Essential Tools

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

 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:

My Random Monday - August 8th

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

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

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

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

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.