. It doesn't cover my knuckles!! I don't know why, but this bugs me so much!

2. It's a bit confusing after the thumb. I assumed that it wants you to start the ribbing, but I could be wrong. I just did what the pattern said so I could blame someone else when I didn't like how it turned out.

3. The yardage is off. Never, never, in a hundred million years will this pattern use 200 yards of yarn. I haven't measured, but I'm willing to bet money on this. That's just a pet peeve of mine.

I keep finding reasons to grumble about this pattern, but honestly, I'm just mad at myself for spending $4.99 on this. $4.99 for Fingerless mitts? I thought surely I would be getting some sort of amazing, quality pattern that would change the way I feel about making fingerless gloves. That was not the case at all - I've learned my lesson, that's for sure. Eventually, I'll get over it - eventually!

And to top it all off, I found a ladder.

There you have it, honest to goodness proof that I am not perfect. I've never had a ladder happen when knitting before! After using DPN's for ... almost 5 years, now that I think about it. I'm wondering if I can fix it by tightening every little stitch by hand?

Anyway, at some point this week I'll find the rest of my beads and get ready for the second round of this pattern. They really are pretty - but, I think I'm going to pawn this pair off on someone as a present and make my own pair, making a few mods to make it more "me."

Anyway, if you're interested consider joining the Summer 2011 Bead Along! I was nervous about beading at first, but it really is easier than it looks. Check out other Bead Along Posts here!

My Random Monday - August 1st

2011-08-01T09:34:00.000-07:00

1. Whew, my weekend was crazy! Through a combination of personal and family craziness, I found myself in NYC, Towanda, Troy, Sayre, and then... back in Elmira, happily.

2. I also finished a mitt for the Summer Bead Along - but that's another post :P

3. Here are photos of the Troy Fair. I'm sad that I only made it to one day - I love people watching at the fair! That's hours worth of entertainment :)

4. I actually got to enjoy Pinkberry in NYC! It lived up to the hype, I'm happy to say!

W mentioned how much it tasted like yogurt - I kept saying "Well, duh." One of my favorite breakfasts is vanilla yogurt with fruit mixed in, so I loved it!

5. Some more NYC aquisitions:

Hedgehog erasers! I wanted to go yarn shopping, but sadly I had some problems with my wallet (the main problem being, I left it under the seat of the car that gave me a ride down to Maplewood to see W) so I'll just have to cope by purchasing a plethora of cute hedgies for my shadow box.

6. Speaking of shadow box, here it is!

If you click on it, you can play a game of "I Spy." Though, some of the stuff (Like the condom!) were added by my mom... I have no idea the story behind those. But most of the other things are just little trinkets that I've picked up in the past four years. My shadow box isn't filling up as fast as my mom's, but each little thing has story behind it, so I think that's better!

7. Also, my Pink Lemonade Socks pattern was sent out to testers today... I'm so, so, so excited :D

Beading Along

2011-07-27T10:24:00.000-07:00

Time flies when you're purged, so I meant to post these up a while ago... but just got around to it today. May I introduce you to my Summer Bead-Along Project!

The pattern is Garnet Mitts by Sarah Marsden, and I REALLY like the combination red beads + yellow Frog Tree Alpaca Fingering Yarn. When I look at this project, I think of the scene from the animated Hobbit movie, where the red dragon is lying on piles of gold coins and rubies (along with other treasure, I'm sure). I'm happily working on these, along with my other project that I should blog about soon.

This is my first time knitting with beads, and I'm confused why I was so scared! The beads on this patten are pre-strung, so whenever you want to place a bead you just pop it in place - really easy! I would definitely recommend this pattern, though there is no sizing advice or detailed photos, so I'm a little miffed about paying $5.50 for it. I thought I would have some good advice for a beginning beader, but it really doesn't :P

Anyway, I'm psyched to be part of the Summer Bead Along, hosted by Revelations of a Delusional Knitter. If you're interested, check out her post here! There's still time to enter, and there are some super cool prizes at the end :)

My Random Monday - July 25th

2011-07-25T13:45:00.000-07:00

1. The past week has flown by. I've moved, cleaned out my apartment, gone into Boston... phew. I feel like an itty bitty dandelion seed floating around in the wind.

2. I'm surprised how well Lilac took the move. She has definitely downsized, from my 300-square apartment to about a six square foot pen. I think she's also a little transfer shocked.

3. I went into Boston on Friday with W and my brother. It was a seriously awesome experience! I have to admit, that's something I may miss about New Hampshire. It cost quite a bit for the four of us to go in, then there was the food, tickets to the aquarium... but I didn't regret spending a single cent! :)

4. In the same vein, I'm going to NYC this weekend to visit W and see the studio he works at. I feel like such a globetrotter!

5. Back to Boston... I saw this fish at the aquarium.

Doesn't he seem so happy? I dunno, for some reason his face reminds me of a baby's smile. Maybe I'm going senile.

6. W got WAAAAYYY better photos at the aquarium with his fancy DSLR. He's really turning into a camera buff.

7. Last but not least, picture of my brother and his friend goofing off on 88 Saturday.

My Random Monday - July 18th

2011-07-18T07:37:00.000-07:00

1. Have you ever seen unwords? That has been a fairly recent timesuck of mine. Neologisms are great - I honestly think that the English language would be dead without them. Seeing a word that goes from something that makes most people say "huh" to something everyone understands is pretty cool!

2. With that, I present my own neologism:

"chaussadisproprotiophobia" - n. - the fear that your socks are not the right length.

I have counted rows so many times I might be insane, but the row counts were the same yet the measurements were off between my two socks! So, I said the three magic words that every knitter says at some point:

3. "It'll block out" - Knitterspeak for "I seriously can't be bothered to bother with this right now, I'm going to finish these up anyway because I'm probably not going to notice this mistake in a year (or twelve)." See also: "Giving up", "Picking battles", "Another glass of the nice wine, please"

4. Another neologism:

"abstraphotomania" - n. - the intense desire to take artsy-looking photos of your F.O.

These photos may be in black and white, but it is not necessary. 98% of these photos will be deleted, and 0% will actually end up in the pattern for said F.O.

5. "Congratulations?" - What you say to a student whose co-op has ended unexpectedly as she spends her fourth straight day in sweatpants.

Hello, Hoomans!

2011-07-16T14:02:00.000-07:00

Hello there! Lilac here, updating everyone on how I am doing since my lazy slave is too busy keeping to herself. She spent all day today above my lair, staring at these things that she calls "soaks!" Then, a while ago, she jumped up and held them up, and put them on her feet! Since then she's been walking around the room, pointing the orange light at herself and then looking at the photo-taker, saying things like "They aren't even!" and "Oh! I'm so pale!"

Anyway, I'm a rabbit, and I don't care about that stuff. So I'm going to post up some pictures that I found on the compooter of ME!

This is me. I am not shy. I pretend to be shy when the orange light shines near me! It's quite scary. The orange light shines, and the photo-taker makes funny noises, and my slave goes "OH! SO CUTE!" I don't think anyone can ever figure out why this happens, but it always happens in that order.

This is me going to hide in my lair. My slave sleeps on top of my lair, but only I get to sleep in my lair. If my slave tries to reach under my lair, I will tell her what's what and grunt and jump like I'm going to bite! I would never bite my slave, though, she is really a good slave, just not very smart.

This is my basket. Grass goes inside of it. I dump the grass out and my slave picks it up. It is good, clean fun.

This box is mine. A man knocked on the door and gave it to my slave, and I ran in circles and my slave set the box on the floor and emptied all these things out of it and now it's mine. Only I am allowed inside my box. You are not allowed inside.

