Doodling

Like lots of people, I have a dream of working full-time as an independent knit designer.  I also have dreams of being a SAHM and owning a homestead, but for now these two things aren't really that feasible - mostly because I have student loans to pay, and also because I just don't think I'm at the point of my life where I can pursue them.  I can have a homestead when I'm retired, and live far off in the country in my off-the-grid permaculture complex; and I'm not going to run around trying to have kids, and even if I did, I love my job too much to leave it right now!

Anyway, my point is that knitwear design, on the other hand, is a dream that I'm nervous about.  I don't think I could ever be a full time designer because I get so much inspiration while doing other things.  I think it might be a left-brain, right-brain thing.  While I'm sitting in training, one side of my brain is focusing on statistics and applying business ideas to EHS.  When this happens, the other side of my brain fires up and says "ME! ME! Look at this cool idea I just thought up! Hey! What if you took that yarn that's in your stash and did this..."

It started last week, drawing ideas for a little dust bunny doll.

Then I thought hey, I'm not really using that top margin of that one page. What if I knit a wooly bear caterpillar? And it could have tassles on it! I remember that idea I had for a bunny, what if I made a little set that had other animals dressed as ballerinas?

Okay, we've drawn, I'm actually going to take notes... oh my gosh, wouldn't it be cute if I knit a little chick, like for spring time?  So I drew it over and over until I figured out the proportions, type of wings, eye placement, etc. (There's also a picture of me and Dan as chibis here, some bad drawings of the people that were presenting, and an idea for a garland.)

Then I just gave up and ended up just doodling.

What I like about times like this is that on this page, there are plans for 15 different projects.  And a sixteenth one that I couldn't quite figure out (the pony doodle.) That's more stuff than I can knit in a year!

Of course, this only happens maybe once a quarter, and not all of the ideas are worth doing.  I'm looking at you, football-shaped dog with pompoms in the top right corner. Some of the ideas might have already been done. Who knows if there isn't a lego-shaped pillow out there?  Still, I keep pages like this stashed away and when I feel like I want to knit something new, I look back in the archives.  I'm thinking of making all of them digital, as kind of an insurance policy.

Props if you recognize the ballet instructor from here or here.

Milestone

I seriously can't contain my excitement.  Last night seemed uneventful, I went back to my hotel room, propped up my sore knee (I guess I jumped a little too hard on Saturday), got frustrated with a secret project I'm working on, and pulled out my Rock Island. And do you see it!? Do you see it in the picture below!?

No, not the latest episode of Haven... Guess again! I'll give you another clue!

I'm done! I finished the edging.  I finished it.  It's finished.

I'm not even a large percentage of the way done, but it feels like I finished a huge project. That's the joy of breaking up big tasks into smaller milestones, I guess. And it doesn't even seem like I used up any of the giant skein that I got from BitterSweet Woolery.

Happy Tuesday!

Obligatory Post of Photos from my Trip

So, my first week of training has been AWESOME.  I've had a few moments that I would describe as "adventurous," where I almost had panic attacks, but that's par for the course when I travel far, end up in a completely new place, and meet a ton of people.

The biggest of those moments was a week ago, when Dan's car broke down on the way to the airport.  I'm happy that I took the time to immortalize the event with my camera, because now it just seems really funny. Did I mention that my flight left during a blizzard? They got about six inches of snow between 6AM and noon.

You can click through to see my other photos (I figured I would break up the post so that people with feedreaders didn't have to suffer through a long string of photos that they didn't want to see.)

Big and Little

Taking part in the production of this short has been one of the most rewarding creative things that I've done so I really wanted to share it with someone.  I've been kind of hesitant to do so because it still makes me sad when I think about it. But, I felt like I should include it for the sake of continuity.  I blogged about making and designing these puppets for W here and here but things kind of got quiet as things starting to get awkward in our relationship. The world deserves to know what happened?

I think I'm at the point where I'm still sad because I won't be able to do fun things like this anymore, but I'm proud because some of my doodles in a notebook turned into this.  When I originally drew the very first design for Big, I never thought that it would be a character in someone's film.  I never anticipated actually giving it a three dimensional, tactile form.  I never dreamed that someone else would take that form and shape it, make it something as beautiful as this.

