Call to Contribute: Fall 2011 DAL Mood Board!

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:

1. Contribute a photo or image (if you so choose) to the mood board thread.
2. 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

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!

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

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!