This is one of the pictures that my slave was taking of her soaks. I did not approve of this, because my slave was not playing with me.

I told my slave what's what and tugged on her fur. My slave sighed and said, "Oh, you're right, I'm going to have to block them out because I don't think the cuffs are even... I'll do that tomorrow."

Then my slave went back to sitting on my lair, and I allowed her to pet me while I snoozed. She is quite the best slave a rabbit could ask for!

Irresistibly Sweet!

2011-07-13T13:00:00.000-07:00

Last week, Jordan from In It To Knit It gave me this really cute award! Thanks, Jordan!

As part of the award, you have to give seven random facts about yourself, so I'm going to try and give some facts that aren't in my 100 things... I'm not going to check though :P If someone feels cheated, I guess I'll add something.

I have low latent inhibition. Every time I tell someone about this lately, they've said something like "Like that guy in Prison Break!?" - I've never seen prison break, so I have no clue!
My favorite thing to do when not knitting is watch Hulu - I'm considering getting Hulu plus just for the reality TV shows!
My favorite genre of books is Distopian - Lord of the Flies, Oryx and Crake, 1984, We, Brave New World. I don't know why, I just really love them!
My grandfather tells a story about how, the first time I spent the night at their house, he came to the breakfast table and I was eating toast with marmalade and reading the obits to my grandmother from the New York Times. I have no memory of this. I was three or four at the time.
I have a folder on my computer of funny photos that I've pulled from the internet of have had sent to me. I highly recommend this practice for cheering oneself up! I have a bunch of EHS related ones, too, for presentations.
This was emailed to me by W - no idea if it's real.
Everytime I hear the word "applesauce" I smile. I don't know why - it used to be a lot worse. I would laugh everytime someone said it!
I sleep walk and talk, Severely. I'm comfortable with the fact that I won't harm myself or divulge any horrible secrets, mostly I babble incoherently and keep people awake. I have a lot of good sleepwalking stories.

The second part of the award is that you have to pass it on to 7 other blogs/bloggers, so here it goes!

Yarn Miracle - This blog is REALLY sweet, from the adorable toys to the adorable toddler, Emily has the market :)
Tiny Angry Crafter - I love reading about Carla's WIPs, her posts are quite sweet - I mean, really, you can't think up a better word to describe these headbands (besides fantabulous, but I've been told that's not technically a "word.")
Kit's Knits - I love seeing her knit and crochet stuff! Since I don't crochet, I get my fill of amigurumi eye candy here :) And, she's just a sweet person
Skirted Fleece Farm - Oh, not really a knitting blog, but I can't help it! I love living vicariously through their posts, and seeing pictures of their farm as it starts up.
One Word Down, Millions More To Go - What can I say? I'm a sucker for reading! Rachel hasn't posted in a while, though.
Knitting with Olof - Also hasn't posted in a while, but she has some great F.O. pics, and some really adorable kiddos. Oh, and her reviews are great - honest, well-meaning, and sometimes accompanied by giveaways ;)
Sessilifolia - I like seeing her FO's, and she's just a sweet person! So, award for you :)

Wow, finding seven blogs I like was a lot easier than thinking facts about myself! Thanks again, Jordan, for the award!

The Return of My Random Monday

2011-07-11T16:30:00.000-07:00

1. Though, don't expect any good pictures until my camera charger returns.

2. Yesterday I went to the American Textile Museum with Angela - it was really great, I would definitely recommend it for people in the Lowell vicinity!

3. At said museum, I saw a bunch of amazing garments - they make me think of sweaters! Though I have to admit, I haven't made a sweater yet that I like...

4. There was also this, who is currently a prominent figure in my nightmares:

5. On top of the textiles, there was also some interesting Occupational Health stuff - of course, during the industrial revolution mills were pretty much the forefront of inhumane working conditions. So, that was fun to learn about!

6. After the museum, we stopped off at Michael's and I bought some sock yarn for W, among other things... I just love the colorway!

7. I have an ulcer, so Lilac gets to eat all the tasty food that I'm not supposed to eat (Spinach, Cabbage...) I made beets for dinner, and this happened:

I know it's kind of faded, but I washed the dickens out of them and they're still purple!

Hark! A Giveaway!

2011-07-08T19:22:00.000-07:00

To celebrate the opening of her new etsy shop, Angela from Revelations of a Delusional Knitter is hosting a really cool giveaway on her blog! Just make a blog post about the giveaway and you're entered, so why not check it out?

I was so busy oogling at the beautiful photos of yarn... I love the stormy sky fingering weight:

(Click on the photo to go to the listing - I borrowed it!)

But there's also a place in my heart for the revelations fingering weight... I don't have a lot of varigated yarn in le stash... but, there is a special place in my heart for it!

(Click on the photo to go to the listing - I borrowed it!)

Which one will I inevitably choose? How about you - which one would you choose out of all the yarns? I would love to discuss this :B

Click here for more details about the giveaway, and Click here to go to Angela's shop on Etsy!

Setbacks, Sidetracks!

2011-07-07T20:11:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a tough week in the room (which is my new nickname for my apartment here in NH :])

1. I lost my debit card, meaning I didn't get to buy my shiny nice things that I talked about in my last post.
2. W left!
3. I just found out that I made a simple mistake on my Pink Lemonade Socks and had to frog back the whole gusset!

But, on the bright side:
1. I got a new debit card, and the person who lifted it never got a chance to spend any of my money
2. I get to go on a me spree! I hope the bank isn't suspicious of me.
3. W was here at all - I really had a great weekend, it's just watching him go that put me in a funk
4. While W was here, he inspired me and helped me overcome problem I've been having on my DAL design!
5. I got a Wii Fit, which has helped raise my serotonin levels and, let's face it, it's impossible not to smile when you're pretending to hula hoop and a fluffy rabbit is running around you in circles.
6. I got a super nice blog award from Jordan of In It To Knit It :)

So, there, two nice things for every sad thing that's gotten me down!

Happy Birthday To Me!

2011-06-27T01:00:00.000-07:00

Well, today is my 21st birthday. As of this moment, my plans are:

Get my free Grand Slam at Denny's for breakfast
Get my free burger from Ruby Tuesday's for lunch (I'm in the birthday club :) )
After work, buy some booze and sit at home with Lilac, watching Hulu.
Maybe make birthday cupcakes if I have energy.

It's tough, having your first birthday far from home. My dad and brother came out, bringing all the stuff I left home, so that was a gift in itself! Extra clothes, towels, and now I can boil water, gee whizz! My mom also sent up my entire yarn stash, and a some succulents for my dark apartment.

She also sent a nice little pot for Lilac, which was happily devoured - she's now working on a basket. I'm thinking of buying some cat grass for her to munch on, but I don't know if she'll like it. I guess if she doesn't I can just put it out on my porch.

Anyway, like I said, it's kind of a bummer spending such a major birthday alone with no friends or family. So here's some pictures of Lilac.

"What's this, Slave?"

I call this one "SOON."

This one is just scary!

Tuckered out after a hyperactive bun run.

I got some nice presents, but mostly cards or money that I'm going to use to buy stuff I need. I have a short list of stuff I want, and I'm putting up here so I can remember... though I probably will never buy these things XD

(From top to bottom, left to right)

Garnet Mitts for the Summer Bead Along - I already have the yarn and beads! (Yes, I totally gave up on my bed design- that was SO doomed from the start!
A new battery charger for my camera... =__=
Marlene Socks. I HAD the issue of Knit.1 that these were in, but I lost it somehow. That was the most AMAZING issue of a magazine I'd every bought, with a ton of great patterns.
Blackbird Shawl. I just love it. I don't know what to say when I look at it.
Chameleon by Hansi Singh, to make for Stephanie, who lost her chameleon to kidney problems...
Crafty Detour's CSI Most wanted... honestly, I've been waiting to buy this!
A 65 pack of felt squares from Lupin Handmade - a great blog, and they sell rainbows!
This bag from Rue 21. It's the bag I've been looking for!
This shawl - though, the more I look at it, the more I think I could rig something up that was similar.

