A Glimpse into the Design Notebooks

Lots of fun things are happening around here, which I'll be able to blog about later in the week, but for now I thought I'd share something very personal... my design notebooks.

This book was started when I was still in high school (over 4 years ago!) The title of the book became the title of my old knitting blog. It has some great ideas...

Kitten mittens and a not so bad hat.

;)

My current book is a bit smaller.

It also has some great ideas... but some of them are in progress, or I looked them up and there are patterns that do the same durn thing... or I just don't feel like making them.

Yes, my original owl design had colorwork... but it didn't look good at all!

Moustache Mittens! Teehee.

I also do a lot of doodling on papers... in class...

Trying to figure out mittens for W... but they're all girly.

Pokemon schematics! My mom really wants a Meowth...

Pikachu schematics :)

Sometimes I'll draw the same thing obsessively...

There are also some horrible, horrible ideas.

Can you imagine how terrifying these would look? Baklavas are scary enough.

This sweater turned out HORRIBLY.

And then there are doodles of the cats that lived in my neighborhood in Sidney.

I have so many pages and pages of ideas... I think if I dropped out of school and just knit, I'd be 100 before I made them all!

How to Draw an Owl

Yes. Another one of these? I don't know, I thought I'd share my madness method.  Also, I would like to post something but am rather depressed and stressed and super-over-worked.  But the quarter is half way over, only 5 more weeks, and next quarter I'm taking less credits (or my parents will cut me off.)

These are, of course, based on the 1,000,000,000,000 doodles I did before I even started working on the owls pattern. I tend to get things in my head, and think about them over and over again, and when they don't go according to plan (as in, I don't see anyone make them, don't have any test knitters, no one says they like them, blah blah) I get rather glum and down on myself. I won't say I'm a perfectionist, just an expectionist, I guess.  

Anyway, here's the little how-to, I'm going to get some cheese for my whine.

(There's a jump, so if you don't want to draw an owl, you don't have to ;P)

Rochester 2010 Yarn Crawl!

Today, I went with Ash and two friends from Hooks and Needles for the 2nd annual Rochester yarn crawl!

Before hand, I made a map, so we wouldn't get lost...

And we made four stops:

1.  The Yarne Source, where I got fun fur for a dollar.

Here's the Fun Fur plan: I have some blue fun fur, and not I have pink fun fur. I also have some natural colored wool... to make hedgehogs! Maybe a blue on for me and a pink one for W.

2.  The Yarn Boutique, where I was totally impressed by their amazing selection... and space! It was awesome!

I bought some purple and white yarn for my brother's Christmas present, which will be slipper socks in Alfred U colors :)  The purple looks like blue on the camera :(

3.  The Village Yarn, with mountains of books, magazines, and pretty patterns.

I bought two magazines and the Lion Brand Homespun Afghan Book!  I admit, I'm not really an afghan person, but I really love the projects in this book.  I would definitely make these afghans. :)

And yarn to make W's Christmas present and my next design :)

4. The Fiber Cafe, which...

... sells baked goods!!

Where we bought cake and sandwiches, and ooh'd and ahh'd at the beautiful atmosphere.

This trip was definitely a day well spent, as each yarn shop was slighty different and had different products to offer... not to mention different sales! I got the fun fur for a dollar, the Alfred U yarn for five dollars each, and the yarn for W for $3.50 each :) 

Who says yarn shops are more expensive than big box stores? There's a better quality and we're supporting local businesses.

Here's a parting shot of the back of Ash's car :)

And also... Ash won the grand prize! I can't wait to see what's in the giant gift basket :)

Just Say NO to Knitting Without Paying Attention!

Another day, another mistake on my Spring Pools Socks.

Yes, I did. I knit from the wrong skein! I blame the television, since I was watching it and knitting.

Also, I'm starting another project... a secret sock project, in this yarn.

All I can say is that I've been wanting to design these socks for a LONG time! They were originally meant for W, but look what I noticed when I read the label on the yarn.

100% Merino wool. That explains why this yarn is SO delicious feeling... but, that's not a W yarn. I love him to pieces, but I don't know if he's ready to take the step to 100%, non-washable, can't-just-throw-in-the-machine socks. He IS a guy, and it's not like I do his laundry all the time. Just some of the time. I'm not going to risk it.

So, maybe these socks will be me socks. Or, maybe I'll give them away to someone ;)

While I was sniffling over my stupid mistakes, I figured I would take some time to photograph Lotus.  While I was cleaning out her cage I snapped some photos of her.

Lotus always brightens my day. Or, at least, punishes me for being gloomy. I like to lie in bed and read while she rummages around the covers, playing cave explorer, I assume. Today she crawled up my pillow and attempted to eat my hair.

It's pretty hard to get good photos of Lotus, because she's happiest in the dark. I use my drafting lamp to give light, but direct it away from her so that she notices it less.

But I love looking at pictures of her :)

Borneo Test Knit - Carla

I absolutely love, love, love Carla's Borneo :)

What do you think? Adorable? YES.

Carla is known as OkamiShoujo on Ravelry, and her project page is here. You should definitely check out Carla's blog, Tiny.Angry.Crafter, which is an awesome read, and her etsy shop, Tiny Angry Crafts! :)

The photos are taken by her, pattern by yours truly!

Oh, about the pattern... It is now up and ready for sale! You can buy it from Ravelry.com for US$2.50! This is my first for-sale pattern, and I'm super, super excited to bring it to you.  I can't wait to see people make my doll :)

If you'd like to buy Borneo, you can click here or follow the link below!

Do you see that!?!

There! Do you see it?

How about now?

 

It's a purl bump! How did that get there...? I mean, in a row a stockinette? Really, purl bump, who are you trying to fool? Who let you in my nice, neat little instep?

Thankfully it's an easy fix! Just rip back that row to the mess-up...

... Then some magic happens...

... Then everything's okay. Basically, I purposefully dropped the stitches, then picked then up with my needles. There's a tutorial that explains this here.

Sometimes knitting is so much like life.  Things happen, but if you know a little trick, you can fix them.  If you don't know a trick, start again. If you can't start again, live with it.  This little triumph over a rogue purl stitch, and an A+ on a lab that I got back today, makes me feel much happier with how my quarter is going!

Oh, how are the socks? They're FABULOUS! I'm pretty confident nothing will keep me from finishing them before Christmas :)

Plus, Hooks and Needles tonight! Boo-yah!

My Random Monday: Fall Week 4

1. Last weekend was crud.  I didn't want to do anything, which is a kind of bad idea, because that means that nothing gets done (except a lot of knitting.)

2. Today is looking up, though.  I have homemade chicken soup (from yesterday) and I love the weather. It's rainy, but a special type of drizzle that I will always associate with school.  *sigh* It's good to be back.

3. Except for all the freaking work!!!!!!

4. Okay, now that that's over with, they're making a movie out of one of my favorite books, It's Kind of a Funny Story.  It's about a 15-year-old kid who becomes suicidal, goes to a psychiatric ward, and discovers wonderful, warm fuzzy life lessons. 

I totally relate to the main character (the over-pressured kid, not the drug-experimenting-eating-disorder-having kid... though those are all coping mechanisms to the over-pressured-ness) and I can't wait until the movie comes out :)

5. I am almost finished with my knit tie, and progress has been made on Borneo test knits! I'm super excited :)

6. When I was in the bookstore, I was looking through the magazines and guess what I found! Hedgehog cross stitch!!

I love all things hedgehog :)

7. Now for something completely random: the chair in W's apartment has a face.  I swear.  Can you see it?

Maybe I AM having a nervous breakdown.