I Want to Knit a Sweater

So, I have a few sweater's-worth of yarn in my stash.  Not that I have "enough yarn in my stash to knit a few sweaters."  No, it's different than that.  I have several bags full of skeins in ziploc bags, that I bought with the express purpose of knitting this or that kind of sweater.  I have a giant bag full of cascade 220 superwash that was supposed to be part of a knit along.  I have two gorgeous skeins of worsted weight that I bought at Rhinebeck two years ago, thinking "I know exactly what a sweater will look like from this!"  I have a mixed pack of Berocco vintage and handspun (also purchased at Rhinebeck) that would make a great cardigan with a contrasting yoke... 

We're not going to talk about the cozy cocoon sweater that I knit last year, ok? I gave it to a drag queen, because he was the only person who could wear it well.  I'm serious.

My point is, I have so many plans to knit sweaters, and so little experience actually making them.  So, when I got a very large endowment of very nice yarn, I thought - sweater!

Then I filled my knitting basket with it and looked at it for three months...

Then I convinced my boyfriend to hold a bank of it while I spun it into little cakes...

Then I knit a gauge swatch...

Then I found a perfect pattern that will look nice on me, seems practical, and looks quick...

I'm all set, right? ... Right?

No.  I need circular needles.

So, everything is set up for me to knit a sweater.  The mise en place is done.  I just have to jump the hurdle and start. Maybe after I get back from my business trip...

One Sock Down, One More to Go!

I finished my first watermelon sock late on Sunday, watching Dan beat the latest Dead Space game.  At work, I have been scrambling to finish all of the things that I have due during my training trip, so my days have been work - sleep - work. Hopefully once I churn out this giant report I won't have to work late on Friday.

But, that's just me complaining! My sock is fun, I love the colors and the fit of the heel - but it is a tad too tight.  Not uncomfortable, just two stitches short of perfect.  Most of my socks have relaxed a little bit after wearing and washing, though, so I'm sure these will too.  In which case, they'll be perfect!

Sweet Nothing Swap!

I've had a busy week, and next week will be even busier because I'm going to Minnesota for work from the last week of the month to mid-March... but I wanted to share my package for my swap partner and the awesome stitch markers that I got!

I'm really proud of the tiny tin that I made. It's a little lopsided, but the top can be used as a pincushion! It took me an afternoon.  I loaded it with chocolate, those little posits that are really good for flagging patterns you like in a magazine, and some stitch markers that I made.

Then, I packed it with a funny Valentine's Day card, some beads that I had left over from my gauntlet mittens, and some tea.  I'm psyched that my partner liked it. 

I got a nice letter and these handmade stitch markers from Kitsune of Kit's Knits. I love swaps so much!

You can see all the swap results at the roundup over at Yarn Miracle.

Watermelon Waltz Socks

I started on a new project with a pretty zauberball that Ash gave me for Christmas.  I did some two at a time toe up socks, and then I realized...

... they looked kind of boring.  So, of course, I frogged them - even though I was about to turn the heel - and started again! This time striping the sock from both ends.

It went along great! I love the look of the two stripes! And then... this. Are those stripes!? They don't look like stripes!

I can just get over it.  It doesn't look too bad! And then I noticed... you can see my "jogless" jogs! You have to look pretty close, but they're there.  And I can't unsee them.

I mean, my life is going pretty well if the biggest problem I have today is the fact my jogs are showing. 

Oh! And the name! I picked watermelon because the socks are green and pink, and waltz because each stripe is three rounds long.  I'm really proud of my wittiness here :B 

Let it Snow!

This big snowstorm has been my first one in New England.  Although there has been snow, it hasn't been this big yet.

Because I have a long commute, I played it safe and worked from home yesterday in case things got really bad. Dan even came home early! When we went to bed (shamefully early in the night) the snow has stopped, and we wondered if all the hype was for nothing.)

Then we woke up to this.

Oh hai, snow, how's it going?

Hope everyone is safe and warm! I know the areas south of here are even worse off.

 

I Finished My Hat!