WWKIP Day and On (Finally!) Being Moved In.

2011-06-19T07:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the WWKIP event in Nashua, and so I went to the park and met lots of lovely knitters from the city - which was great, because I still don't know a terrible amount of people! I also finished two sunflowers for my DAL design - I'm leaning towards the smaller one, I think the larger one will be a good coaster for my tea pot.

Then, I went to Wal*mart to stock up on supplies (like a camera cable!) and buy a carpet that Lilac fell in love with. I think it might be the texture, but she likes to roll around it, dig at it, and get her paws up along the side and mark it with her chin!

I don't know if it's the addition of the rug or the fact that we've been here for two (2!) weeks, but I finally feel like I'm in MY apartment, not, say, sleeping in some stranger's guest room. I'm so happy that I got a studio instead of a one bedroom or a two bedroom (like my last co-op.) I could spend a whole blog post talking about that, but instead I'm going to show you pictures of my aptartment!

Tiny Kitchen

Not many people can pull off the "stuffed animals as throw pillows" look.

Organized chaos.


Lilac doesn't get to go outside, but she likes to listen to kids play in the picnic area.

Anyway, it's exciting to be working full time, and putting together my own furniture. I miss my friends and family (and knitting time) but, the experience so far has been worth it.

Restriction Lifted! Kind of...

2011-06-13T15:27:00.000-07:00

I'm finally allowed to knit again, albeit much, much less. Not being able to knit has been tough, but having an injured wrist at work has been waaay harder! Plus, when I'm home and Lilac is allowed to run, I'm too busy watching her.

Watching her sit on my pillow and lick it

Watching her chew on the novel I've been reading.

(I pick my battles. I own the novel it was ten cents. I do not own, say, the carpet or the tempting veneer on the cabinetry.)

I've managed to get kind of far on V.2 of the Pink Lemonade Socks. And, I ordered the yarn for my DAL project - I need to start VERY soon if I want to finish, considering it's going to be pretty expansive and if I don't improve, it's going to be slow knitting!

(P.S. - Sorry for the phone photos. W is coming up for the 4th and he's going to give me a spare cord.)

Summer Bead Along... Design!?

2011-06-09T15:32:00.000-07:00

My internet friend over at Revelations of a Delusional Knitter is hosting a Summer Bead-Along! I'm excited to participate, because I've never tried beading, so I signed up!

Then I started to look on ravelry for beaded knit patterns - easy stuff, that I could start out on. I found some, but they just didn't appeal to me. So, I started thinking, and doodling. I came up with this:

Haha, I know, nothing. When I doodle out designs in my notebook, I think at the same time. So, sometimes the result doesn't make any sense unless you're me. Of course, if I ended up not making any solid decisions, but if I did, I would have recorded them more dutifully. At first I thought I'd design some sort of lace shawl, but I couldn't think of what to do. Then I thought that I needed beads that were larger, both because of my eyes and because my hands will benefit from larger needles.

So, I decided to make a "beaded argyle bag" There will only be two colors, and the lines of the argyle will be beads :) I went out to the store to get supplies after work, and I found the perfect beads to match the yarn that my friend Kate gave me!

I'm slightly tempted to go off restriction a few hours early, since I really want to start this! Anyway, if you're interested, the along goes all summer, but you need to find a pattern by tomorrow! Click the picture below for more information! :)

Oh, also, my friend Kate gave me this doodad.

I think it's used to string beads onto work, but that's just because I have beads on the brain... am I channeling the Little Mermaid, or does this have some other use that I'm totally missing?

Reporting in From Planet Earth!

2011-06-07T16:08:00.000-07:00

The view from my patio

I haven't blogged much because of my move, but I have to say I feel pretty well settled in. Since I hurt my wrist last week spray painting patio furniture, I've been on knitting restriction until this Friday, which has been a real bummer until today, when the router arrived!

Lilac is also adjusting. She's on restriction, too, because she loves to bite plastic and my blinds are plastic. I'm also nervous she'll start marking - although she's still a baby. So, I watch her while she's outside her pen.

Exploring the mess.

There are a few key things that my Mom is supposed to bring up this or next weekend (I'm not sure.) The first is all my cooking supplies - pots, pans, etc. The second is my stash (I miss the yarn already!). I'm also hoping that in some of the boxes is my camera cord, because I've lost mine. Thus the shoddy photos you're getting.

This is pretty much my apartment. Well, the furniture in it anyway.

Just know that wherever you go, and whatever you do, somewhere out there a bunny disapproves of it!

There are days... and then there are DAYS.

2011-05-31T04:54:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, you feel like nothing is going right. You wake up on the wrong side of the bed, you stub your toe on the way to the shower, maybe nothing goes horrendously wrong but the sum of the parts doesn't exactly make a beautiful, sunshiney day.

Then, there are the days where everything goes right. You make new friends, you nap in the sun, you play in the pool. You spend most of your day knitting a sock.

And then, just as you're about to start the ribbing for the top of the leg, you go to try it on to show your grandmother how good it looks on your foot.

And it just doesn't fit.

And that is the moment, at a memorial day picnic, as you struggle to get the skinny sock leg over your bony little heel, when you realize that that whole good day was fate/God/someone upstairs softening the blow that this sock is not working for you.

And later, when the party is over, you frog back the sock all the way (even though you could have stopped at the toe, you just weren't paying attention.)

And the next morning, you cast on for it again, because it's only the right thing to do.

Free Pattern - The Pinwheel Square

2011-05-30T09:48:00.000-07:00

I'm in a group on Ravelry called KAL weekly square, and I'm the designer for the second square! Whoo hoo! After some trial and error, I made this baby! I'm pretty proud of it :) The goal of the group is to have a finished blanket by the end of the summer by making a different square each week. Designers can make an original square, or squares can be nominated that are already around. Anyway, this square can also be used as a dishcloth, potholder, plant coaster, etc. It's very fun and calming to make, and it's reversible - a must for my blanket!

It measures 10''x10'', and full instructions are after the jump.

Tools:

Needles: US 8

Yarn: Worsted Weight - I used about 1/2 a skein of Caron Simply Soft.

Tips:

To make sure you don't get an ugly ladder when switching from knit to purl stitches, pull the yarn tight when switching. If that doesn't work, try checking out this Ravelry article for a good tutorial on preventing ladders.

CO 4 stitches

Row 1: K2, PM, P2

Row 2: Sl 1, M1K, K1, Sl M, P1, M1P, P1

Row 3: K to marker, Sl M, P to end

Row 4: K1, M1K, K to marker, Sl M, P to last st, M1P, P.

Repeat Row 3 and 4 until you have 54 stitches - Work will measure 10 inches on either side of the triangle.

Decreasing:

Row 1: Sl 1, P to marker, Sl M, K to end.

Row 2: Sl 1, P2tog, P to marker, Sl M, K to last 3 sts, K2tog, K1.

Repeat rows 1 and 2 until you have 4 stitches left. BO.

Storm-zilla

2011-05-27T11:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon, a huge hailstorm flew through the neighborhood. It destroyed most of my seedlings and cut off the phone, Internet, and cable! The yard was littered with hailstones, almost as if someone had decided to dump a metric ton of ice across it.

