Pocketfuls of Sunshine

So, I had the busiest weekend. My senior class retreat was on Friday, and all weekend, my little brother had an AAU tournament. I drove down to the Maple festival to meet sweetie. . . I ate a lot of fried food, and threw up just a few minutes ago.

But I'm also working on a wonderful present for my mother. Mother's day is coming up, yes, but there's another reason.


A few weeks ago my mom was diagnosed with palmar pustular psoriasis, which is pretty icky. She hates having to stretch out her palms to shake hands, take change in stores, and just to do everything. When she went to the doctor, the sores hurt so badly that she couldn't move her hands to write, wash dishes, type on the computer. . . anything, basically! She was so miserable.


So, this is the first of a few glove projects that I'm making using pesticide-free, chemical-free, cotton tahki yarns. I'm really excited to finish!


Also, I'm looking for some good glove patterns. If you have any, drop me a line.

Spring is Springing!

I've been cooped up inside for the past week, and today I stepped out and look what I saw! A budding leaf! Looking up, I noticed that the maples in my backyard had LEAVES!

Green isn't the only color. The bleeding heart that grows on the side of my house has bloomed beautifully.
And on top of that, I have new neighbors! An anthill has sprouted up in my backyard.

The days are long and the nights are warm! It's time for some nice spring knitting!

Bright Bright Sunshine-y Day

Spring break has been amazing, if not hectic! I've just cast off for my super-awesome socks, from knitty. So, without further ado, here are my finished Baudelaire socks! I'm so proud.
On top of having them finished, it's been so warm out. . . I love it. Spring, I am ready for you!

This is kinda how I feel today. . .

Please Mommy, can we keep it!?
But seriously. Yesterday I went to the mall with Oto and got really and truly sick. I was so happy, because I thought that I had powernapped away the headache I had. Well, I thought wrong. We went to see "The Ruins," which was okay, but a little loud. We also saw this cute thingy at the petshop! Isn't he adorable? $600. No lie.

Anyway, by the time we were done, I had thrown up twice in the cinema bathroom. Not very fun, I might add. I went home and slept for about 12 hours, then woke up still feeling icky. So that's how I spent today: sitting around home and watching tv, sleeping on and off. I also worked on the socks:
Guess which sock that one is? Right! Number two! And I'm just about to do the ribbing!

I also made this, a version of the ric rac buckets I made earlier, but with a tin can. I can put a tut up, too, if you want one ;)

The rest of the week is my spring break, which means relaxing. . . and working camp at Tanglewood. A strange combination. Wish me luck!

New York!

Well, tomorrow I'm going away on a class trip- a 6-hour bus ride to NYC. As a result, I think I'll be able to finish my latest project:

It's a sock, by the way! Don't get any dirty thoughts! It's from an old Knitty, a pattern called Baudelaire.

I also want to pick me up some knitting stuffs. My friend Christine is coming on the trip, along with my mom, so maybe we can sneak off to some yarn shop in the big apple. . .

Also, notice that my picture looks nothing like the picture on the , hehe!

Sweet Relief!

So, I'm totally overjoyed at the fact that I've cast off for the Lace Ribbon Scarf! Right now, it's taking up a sizeable chunk of my living room carpet, and blocking to a decent size.

It's just amazing: after Monday and my complaining post, the knit gods must have listened, because the thing just flew off the needles, to employ the cliche.

I'm so excited! Hopefully I can pack it up and give it to my mom on Sunday.

A Scarf Situation

Day 1, Tuesday: While killing time during class, I came across a new knitty. Sadly disappointing, but with one really amazing scarf. I suddenly remembered I needed something for my mother's birthday. Potted plant? She has no space. Cake? Too predictable. Vidi, scarf.

Day 2, Wednesday: The yarn hunt begins. I desperately scour my LYS for "Classic Elite Yarns Alpaca Sox" I look on the website and realize the nearest place to obtain this yarn is Ithaca- 45 minutes away. I despair. I try to beg my father to drive me to Ithaca. No avail. I beg my mother to drive me to Michael's. I get a yes.