Okay, so it's not MY hat, it's Dan's, but anyway, it's done!

I really like how easy it is to make the garter stitch in the round. I saw tutorials for doing it without purling, but I actually don't mind purling, especially if it means not turning my work over.  I always get confused when that happens! You just work with two threads, and try not to forget to pick one up when you reach it... Not that I ever did that, noooooo.

I took more pictures in the spirit of the last "photo shoot" - I put the hat on his head and took photos while he was playing video games.  Yep, we have a special relationship.

I love natural light and all, but my camera just wasn't picking up the blue.  I keep saying I want to get curtains but if we're going to be moving anytime in the future... I will regret spending a weekend sewing curtains.  So I did my best to block the light from the blinds and got this:

I still have half a skein left, so the next time we go to Portland I'll have to pick up another and make myself some alpaca mittens. It's been chilly around here, and the other morning when I was getting snow off my car I swear I got frostbite even though I was wearing my super-expensive new gloves I got for Christmas.

Sweet Nothing Swap!

I joined the Sweet Nothing Swap at Yarn Miracle - if you're interested, you should join too.  I'm already planning what I'm going to make!

Signups end on the 31st, so there's still time.

Sharing a Project

I've been working on something for a long time but just never blogged about it.  It's something I've been working on for about a year.

The layman's term is "Rock Island" but I have been referring to it as "The Lacecide Pact." Why? Because three of us in Hooks and Needles decided to start this together.  The first meeting, we were literally in tears over the pattern.  I think I knit the first repeat of the first chart 6 times before I was confident that I got it right.

Oh, and did I mention that you knit that first chart 71 times? What!? Ain't no one got time for that.

Except I do, apparently.  I hit my 50th repeat today, a little over a year after I started.  If I make this my only long-term project, I might even finish it this year!

It doesn't look like a shawl.  It looks like a very long centipede.

I'm not sure if my friends have been working on their versions, I lost touch with one and the other is in grad school (and, I love her, but she has serial startitis) so our KAL might have turned into a KAL of one.

So, phew, my secret is out! I'm sure everyone has projects that they just don't blog about.  Right now, though, I only have this shawl and my hat.  And my carpal tunnel, which keeps me from knitting too fast.

Have a great week!

A Blue Post

Not because I'm sad, but because I looked at all the pictures for this post and noticed they were so blue! It's a theme!

Thursday morning there was a gigantic snowstorm, and I had my first "Wicked New England Commute."  It normally takes me an hour to get to work, but that morning... 2 hours, 20 minutes.  Everyone asked me how it went.  I told them "On average, less than 30 miles per hour."

But when I got home... holy crap.  The snow was beautiful! Of course, it was dark and raining, so I couldn't really appreciate it on the icy way home, but after the steps were shoveled it just looked awesome.  My ride into work the next morning was good too - dark and snowy, with the trees covered.  I almost wish that I could've taken photos of that but... not gunna risk it.

And today, I'm about halfway done with Dan's hat! It looks darker than in the photo, but I wanted to get an action shot! The conversation was like this:

Me: I'm gunna put this on your head while you play video games and take a picture.
Him: (Not looking up) Okay.

Me: Thanks Dan!
Him: (Not looking up) No problem.

My boyfriend is cute.

ABCs of Me

I stole this post from Dee at Tangled Up in Sticks and String, because I'm a dirty rotten thief and I can write little bits of this during the week during in-between times.  :P

 

A - Age: 22

B - Bed Size: Full, but I want to upgrade to king so that I can sleep like royalty

C - Chore You Hate: I cannot stand anything that has to do with old food.  When people leave things in the sink with food still in them, ugh! I want to puke!

D - Dogs Name: No dog, thanks.  I'm kind of scared of them.

E - Essential Start of the Day Item:  Music.  If I don't have music during my morning I sleep on my feet.

F - Favorite Colour: Green?  I don't really have a favorite.

G - Gold or Silver: Silver.

H - Height: 5' 2"

I - Instruments you play: Flute, Guitar (passably), Piano if the song only requires one hand, Kazoo.

J - Job: EHS professional! :)  I love my job.

K - Kids: Someday.