I'm pretty young, and I've only seen hail once - that's right, once. That hail was about the size of small peas. This was MUCH bigger. It was pretty cool to see the wet growth and dry growth of the hailstones - it was like seeing sixth grade weather science in action!

Then, power got cut off after a massive storm that lasted from 8 PM until around 9:30. The lightning was beautiful, branching across the sky, and it was very eerie watching the clouds roll in. My parents are blessed that they chose to live in a naturally disaster-free area - the rolling hills prevent tornadoes from forming, there are measures in place to prevent flooding, and there are naturally no earthquakes or hurricanes, so we may not see a storm like this for another ten years.

It's too bad about my seedlings, though! I managed to save my big tray of veggies, but my cosmos took a beating an my alyssum plants are nothing but a puddle - hopefully some the seeds survived to grow where they washed away too!

I also started a new sock - back to toe-up, of course. This pattern is my own design :) It's just an alternating row of mock-cables, and it's really easy to memorize and knit up. When I put the socks on, the cables remind me of little pink lemons!

Like the mug? It was under the sink when my mom moved in - I may have to steal it!

Socks Afire!

2011-05-24T08:27:00.000-07:00

I finally had a spare moment to dig out my yarn needle and finish up these socks! I was ready to stitch the toes shut after riding shotgun to NH and back this weekend to look at apartments.

Jazz!

Pattern: Pomatomus by Cookie A.

Yarn: On Your Toes Sock Yarn

Pattern Modifications: Did only two pattern repeats before the heel flap to make the leg shorter - I think they make my feet seem kinda stubby, but they are SOO comfy!

I love these socks so much more than the Jaywalker socks I finished before. I may be converted to the top-down sock camp - I didn't have to worry about a too-tight cuff cutting off the circulation to a perfectly good sock. While I still wear the Jaywalkers once and awhile, I will wear these WAY more! And, I love the pattern. I want to make a sweater for myself in this pattern! :B Of maybe a stole? So many possibilities.

Mood Boards for the First Round of DAL

2011-05-23T10:10:00.000-07:00

Click on each photo for a larger image!

Thanks so everyone who participated and gave a photo to add! For those of you who are new to this thing I've been posting about, the idea is that you design an item based on this mood board. If you post up your sketch on your blog (and email me that you do) or on the Ravelry Group AND have a completely finished design for sale or free by August 25th, 2011. Each design will be entered into a drawing, and there will be prizes - I should have that all figured out by August 1st.

Thanks again to everyone that put up a picture! (In no particular order):

Rebecca from The Sculpted Stitch

Linda from Tiny Knit

Melissa from Melissa J Leavitt Designs

Ryan from Joe d'Arc Crochet

Rachael from Rachael's Knits

Meg from Fuzz to Finish

Mary from By Hand, With Heart

Angela from Revelations of A Delusional Knitter

Annette from Knotrune

Jordan from In It To Knit It

Toby from Gizmometer

Sherry from A Written Life

Sarah from Apply Blossom & More

And everyone else who I couldn't ~~stalk~~ find the blog address of!

DAL Mood Board submissions are done tomorrow!

2011-05-21T15:56:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! Just a head's up if you want to contribute to Design Along, the mood board submissions are due tomorrow. You can submit a photo on the thread in the Rav group or by emailing me. I'm going to post the mood boards up late tonight/early Monday morning, and then the floor is open to submit designs! The design can be for free, for sale, or for submission - the only requirements are that you post up a photo/scan of the sketch, a photo of the FO, and a link to the pattern on Ravelry. Once you do, you're entered into a prize and I'll put a roundup of all the designs and posts up here :)

To entice you, here are some pictures that have gone up on the group that I find inspiring!

P.S. - If you post up your design ideas in your blog, leave a comment saying so here and I'll follow you - just make sure to tag your posts "DAL" - in case I get behind :P

The World Needs More Knitted Hedghogs

2011-05-17T18:33:00.000-07:00

This post is brought to you by the Hampton Inn, where I'm staying while traveling for work. I'm really tired but I thought I'd finally blog about this, because I've been keeping him in my bag to give me a smile every now and then!

I took these pictures last week, when it was sunny and nice out - can you tell? Can we get back to that, please! It seems like the whole Northeast is covered with a cloud.

Anyway, I was thinking of making a few of these in different colors and selling them on Artfire. Or just keeping them as my hoarde of hedgehogs! (I'm just kidding - a group of hedgehogs is called an array.)

I have the notes for him written up, but I'm thinking of having it tested and selling the pattern - but there are so many free hedgehog patterns out there that do really well, so there's a lot of competition! Maybe free for now?

A Little Color In Rochester

2011-05-15T09:35:00.000-07:00

First off, the theme for the Design Along is Garden! So, get on down to this thread and post a photo for the mood board by next Sunday if you want to contribute - it should be a lot of fun.

And speaking of fun (and gardens) - the Lilac festival is in full bloom (excuse the pun) and yesterday W and I braved the rain to go on a triple date and see some of the gorgeous flowers. Last year, the festival was kind of a downer because warm weather had brought the flowers weeks before, so all we got to view were the remnants of flowers! But this year, some of the blooms had only just begun to open. If we can overcome this gloomy, rainy weather then things will be gorgeous - of course, I will have moved out by then :(

But here are some photos anyway :)

I love looking at all the different flowers - especially the darker lilacs and the compound ones (like the photo directly above). They don't really look like what you would think a "Lilac" is, do they?

On top of the gorgeous flowers, it is a festival - with food, vendors, and food!

We ate freshly made crepes, limeade, and a turkey leg! There's nothing like sitting under a tree on a rainy day with the one you love, eating a giant smoked turkey leg together (tasty, but not my idea of romance!) Even so, it's more romantic than this:

The sign says "Roast Beef Sunday" - I know it's a little dark, it was in the food tent, which has the ambience of a dark bar but only serves a small amount of alcohol and there are way more strollers. But something very romantic did happen...

W bought me this.

We were at the 4H tent, which was a combination candy sale and petting zoo (hey, what works, right?) and I was squealing over the lionhead rabbits that were there. A little boy told me that they were for sale - $10. Warren bought her without even batting an eye! It was very spontaneous, and she is the most adorable princess bunny.

Apparently they were a 4H project, and the parents of the kids only wanted to keep one. So, Lilac came home with us. We are now a family of 4!

Design-a-long!

2011-05-13T15:41:00.000-07:00

A while back I had this super cool idea - to have something like a knit-a-long (KAL) but based around design! I started a thread in the Budding Designers Group on Ravelry, and the DAL - Design-A-Long was born!

Here's the premise: Four times a year, I'll post a theme up here and on Ravelry. If you want to participate, you sign up here or on Ravelry, and post a picture that is related to the theme that inspires you. After one week, the pictures are compiled and I'll post up a mood board - from that mood board, participants each design and knit an original piece.

The ultimate goal of this is to give new designers a body of work and get used to the design process, and to flex the creativity of established designers. Unlike other challenges out there, the timeline is a longer one, which means that your work can be as big as you want.

Anyway, if you're interested, drop me a line and check out the group on Ravelry! I'm trying to figure out how to make a button do-hickey thing... and writing the rules.

Also, you can vote for the upcoming theme in this thread.

I'm going to compile a list of participants and try to figure out prizes, graphics, etc. If anyone wants to donate prizes let me know!

My latest FO! Yay?

2011-05-10T08:09:00.000-07:00

I finished my psuedo-mystery project last night, but I'm not very happy with him. In fact, I'm kind of creeped out.

Is that the point, you may ask? Uh, well, I guess. It's supposed to be Pedobear. I'm thinking of burning him - it's better than having him stare at me all day. W has offered to take him (like he takes all of my misfit toys.)