But, here's the tricky part. How do I tell her that she can know nothing about the pattern, item, or yarn without arousing suspicion? I act sneaky. We buy 3 skeins of Vanna's Choice.

Day 3, Thursday: I stay home with a cold and knit. After 24 rows of 44 stitches, I frog it all down, deciding it's too much and I'll never finish. After 11 rows of 35 stitches, I come to the same conclusion. I finally cast on 26 stitches. Perfect.

By noon, I have about 4 inches. I despair some more.

Day 4, Friday: I am overjoyed because, by noon, I have knit about a foot. Everything comes extremely easily. I memorize the pattern, and I knit EVERYWHERE.

Day 7, Monday: I went to the cinema with Mehoto, knitting through the movie. I wonder if she is starting to question my sanity. The scarf is only 25 inches! And, I want to finish it by the 27th, so I can block it! On top of that, I think that it looks really, really ugly. Vanna's Choice was DEFINITELY not the right choice.

Knitting gods, help me now!

Happy Easter!

I know I haven't posted much lately, but that doesn't mean I'm not doing things, right? The story is, the power cord on my laptop is SHOT. I mean it, totally. At first, I thought I could fix the problem with some electric tape, but that proved utterly futile. So, we sent off the cord to a friend who had to order the part. TORTURE. Until then, I can't really do much. My life was on that machine.

Anyway, I got some really awesome easter loot from both the Sweetie's family and my mom. I'm really excited-- all this candy is going to last me until Halloween, I'm sure.

As for crafting, I've started a scarf for my mom's birthday. It's supposed to be a total secret, but I think she's on to me. I need to knit it up REALLY quick, because her birthday is the 28th. Such a late start, I know, but I had trouble finding the right yarn. Finally, I had to settle for a crappy ball of Vanna's Choice. It made me so mad, because I really wanted to follow the pattern exactly!

Oh, I also bought some fabric for a skirt, and some nice ribbon! Expect to see the ribbons in the etsy shop. . . when it opens.

How to Knit a Flat Circle

I've had a lot of people on the internet asking for this, and a lot of people saying it's impossible. Silly people. It's perfectly possible. I'll show you.

Step 1: Cast on one stitch onto a Double Pointed Needle.

Step 2: K1, P1, K1 in the same stitch.
Step 3: Turn the needle and Purl across the row
Step 4: Turn the needle again, Kfb all stitches.
Step 5: Turn the needle and Purl across the row.
Step 6: Turn the needle, Kfb all stitches.
At this point, you should have twelve stitches and something like this:

Divide these stitches onto three double pointed needles. Knit all stitches, joining the round.
Step 7: [Kfb, K1] around.
Step 8: K around.
Step 9: Repeat 7 and 8.
Step 10: [Kfb, K2] around.
Step 11: K around.

Repeat this process, increasing by one K stitch per set.
Ex) Next round: *Kfb, K3* Repeat
-K
-*Kfb, K4.* Repeat
-K
Etc, etc.


That's basically it. It's based on the head of Katamari Ichigo and on the teapot bottoms in Interweave's Fiesta Tes Set

Lions or Lambs

Well, March has definitely been coming in like a lion for me. I've been having some issues recently. Ill relatives. Laziness. Getting things ready for Tanglewood's summer camps. School. Squabbles. The usual, right? But I HAVE been doing things. . . Amigurumi, maybe not. Crafting, yes. I just made the little fuzzy creature above for the Spring Themed Swap at the Anticraft forums. Right now I'm wracking my head to see what else I should make. . . I'm not very good at gifting things to total strangers.

My current stuffie is a cute little strawberry that I may or may not add to the etsy shop, whenever it should open. But I've had some drawbacks:
Look at that fluff! Turns out my cheap-o fabric is weeping out the cheap-o batting! Poo. At first I thought that it was just reamnant of my many sheep. But, no, I came home from school today and found that the bits of stringlies I had brushed off last night had RETURNED. Very mysterious. And very annoying. I guess strawberry will just have to have a slight body hair problem. Oh, and I also cleaned my room! Aren't you proud? Yes, that's CLEAN. Surprisingly. Controlled chaos, I guess.