L - Living Arrangements: I rent a nice apartment in the attic of a house with my boyfriend.

 
M - Music You Love: Anything, really, but my guilty pleasure is Taylor Swift and CRJ.

N - Nicknames: N/A

O - Overnight Hospital Stay: None yet, phew!

P - Pet Peeve: I have so many I don't want to pick one because the others will get jealous.

Q - Quote from a Movie: Anything from Mean Girls.

R - Right handed or Left: Right.

S - Siblings: 1 younger big brother

T - Time you wake up: When I don't have to go to work? About 8.

U - Underwear: Y-yeah? I have no strong pro-underwear or con-underwear opinions.

V - Vegetables you dislike: Swiss Chard, because it tastes like fish.

W - Workout Style: Walking on a treadmill reading a book like a boss.

X - X-Rays You've Had: Not counting my dental x rays...? 2.

Y - Yummy Food You Make: I have a lot of good slow cooker recipies.  I also have a killer peanut butter pie recipe.

Z - The Best Place to Visit - Anywhere with a view!

FO: Beachy Socks

I finally finished my beachy socks! I'm really happy with them.  Which is kind of laughable.

They don't match at all. It took me three months to make them.  They aren't in any kind of pattern or style of any sort.  They don't show my skill at cables, colorwork, or lace. They just look nice and feel nice when I wear them.  That's all I need to knit right now.

I'm a little sad because as I was finishing the heel of the second sock, Dan said that he liked the colors and asked if I would make him a pair next.  The yarn leftover looked like I had barely finished half, so I told him that I would check and if I hadn't hit the halfway point I would make him ankle socks.  Well, I weighed them and lo and behold... I'm just over half.   Of course, the first time my significant other is visibly interested in a yarn... I don't have enough to make what he'd like.  Such is life.

But, he's getting a hat from me because I feel bad.  And also, he bought the yarn to make said hat in July. And I hadn't even started.  More on that later, hehe.

Also, I need a light box.  My work schedule is so long (about 12 hours everyday because my commute is and hour both ways) and the days are so short.  I'll have to throw it into the hopper of "things I want to have."  Other people have those, right?

Anyway, I have to go take these socks off now because I wore them on Monday (my first day of work, for good luck) and they are a little... fresh... because I dug them out of the dirty clothes hamper to take photos of them... Knit blog problems.

New Pattern: Hogwort, a Knit Hedgehog

I first made this little guy in May of 2011.  That's over a year ago! For reasons that I don't want to go into (school, boys, etc) it's taken me a ridiculously long time to publish this pattern.  What's even worse is that I had the pattern testing this time last year!  But, anyway, I'm sure no one really cares about how long its taken me from start to finish for this design.  That point is that it's here, it's cute, and fun to make! The pattern includes instructions for both in the round and seamed toys. 

Pattern Name: Hogwort, a Knit Hedgehog

Difficulty: Easy

Yardage: about 30 yards

Techniques: Knitting in the round (optional), Picking up stitches, Sewing seams, and embellishing with felt.

You can download the pattern from my Ravelry store for $2.50.  

I'm also going to give away a few copies for free! That's right, a giveaway!

To enter the giveaway, leave a comment below.  I'm going to give away enough patterns so that 10% of people commenting get one. So, if ten people enter, I'll give away one; twenty people, two; etc.  If you share this and more people come and enter, that means that I'll be giving away more!

2012 Recap

Well, a whole year is over.  Weird.  And I didn't really do much crafting.

I made a ton of bricks for an installation with Hooks and Needles in May. I made myself two pairs of socks, made a chameleon for my friend, my boyfriend a scarf, and a mountain of hedgehogs.  That's really it. 

It seems a little depressing, but I was doing other things! I finished grad school, wrote my graduate project on something that I knew absolutely nothing about (in 6 months!), worked two full-time jobs while doing this project (one that had 12-hour shifts), broke up with my boyfriend of 5 years, got a new boyfriend, moved to New Hampshire, and am starting my forever job on Monday.  I may not have crafted a lot, but I've accomplished so much it's staggering.