Just goes to show what bad embroidery can do, I guess.

May TUSAL

2011-05-03T10:46:00.000-07:00

Whoops. I forgot to post April's post! No prizes for me - oh well. Maybe extenuating circumstances will allow me to not count that new moon, since I was pretty sick.

I expect my jar to grow quite a bit this month, since I want to finish a few projects but I'm also cleaning out my apartment before the move, and will doubtless find lots of little ORTs to plop in the jar.

The Clock is Winding Down...

2011-05-01T15:53:00.000-07:00

I'm a little freaked out that I have a little more than two weeks before I'm outta here, and trying to find an apartment in my new temporary home. It's very crazy, and I've got a lot of things on my checklist before I move out... besides the regular, school stuff I'm trying to finish up all the food we have in the pantry, and of course, knitting goals.

Number one is the moose puppet for W. I have a sinking feeling if this isn't done... it will never get done! It will be hard to work together when we're so far apart!

Second is to write up and compile my notes for the Cat Bus. I barely have them all in one place, and I feel like they're another project that won't survive the move - something will get shuffled around, or misplaced, or accidentally thrown out.

In the spirit of all that makes sense, I've simultaneously cast on two new projects. One is a doll that's lying in pieces on my counter - It'll be a free pattern, and I'm a little nervous about releasing it. Well, you'll see.

And the other is an Estonian lace shawl... ette? I haven't decided yet. I saw a gorgeous pattern on the internet, and decided I wanted half of one. So this project was conceived... not sure how well it will go, especially considering there's a crochet edging *gulp*. I'm sure I can design it out.

Anyway, that's what I'm up to... how about you?

Now THIS is Weather!

2011-04-27T15:50:00.000-07:00

Today was balmy, warm, and gorgeous. I spent my break between classes sitting on a comfy couch and eating crummy Mexican food, then I finished this...

... and started this.

Does anyone else hate that time in between socks? I always try to cast on for the next sock when I finish the first... if I'm not doing two-at-a-time to avoid this madness all together.

Oh, and what's that? Can you see it!?!

Flowers! Horray!

This nice weather lasted for the day... right now, it's pouring and we have a tornado watch. Yesterday? Rain. Tomorrow? Rain. I love listening to the sound of rain come through the open window, while I snuggle in a quilt and drink cocoa :)

Hope You Had a Great Easter!

2011-04-25T16:35:00.000-07:00

And, if you don't do that sort of thing, a good weekend in general.

W and I spent most of Easter hunting for our eggs on his sister's property this year - thankfully, it was only about an hour and 45 minutes in the cold rain and mud. Who started this tradition, anyway!?

We also got to meet Booker T, the cutest puppy ever. I never thought I could like a dog, but I love Pugs.

Speaking of cute, we got to see our nephew! He's the recipient of the sweater I made a while back, though it's still a little small.

On a knitting note, I decided that my punishment for going a month without releasing a design was that I had to submit to a call on Ravelry. So, today I did! I hope it gets accepted, but if not, the pattern is pretty much written - all I need is yarn support, so I could easily submit it somewhere else, or, spend the thirty bucks on yarn and self publish it.

New Free Pattern: Blueberry Chocolate Wrist Warmers

2011-04-18T18:48:00.000-07:00

This weekend, I just felt like making something easy! So, I took a few minutes and whipped up this.

I used some leftover yarn from different projects, and I only ended up using about 75 yards total - and that's a conservative estimate. They're very snug fitting, and can be easily modified by adding stitches two at a time!

I'm going to try to find someone to wear them, because my curse set in with this - the cuff is too tight, and the whole thing stretches just enough to irritate my perfectionism. Who has wrists smaller than me?

Anyway, I think I may be on a roll again! 11 Designs in 2011? I might be able to do that.

As always, this is a free download from Ravelry, but please don't pass of my work as your own, and don't sell my work as if it's your own!

Just click the link below to download it!

download now

Keep breathing - HA!

2011-04-17T08:59:00.000-07:00

It's kind of surreal: in about five weeks, I'm going to be living 6 hours away. Not that I have time to pack, I'm inundated with schoolwork, paid work, and sleeping.

I frogged back my interlocking leaves socks and started on a Pomatomus socks - I love the pattern, but I've been struck by an unforeseen hitch in my work.

My needle snapped. I tried to tape it, but it's bamboo, and it just won't stick together. *dramatic sigh*

Work on my moose has been halted for a while, now. W wants to fill the frame out with foam, which annoys me a little. It would be so much easier to have the frame first, and then knit to that shape - and, after I leave for New Hampshire, how am I going to finish this? I can't.

Plus, I'd like to have the needles back to do other toys!

Anyway, knitting progress has gone very slow, and I haven't really done any cooking or crafting that is otherwise impressive. I haven't even planted any seeds - I figure it would be cruel bringing them into the world when I don't know if they'll have a balcony or windowsill to rest on. My mint hasn't come up, either.

Urgh.

2011-04-12T09:58:00.000-07:00

Things have not been going my way. I have been stressed out, sleepless, sick, and I just found out that I owe the government $2,500 because my father claimed me as a dependent.

So, yeah, things are a bit down at camp Alyssa. I went through the pantry today to figure out how long we can go without buying food (you know you have it bad when...).

2CKBWDAY5 - And now for something completely different

2011-04-01T08:44:00.000-07:00

(Sorry I was gone yesterday - I started antibiotics on Weds. and it really hit me hard. I'm feeling much better now, though.)

2KCBWDAY3 - Stash Organization

2011-03-30T19:21:00.000-07:00

How do you keep your yarn wrangling organised? It seems like an easy to answer question at first, but in fact organisation exists on many levels. Maybe you are truly not organised at all, in which case I am personally daring you to try and photograph your stash in whatever locations you can find the individual skeins. However, if you are organised, blog about an aspect of that organisation process, whether that be a particularly neat and tidy knitting bag, a decorative display of your crochet hooks, your organised stash or your project and stash pages on Ravelry.

Living in a small space, I don't have the luxury of the awesome crafting studios and cupboards I've seen today from other bloggers. Nope. My stash is in a tupperware in my closet.

There are a few skeins around the house, but unless it's on the needles, it's probably in this box. I like to keep things neat. A few years ago, I heard horror stories about moths, and a girl at club had a bedbug infestation and we lost all of our charity yarn - so, now, I keep all my "nice" yarn sealed up in ziploc bags. Yarn for specific projects is tied up in plastic bags. Cheap charity yarn/acrylic goes in a shopping bag all in a jumble.

To organize projects, I mostly use Ravelry and this blog to keep things sane. I don't normally work on more than two or three projects at a time, so that kind of stuff isn't that hard. I really love the queue and the stash organizer on Rav - I use them obsessively to plan out projects, see if I have enough yarn, etc.

Oh, and another thing. I have a secret stash of yarn.

Hehe. Don't tell W!

2KCBWDAY2 - Gettin' Skillz

2011-03-29T19:29:00.000-07:00

Look back over your last year of projects and compare where you are in terms of skill and knowledge of your craft to this time last year. Have you learned any new skills or forms of knitting/crochet (can you crochet cable stitches now where you didn’t even know such things existed last year? Have you recently put a foot in the tiled world of entrelac? Had you even picked up a pair of needles or crochet hook this time last year?

I have been knitting half my life. Yes, that's totally strange to me! I haven't done anything as much as I've knit - except maybe eat, sleep, breathe, or read. I'm at the point where I'm really happy with my skills, but there are a few milestones that I see that I've met looking back last year.

My first published, for-sale pattern
My first lace shawl
My first FO for myself!