It's finished!

I'm seriously rejoicing over my Yarn Vomit Scarf! The KAL ended yesterday, for those of you in the know, but I finished mine today because I'm a cheater! ;) Below is the full length pic! The scarf was about 4 1/2 feet long! Which is, almost as tall as me!Here's a black and white shot. I like this because you can really see the texture made by the chenille:

And, look at all this snow! I hope school's cancelled tomorrow!
I love the snow. . . I hope it stays on the ground more then a week this time!

Bugga Boo!

I'm just angry today. No idea why, it's just one of those days. I think I have last-day-of-vacation blues. That, and ANOTHER set of size 5 dpns has gone missing. Well, okay, half a set. I don't know why, but there were only two in my needlecase. . . How does that happen!? I think some sick needle fairy comes and takes them when I'm not using them. . . really. Hopefully, they won't end up in some school official's hands, bent in half.

On a more productive note, I've read Hamlet, Sewn a shirt, and made a few random things on the machine. I've got two patterns in the making, but I have to finish the gloves first. . . (and in order to finish the gloves I NEED MY BLOODY NEEDLES.) Here's a bookmark:

And here's a bucket I made for throwing my flosses into. This was really just practice for the bucket hat sweetie may or may not recieve. . . depending on how competant I am at making it.

I got the sewing pattern from Ric-Rac's Bucket tutorial.

Notice that I appease you all with the spiffy pictures. Hooray! I think I'm going to reorgnize the archives of this blog. THAT should be fun @_@; Heck, maybe I'll rename it and give it a cool look, and move it to typepad as well ;)

Lacking Titles.

So, I haven't really been knitting lately. I've had a week-long vacation, and such, no motivation. It's one of those slightly gloomy times when I realize that I have many many things in my head to make and not as much time to make them as I'd like. . . or even as I'd find satisfactory. Right now I'm getting some sewing on: practical things that I'll need for college. I'm not done with anything though.

It was my best friends birthday today! Last night, we went to a movie- Sweeny Todd. It was really good! I made her a heart thingy. Randomly. I may make more, to put in the shop when it opens up.

I had no machine, so I hand sewed it. I am proud. I may gloat about him somewhere.

UFOs are Everywhere

So, my Yarn Vomit scarf is at three feet! I think after another foot, I'm going to cast off. It's exciting!

I also finished one of my sweetie's Valentine's gloves. The thumb was about an inch too long!

I sewed it up though. It now has an ugly seam, but it fits him!

I've also been working in my classes on printmaking. I made a cool plate of a moth and printed on fabric. Below are the plate, a print on black paper, the prints on fabric, and some cut-out prints.

And here's the bag, a present for MeOto! Don't tell, it's a birthday present (she doesn't read this blog anyway so it's okay.)

Um, that's the skivvy today. Pictures!

Happy Lent!

. . . I know, wishing someone "Happy Lent" is like wishing someone a "Happy Yom Kippur." For Lent, the sweetie and I have been fasting: Water, Healthy Foods, and no snacking between meals. I've already been tempted. One of the Primary School kiddos was selling candy; I bought some, but I gave it away. And it was salt potato day in the cafeteria! Horrors!

Anyway, you don't want to hear about that. You want to hear about knitting. Of course.

I'm a little disappointed because the new anticraft has only ONE knit pattern! Angst! Though, I supposed if I was that much concerned with it, I would have submitted something of my own. I can't seem to make anything "Anti" enough. Maybe a recent emrboidery project will make it in. . . *thinks* I always have trouble matching the themes though.

Now for a project update!
My scarf for the varn vomit KAL is currently halted. . . I don't know where my other skein is. I'll find it though! I have to clean out my room tomorrow.

Sweetie's Kimono is at a healthy two feet already. I'll be starting the intarsia pattern for the back soon! Exciting. Here's a picture.