2013 is going to be a fun year.  I'm going to be working at a job I love, living with Dan, and volunteering.  I can't wait.  I have a lot of goals.  I want to publish all the patterns that I have hanging around half finished, for one - there are so many papers and notes cluttering my things.  I also want to get a grip on my yarn stash. I think that most of my projects this year will be from my stash.

Hope you have a happy new year, and all your resolutions work out!

Tutorial: How to Sew Scales

One issue that I had with my Hogwart pattern when I was having it test knit is the scales! Yes, it's a finishing aspect, so it's not really knitting, but it was so hard for me to describe how to do them.  So, this is my attempt to explain how to add scales to your knit toy. 

Want mail?

My Christmas cards are all sent out this year, I designed them myself and had them printed up at Staples.  But I have extra! And extra stamps! So, the logical thing to do is ask the internet - do any of you want a holiday card? I haven't gotten many, so it would be nice to swap.  Leave a comment and I'll e-mail you and we can exchange addresses!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing all my internet friends and readers a great Christmas, a happy holiday season, and a lucky New Year.  May the joy and warmth of Christmas be with you all year long!

Here are some pictures of the snow that we've had.  Of course, the rain has come and washed it away as soon as it piled up, but still.  I can look at these and pretend it's winter out.

My One Knit Gift

This year, I've managed to curb my sanity and knit just one gift - a scarf for Dan.  Go me! I didn't over-reach at all on knit gifts! Of course, cards, cookies, and other gifts... maybe a little.  I may have forgotten that I'm between paychecks this month.

Anyway, I set it out and let it block and the herringbone pattern really opened up.  I love blocking things! I'm still not super excited about the stitch pattern, but I'm not going to tear it out and re-knit two months of work.

It really is an easy pattern, so I'll probably offer it up for free here when I get a good picture of it on him.  It's all my own made-up-knit-stuff, but I don't think it's complex enough to warrant testing, pdf-making, etc.

Anyway, back to the scarf.  My favorite part is the fringe.  It turns out I reserved too much yarn for the tassles, so I could have made the scarf longer - I think it's ok though.  He's over 6', and the scarf is 5'.  We exchanged gifts on Thursday and he looked dashing in it - but that was at night so I couldn't get a good shot! Here's one of me modelling it.

blahblahblah, I need a tripod, blah blah.

Hedgehogs for Sale!

It's a little sad that this might be my last Hooks and Needles post in a long, long time :(

I made hedgies for the Hooks and Needles sale this week! Saturday, I packaged them up and went to the post office, but the line was ridiculously, out the door long.  When I got inside, there were still 30+ people ahead of me, and they closed the office.  That's right. I was waiting in line, and the post office closed.  I had been waiting for about an hour.  At the post office. 

Things turned out all right in the end, I went to a different post office on Monday and sent them out express mail.  They got to sit out on a table and meet lots of people!

Hopefully most of them have relocated to new homes.  If not, I'm not sure what to do with them - maybe give them away here? I'm pretty sure I'm never going to have an etsy shop.  I need to lose this delusion.

Today is the last day of the sale, so hopefully Hooks and Needles has raised lots of money for teaching, parties, and field trips!

I Regret Nothing!

Last week I went into the yarn store in Concord, NH - The Elegant Ewe.  I really didn't INTEND to go into the store.  Really.  I had to go to the UPS store because Amazon sent me a set of lint rollers instead of two crystal glasses (present) and as I was getting into my car I thought "Oh, hey, there's the local yarn store.  I should go in for a second."

Of course, one second turned into almost an hour looking at yarn, buttons, and books.  I also talked to the people inside.  Eventually I decided "What better thing to do than to buy gifts for Ash and Alysia?" partly because I haven't gotten them gifts yet, but mostly because it would give me an excuse to hang out around yarn.

Well, most of their products were wool, and the interesting silk or linen that they did have felt so icky.  I would have felt bad sending that as a gift to Alysia.  And I found some nice yarn for Ash that was made in New Hampshire... but there was no heather gray (her favorite color.)

But I didn't walk out of there empty handed.  Nope.

I bought these.

A Christmas present for me, from Santa :) Don't even ask me how much it was! I don't want to think about that right now.  I'm just going to put them on my shelf and feel fuzzy inside.