That third one is the best one! As far as knitting skills, there's nothing I really want to master - I've done pretty much everything. Entrelac? Socks? Lace? I feel like I'm on a high mountain of knitting mastery. And the things I haven't mastered like spinning and crochet, I don't really want to learn!

For the next year, I think I'll try to fit in a lace shawlette with cobweb lace, and maybe some dyeing - but no hurry. I just want to enjoy the ride and knit what I feel like. If I need to learn a new technique, by George, I'll just do it.

KCBW2 - Day One

2011-03-28T08:27:00.000-07:00

I'm super excited to participate in the 2nd Annual Knitting and Crochet Blog week! Today's theme is "A Tale of Two Yarns:"

Part of any fibre enthusiast’s hobby is an appreciation of yarn. Choose two yarns that you have either used, are in your stash or which you yearn after and capture what it is you love or loathe about them.

My two yarns today are both part of a mystery! For one the mystery is solved, and for the other the case file is still open.

Maybe I need to give a bit more back story. My stash is pretty much all over the place, with yarns that I need to figure out a use for sitting out on the counter, or on my desk, or on the back of the toilet. This yarn has been on my desk for the past eight months, since I got it at a festival:

I blogged about this gorgeous skein from Black Creek Farms on my old blog, here. It the most beautiful, saintly yarn, but it only comes in 100 yards! And, I didn't want to make some doll or a baby item because... why would you use luxury alpaca for something like that? It just seems impractical to me.

Well, I got a great tip from someone on Rav - make a faux-lacey cowl. Cast on with large needles, and just knit in garter stith until there's no more yarn. What an awesome idea!! It will look great with the hat I just finished:

Which leads me to my next yarn... I thought I could make two tams out of this yarn (one for my mom and another for me) but it turns out I only have 36 g left... so, what to do!?

Hopefully I'll eventually be able to solve this mystery, too. It's a worsted weight yarn, so I could always pair it with others in my stash and make some gloves, or incorporate it as color work into a future project...

NaKniLaMo?

2011-03-23T16:10:00.000-07:00

In the middle of NaNoWriMo, I noticed a group had started on Ravelry dedicated to knitting lace during the month of March - NaKniLaMo. I thought it was an awesome idea, joined, and cast on earlier this month to make my first shawlette.

I dunno about anyone else in the group, but I've been the only person to post in it. Regardless, I finished the shawlette on Monday. And I love it. Really, truly, deeply.

The pattern is Bitterroot by Romi Hill, from the Winter 2009 Knitty. I used yarn that Ash got me for Christmas in 2008, and I absolutely love it. It's Knitpicks Kettle Dyed sock yarn, in a very bright yellow that just seems to brighten every outfit. They don't carry it anymore on their website :(

Anyway, even though I don't know of anyone else that knit lace in March, for the KAL, I thought it was super fun. I'm really happy with the result and want to make more!

One thing that surprised me was how big the finished product was - here's a picture of it on the back of my couch. Hard to believe that all those stitches fit on my 14'' circulars o_o;

My favorite part of the pattern? The last four rows. The lace between the leave motifs looks crocheted! when I took it to club, everyone was asking me how I made the edging. I felt very smug and smart!

For my next lace shawl, I definitely will use some sort of wire (maybe armature wire or a coat hanger) because the pins were so painful to do! I hate pinning things, and if I were to use wires I could hang the shawl up on a wall and not have to worry about people stepping on it as it blocks on the carpet.

Now that I have my shiny shawl, my next question is - how do I store it? When I'm in the shower or sleeping, I'm not wearing it, so do I hang it up on a hanger? Fold it on a desk? Right now, I've been draping it over my couch :)

Perpetuating a Stereotype

2011-03-21T11:57:00.000-07:00

I like Charlotte Russe. Really, I do. Enough to get their emails every day, and, once in a while, look at their gorgeous clothes. Today I found this.

Here's a picture:

And another picture:

Do you see what I see?

This "crocheted" wrap is obviously knit. It's enough to make me write a strongly-worded email. Crochet is not knitting. Knitting is not crochet. They are two. Different. Crafts.

What's worse is people just don't understand my angst. I understand, if you do neither it may not seem like a big deal. But to me, semantics is an incredibly important aspect of intelligence. It just seems like an incredibly 'DERP' moment.

(Note: I do not own these images, nor am I claiming ownership in publishing them here.)

Lost, then Found

2011-03-15T18:46:00.000-07:00

A while back I whined about losing my mitten - they were given to me by my mom two years ago, and I was so proud of not losing one... until earlier last quarter.

Good news, though! I found it in the parking lot by my apartment! You can tell that one has travelled a bit more than the other (that would be lefty) but I'm sure after a few more cycles through the wash you won't see a difference.

Just a little thing to brighten my rather irritating week.

Late > Never

2011-03-06T16:19:00.000-08:00

So, I know it's a few days late, but can you blame me? I was away from my TUSAL jar, but now I'm back and ready to start a new quarter!

I have all those baby hats to thank for the influx of ORTs.

In Like a Lion...

2011-03-02T19:20:00.000-08:00

Well, I missed my own goal to publish a pattern each month thanks to a horrible flu, exams, and starting a new job. But I promise, I have a very good one (and a cute one for March, too)

The sad but true story is I may not design at all anymore, because I will be starting this job in May and it is very demanding. All I can say is - if you know someone who wants a career, they should definitely look into EHS because there are great jobs. :) I've gotten quite a few job offers in the past few weeks, and this one is very exciting.

So, it's not really an end. Just putting my dreams of being a full time designer on the sidelines. Maybe permanently, maybe not, because you never know. I will still blog (probably more often, since working takes considerably less time than school) just maybe more simple projects, maybe going back to one at a time.

But anyway, thanks all for your support - sorry I haven't really read or commented on any of my friends' blogs in over a week! Life has been strange and beautiful.

Glee-Inspired Knitting: Carousel Sweater

2011-02-17T09:29:00.000-08:00

I'm going to admit something to you. I love Glee. I don't know if it's the music, the endearing characters... no, I do know. It's the snark. I love the witty comebacks and snide comments that just aren't in a lot of TV shows.

Anyway, W and I make it a point to watch Glee on Hulu every week. Alone. In a locked room. Where we know people won't judge us.

And during this week's episode, "Comeback," I laughed so much at the clothing drama. I've always teased Rachel Berry, and seeing all of the girls in those carousel sweaters just made me laugh!

“I mean, my carousel horse sweater should make me look like an institutionalized toddler but no – I look hot and smart. I feel like Michelle Obama.”

So, I spent five minutes in Excel and made this. It's a carousel sweater intarsia chart. Feel free to either laugh at me, wonder why I'm not doing the mountain of homework I need to start, or thank me.

For best results, plop it front and center in the middle of simple top-down raglan pullover. If you hurry, maybe you can finish it before the joke is lost on anyone.

The pattern is available as a free Ravelry Download, if you don't have a Ravelry account, click here to download the chart: download now

The Sun Sets on a Project

2011-02-17T07:08:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, I sent W a text with this picture:

I finished his socks! Of course, he didn't come home until after I went to bed, and then yesterday, I didn't see him until late last night... But I managed to get his picture.

He's pretty busy working on finishing his 2-Quarter... and I should probably be working on the papers I have to write. But, I've already started another pair of socks:

The yarn is On Your Toes, purchased at the Yarn Boutique in the city. It's so gorgeous and soft! These are definitely going to be me socks :)

I've almost reached my limit on baby hats and kitty blankets. After the Hooks and Needles party on Friday, I'm probably going to spend the rest of break knitting these socks for myself :)

And, check out the gorgeous sunset yesterday:

Lots and Lots of Wittle Hats

2011-02-11T17:07:00.000-08:00

So, my go-to project this quarter has been these baby hats! I feel like I've knit more than anyone in club (and I have...) Right now, the box is living at my house.