And I'm also currently at work on another project. "Sweetheart Mittens." I made them myself!

Celebrations are in order! (Aka, ramblings.)

SO! Guess who got into the Scholastics show this year? ME! With my first gold key and my second silver key. The gold went to Sweetie's Knit Sweater, and the silver went to a pair of sheep plushies!

I'm so excited! I get to go on stage for an award this Sunday :3 And shake hands with the mayor! *does a little dance* Even though I've already met the mayor maybe. . . four or five times. He probably doesn't remember me anyway!

Also, I've cast on for the Yarn Vomit KAL. See the button to the right. I'm using this really soft, fluffy, Lion Brand thing that they say not to knit with. . . but I did anyway. I like it because it's really bulky, so there's no holes. . . in fact, there's very little stitch definition. Unless it's a cable or a knit amoung many purls, it doesn't really stand out, which I think really compliments Rogue's pattern. It's also a good yarn for the two-stitch cabling done in this pattern. Why? Because I think it may be impossible to drop a stitch. Seriously.

Anyway, all else considered, it may not be to late to stock up on some and make yourself a copy :3

Oh, also, I'm going to be sewing a lot more, especially in school. So expect some purses or something to rise up sometime soon.

We Love Katamari!

So, here we go! It's the latest doll! I love the video game "Katamari Damacy," and I know that there's a pattern on etsy for a Crochet Prince Amigurumi - which is pretty durn cool. But you know me, I can't crochet to save the queen, and upon searching the net I found no other patterns! What to do!? Make my own, of course.

Notes: I do not claim to own any part of any idea of anything associated with Katamari Damacy. Cross my heart, hope to cry. That's why this is a free pattern, not for sale (I don't want to make money off someone else's idea. . .) Also, I'm not a pro pattern-writer, so if you have any problems, drop me a line and I'll fix it, or at least do my best!

Picture Post. Again!

So things are going rather well. I made the FI pattern for the back of sweetie's kimono:

It has his initial's :3 Here's the robe, proper. . . erm, or maybe improper. . . as the case may be. . . It's not done. At all. It's not even like, 2% done. Not even milk done, internet world! I'm going to be working FOREVER on it. . . ! It'll look AWESOME, though, so I think it'll be world it. Plus, seeing how happy he'll be with his pretty kimono!

Oh, reminding me, here's the OTHER UFO, super secret surprise: I'm about 50% done with this. Exciting! That's what I love about dolls. It's something to keep my mind about the 20 more inches of stockinette stitch I have to do. . .
Speaking of picture post. . . it wouldn't be the same without a random picture! This is my latest sew. I wanted to put it on the Anticraft forum. . . but Flickr is down. Boo! Down on websites that go down on me!

Stay cool, interworld.

Let's begin!

So, today I started a scarf from knitty! It's a great pattern, and I can't wait to finish it.

This is just an in-between project, since I'm buying the wool for my first felt design. . . EVER!

Exciting, no!?

Mmmm Pocky!

So yes, I've been wanting to add this pattern to my collection of "kawaii knit foods" and, here it is! It requires very little gauge, and only knowledge of how to work an i-cord. If you don't know how, then this is a great way to learn how, I guess. I just used red Heart Super Saver, and size 8 straight needles.

Instructions:

CO 3 stitches of Brown. Work an i-cord for 5 inches

Switch to Pink and work one inch in i-cord

Increase: K1, M1. K1, M1, K1. You now have 5 stitches.

Start wrapping your i-cord around previous work. Pull work up behind the needle, wrapping the yarn for the next row around your work as you slide the stitches onto the needle. Do this for four inches, and bind off.

Now, here's how you hide the icky back part. Do you know how to pick up a stitch using a crochet hook? What do all those lines across the back look like? Exactly! Pick up these loops like you would a dropped stitch.

Embroider as you will. Little faces, "Oh no" expressions, whatever you want.

Taaaa daaaa. Only takes about half an hour of work.