I just love them! I hope they all find good little heads to keep warm. They are so quick to make, I can finish one in an hour.

So, I've been doing one a day for a while. My goal this quarter was to make one every club session, but that hasn't worked out - so I'm going for twenty.

I plan to release the pattern I use, since I improvised it. It's knit on size 8 needles, flat, then sewn up.

Looking at them possesses you. You speak in babytalk! "Ohhh, look at the itty bitty pompoms! Squee!"

Easiest-Ever Nutella Mousse

2011-02-05T14:07:00.000-08:00

Happy World Nutella Day Everyone!

For those unaware, Nutella is a super-delicious chocolate hazelnut spread. World Nutella Day was started in 2007 by Sara from Ms. Adventures in Italy and Michelle from Bleeding Espresso

and has grown to be a huge event in the past few years. I'm excited to participate this year!

In celebration I'm sharing my really easy, really tasty recipie for mousse. It only has three ingredients, and doesn't require any boiling, whipping... etc, etc. It took me longer to type this post out than it takes to make it - no lie!

The full recipe is after the jump, and if you want to participate today, just follow the directions here!

Easiest-Ever Nutella Mousse

Ingredients:

1 cup of Cool Whip

1 tablespoon of Nutella

1 tablespoon of Chocolate Syrup

Mix ingredients together in a bowl.

That's it! Spoon the mixture into bowls and top with a little bit of syrup, fruit, crunchy cookies... whatever you feel like.

It's best if the Nutella is room-temperature. You can also chill the mousse in your fridge for after dinner... just be careful it doesn't "go missing." ;)

This recipe makes two 1/2-cup servings. Trust me, a half a cup is more than enough of this stuff. It's very rich, so try not to gorge on it... you could make yourself sick.

But, for the record, a tub of cool whip is 2 and a half cups :)

February TUSAL Update

2011-02-04T07:43:00.000-08:00

Ha, I'm such a spaz! I took the picture for this post yesterday, intending to post it, but then I got wrapped up in homework. (Insert a collective sigh.) For those of you that have been wondering what I've been up to, it's pretty much that. I have made little progress on anything, but that's the subject of another post entirely. This post is about ORTs.

January has seen a lot of little scraps. The small, bright bits are scraps from the baby hats I've been working on. They're so rewarding, they're the perfect stress knit - only an hour, so I don't feel guilty for squeezing one in here or there. And some have pom poms, which is yarn scraps galore!

I also have some threads from my quilting/sewing binge. Sadly, I haven't picked up the quilting since, but I'm due to do some cutting today after I finish a quiz, go to a student summit, cook dinner, clean Lotus's cage, write the rough draft of my term paper... URG. I'm going to stop now.

How To: Lacey Tea Towel

2011-01-27T10:00:00.000-08:00

I feel kind of guilty tagging this as a "tutorial" because it was so quick and easy! My dad gave me some tea towels (because well, you really can't have too many tea towels) and I decided to give it a bit of girly flair. I was inspired by towels that I saw at W's mom's house, and I thought "Wow, how easy would that be to make...!?" Plus, it can cover up tears, stains, or scorch marks when you leave your tea towel under your electric kettle and nearly set the fire alarm off and have to run the towel outside and wave it around in the snow...

Oh, is that just me? Anyway, all you need is a towel, some lace (I bought a spool of lace for about a dollar at Wal*mart ages ago: no idea why.) and needle and thread or a sewing machine.

Sew the lace in rows into the towel. For best results, pin the rows a little less apart than the width of your lace.

I wish I had some ribbon to finish this off! I think it would also look good mixing different types of lace, or maybe just add a lace edging along the very edge? So many possibilities! And I still have a whole spool of lace left! I wish I more tea towels.

Giving in to Temptation!

2011-01-26T20:10:00.000-08:00

Today I woke up. I worked for two hours. Then, I researched stuff so boring that it's not even fun to blog about. Then I wrote a paper. Then I went to class. Then, more research and homework. Then, class again. Then dinner.

When W left to shoot his two-quarter, I told myself I would get a head start on the weekend's homework (Why do teachers like to make assignments due on the weekend? Do they think we don't have anything better to do?)... and as I sat down at my desk, my knees bumped against a box.

It was the Singer Simple that I got for Christmas. Why hadn't I opened it yet? Oh, right, school.

I figured I had done a good job today. I should treat myself.

I unboxed the machine, ooh-ed and ahh-ed at the automatic threader, sewed some scraps of fabric, sewed up some seams I needed to mend, sewed up a little tutorial for tomorrow... and then...

Well, then I ran out of things to sew. My eye lingered on my bag of quilting stuff. I HAD SAID that I wanted to cut all the pieces first, then sew, but did I really?

No, not at all.

So, there's four squares and the center of a flower done! I'm proud that I managed to line up the diamond pretty well, and proud that I remembered to iron (almost) all the seams flat, but I'm a little disappointed at the fabric choice.

You can't even see my seams! Hopefully it'll look more like a flower when the side petals are on!

But anyway, that was my evening - see you tomorrow for a sweet, quick tutorial.

P.S. - If you think I'm some sort of quilting prodigy, here's my four squares before I sewed them. Hopefully I'll get better at this whole "cutting pieces the same size" thing.

One Down, One to Go!

2011-01-25T09:02:00.000-08:00

Last night I finished 50% of W's socks. I'm pretty proud to have finished one so quickly, especially with all the other WIPs I have going on right now. (So... Many...)

Anyway, for posterity, I feel like I should write down what I did. I don't feel like anyone else will want to know my particular manly sock formula, but I need to know it, to make the second sock!

So, here's the knit code:

72 Stitches. Work in a 3x3 rib for 11 rounds. Work half a round, then start heel flap over 50% of the stitches. Heel flap is 23 rows long, with a slipped stitch edge. Heel is a half kercheif heel with 7 stitches in the middle. Pick up 15 stitches from either side of the heel flap. Decrease 7 times on each side for the gusset. Should be back to 72 stitches. Work 12 cm, then decrease four stitches every other round until there are 26 stitches. Kitchner off.

Free Pattern: Slouchy Ridges Hat

2011-01-23T12:53:00.000-08:00

It is finished! It, being me. I'm finished compiling data from my awesome testers, sifting through photos of my sorry mug, tweaking pixels on the PDF... and now, I present my first pattern of 2011.

Pattern Name: Slouchy Ridges Hat

Difficulty: Easy

Yardage: 200 yards

Techniques: Knitting in the round, Working stripes (if you want a multicolored hat), and another technique explained in the pattern.

My goal this year is to publish 11 patterns. The ones I self-publish will be free all year long, and on January first of 2012 they'll go up for sale, so download this one while you can!

What I like about this hat is that it's stockinette stitch in the round, making it a good zone-out project, but every so often there's the pick-up round, where you have to pay attention. It's hard to find knitting projects that have that duality.

Anyway, I hope you like it, too! You can download your own free copy here: download now

Dumb Moves!

2011-01-20T14:52:00.000-08:00

So, I mentioned in my last post that I'm making my brother a Jaques Cousteau hat. Here's a picture of what I have so far.

Notice anything off?

The hat pattern calls for a K3 P2 rib.

My hat? It's worked in a K3 P3 rib. I have no idea why! How could I miss something so obvious!?

Anyway, I'm thinking of just rolling with it. I want to finish the hat before I go home next Friday, because then I can give it to him.

But let me tell you, it was so hard to resist the urge to just tear it all out! 4 inches in, I think I just need to deal with it, haha!

Stritting

2011-01-18T13:55:00.000-08:00

I have been stressed. Let's not mince words, life has been on edge as of recently. My new bank card hasn't come in the mail yet, so I'm forced to wait to cash back pay from last year and Christmas checks. I had a test today, I've got a presentation tomorrow, and I still don't quite know how I'm going to bang out that term paper due in four weeks. Homework for class A doesn't make any sense, I have to unload the dishwasher, and there's a pile of laundry in the corner of my room that won't wash itself.

So, my knitting has been blah. I started this sock for W over the weekend, when the needles I was knitting Zucchi's sweater on broke:

The yarn is from the take and replace swap, just a simple stockinette sock with a kercheif heel.

And last night, I started a Jaques Cousteau Hat for my brother.

The pluses of these projects is that they're easy to do. I can knit while I read, and in class, which helps me focus and worry less. It's nice to have some easy projects once in a while, ones that I don't need a pattern for or whose pattern is just tres simple.

Socks All for Me!

2011-01-15T15:42:00.000-08:00

Last night I finished my two socks.

I tried the first on. It was heaven. It was orgasmic. I will never knit anything but socks again, until I can assure my feet will always be covered by socks as comfortable and squishy as these comfortable, squishy socks.

The second one...

I was not so lucky.

I don't know what went wrong. I pulled, I tugged, I cried and prayed. I felt like Cinderella's ugly step sister, desperately wanting the glass slipper to fit on my feet so I could go back to the prince's castle and live happily ever after. No dice. This sock was NOT coming on.

So, another knitting mystery to solve. The socks were the same stitches, same width and length, same gauge. I washed the good sock and pressed it flat to block (or something like it, I don't have sock blockers.)

And the other was punished severely.

Then, I went on a road trip, ate Stewart's Ice Cream for the first time, came home, and tried my socks on.

Apparently the bad sock learned its lesson in time out, because it slipped on. It looks a little baggy, though, but oh well. Viva la new socks!

Oh, and thanks a lot to Kathy and Emily for helping me solve my yarn mystery! I couldn't reply to your comment via email, so I thought I'd call you out in a post :)

Special Delivery!

2011-01-14T10:49:00.000-08:00

Today at lunch I picked up a lovely little present from the Take and Replace Swap on Irish Eyes! There were so many nice things, but I took out these:

A skein of sock yarn and a wristlet. Perfect since my old one (from my wrist troubles two years ago) was starting to get icky and smelly, and this yarn will be great for new socks for W! I loved everything in the box, and I hope the person I'm sending it to likes the stuff I put in!

Anyway, I don't get out of work until after the post office closes, but I will mail the box to the next person tomorrow :)

Oh and I've encountered a bit of a mystery:

This was in the middle of the skein of sock yarn! What is it? Thread? It's not more yarn, that's for sure. There's still 100g in the skein (well, 94 g...) but... it's just weird. I want to know what it is! :D

Oh, and no quilting tonight - I'm driving across the state on a mission to rescue some cats. But I should have a nice FO (or two) tomorrow.

Another collaboration finished - kind of

2011-01-12T17:16:00.000-08:00

Once again, I find myself doing work for stop mo - this time with W. And instead of knitting a baby hat at club (shame!) I made this:

Yes, it's a wee little Thorpe for a puppet! I got to put it on him and do my homework with him tanding by my teapot.

Tonight he gets his legs tuned up, his mittens on, and later on this weekend he will become a movie star! I'll make sure to post in the next 5-6 weeks, when the film is completed and up online.

I also got a belated Christmas gift from my friend at Hooks and Needles! Stitch markers!

I love the presentation! :) She doesn't make them professionally, but I think she should - they're gorgeous.

Oh Happy Day!

2011-01-09T11:18:00.000-08:00

Today is Ash's birthday, and I made her some smiley twenty-first birthday cookies.

And also, I got a very nice blog review from Tays Blog, 4.5 out of 5 stars! How nice, you can read the review here.

Strides in Quilting

2011-01-07T17:23:00.000-08:00

I worked for six hours today, then spent two hours sewing. While it doesn't feel like I've accomplished much, I have hit two milestones today.

First, I finished cutting the 40 edge pieces! I realize that I will probably need to go and find more fabric (Maybe twice as much, since I want to use this color for the back.)

Then, I finished cutting the pieces for my first flower! Yup, this is flower one of 25.

This quilt is going to be HUGE. Really, really big - but that's good, right?

I started cutting the pieces for the second flower, but my hands started to to hurt. The rotary cutter is not so good for your wrists, I guess.

Now I'm off to eat veggie lasagna and perhaps some bananas foster afterwards :) I've done so much today, it feel great!

First FO of the New Year, and Start of the Baby Hat Parade

2011-01-05T11:00:00.000-08:00

It's Hooks and Needles tradition: the annual baby hat drive! I made my first hat this year, based on Algerian Action's Sweet. I cast on 40 stitches using size 6 needles, and worked the pattern as best as I could (ha ha). The hat might be a little small - the norm is 50 stitches on size 5 - but it looks like it will stretch to fit. The only other change to the pattern I made was I only knit in stockinette for 4 rows, so, it's definitely smaller than it's supposed to be :)

I knit this with yarn donated to me from a friend of a friend, whose mother passed away. I have about 5 skeins of Lion Brand Wool-Ease in a sunny yellow, and I'm thinking about making a sweater with it. Or more baby hats! :)

My goal this quarter is to make one baby hat every club meeting - so, two a week for the next 6 weeks. If I just make plain stockinette stitch hats, I'll be able to churn out four a week- they really don't take much time at all to do!

Facepalm

2011-01-04T19:27:00.000-08:00

I am so silly! I almost forgot to make my new moon TUSAL post! Thankfully I saw Dee's post here and remembered, thanks Dee :) Hopefully I won't forget next month! Enter a photo snapped in Photobooth:

So what in my jar? The ends from Christmas projects, and a bit of yarn from the mittens I made for W's puppet. I hope to add the threads from quilting, but I haven't even gotten the machine out! :( Vowing to cut all the pieces first is a hard promise to keep!

New Year, New Design

2011-01-04T13:37:00.000-08:00

All crafters get requests from friends and families, but knitters more so. Whether it's a hat for a sibling, mittens for a guy on a bus, or dolls for who knows who, I've done a ton of knitting for others (all of my knitting). Last year, I even got a request to make someone a mer-horse.

Usually, when someone asks me to make them something, I assume they're serious. I ask for measurements, yarn support, what color they want, and if they want to pay me (usually all I ask is that the person buy yarn before the project, and after the project they can "tip" however much they want.) I admit, not a sensible business model but I'm not in the knitting business.

I've had requests for gloves, hats, and even a Barbie sweater "of the finest silk." Often, after the serious talk starts, the person blinks, suprised, asks "You'll seriously do it?" and then needs some "time to think." Usually I don't hear back from them, the subject is dropped, and they never mention it. But this time that didn't happen.

My friend asked me to knit her cat a sweater. Now, my cat experience has told me that cats might not like sweaters, but this cat does. Zucchi loves wearing her sweater, and by golly, if she wants to wear sweaters I should provide a variety for her. What are friends for?

So tonight at club I'm going to cast on for my second WIP of the year. The first sweater will be red, with embroidered white flowers on the back, and the second sweater will be faux argyle on the back and plain in the front. I'm going to improvise the second sweater based on the measurements I took from Zucchi's current sweater, and the first sweater is going to be the Kitty Cat Argyle Sweater from Eat Sleep Knit.

You may say that all the stress from my vacation has warped my mind. I will neither confirm nor deny that statement.