Let's see, I finished the yellow triangle shawl, but it's very small. I didn't know how much yarn I had so I guess I could have made it...twice as big? oops...now I can make two...The Aubrey pattern is ok, too, but for me one point of the shawl is longer. If I had to guess, I'd say that when you K2tog at the end of a row it pulls on the yarn, making it lop-sided? I'll see if blocking works. But hey, it was a fun project.
I received my $25 bag of yarn from ebay, 10 hanks of 190meters of Salvia yarn, merino sock wool. It made me smile every time I looked at it until I tried to wind a hank into a ball. Now I have half a ball of yarn and a giant tangle of insanity.... I need to look up hints on the right way to untangle a hank. Something tells me maybe I read something by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee?
I finally visited Yarnia, a local yarn shop (or LYS) on Division, last week, and I want to sign up for a sock knitting class soon. I have a feeling turning a heel might be something I'd need to watch, rather than figure out on my own.
So it's Sunday night and I don't want the evening to end because this weekend feels too short. I've been drinking tea and watching Portlandia and doing laundry all day, but all too soon I'll have to go to bed and get up at five a.m. and go to work. The only good thing about that is I will bring a book on lace patterns and try to make up my own shawl pattern!
So this weekend was good but short, just like my first shawl is cute but tiny (and lop-sided) and sometimes good yarn goes to waste before it can be used, but I have a book of lace patterns to keep me busy and somewhat sane.
...Pics later...
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
2 knitting projects and magic
So what I said last time was in general that I was burning out...I guess all I needed was a weekend off and a dose of LotR as a refresher. I spent all day Monday working on the Alaina beanie, and am about 2/3 of the way done. That's the green wool hat (currently just a tube at the moment), down below with the diamonds. At first it was super easy, then after lunch I kept messing up one row, un-knitting and re-knitting. So one of the diamonds is a bit screwy since I didn't catch it in time. (Sheyeah-right I'm not taking pictures of that though.)
On Tuesday, not wanting to mess up rows at work again (because I'm assuming it would not be good to say, stab the register with metal knitting needles), I started an easier pattern for a shawl to keep me busy during downtime. It is the Aubrey shawl from ravelry, and it is super easy, and kinda neat because as a triangle shawl, it's knitted from tip to tip (instead of top-down or point-up, which were the kinds that intimidated me initially). It is lacy too. I'm using a fingering/sock weight yarn, in a bizarre mix of yellow, gray?, and yellowy-orange, which at times, combined with the lace pattern, resembles honey-comb. Only I'm not all together crazy about the colors, and may give it away when it's done. I hope the Noro will knit up as well as this yarn does! (...and I was bad and bought a lot of 10 skeins of yarn for about $25...so if the Noro doesn't stand up maybe that yarn will do the trick...)
And now on to the pictures! (Both are still in prog.)
This is something from a while ago-the super old book of magic tricks I found in a pile of junk at the end of someone's driveway. You might shudder at the thought of taking a mangy used book like this home, but it is 100 years old...so whether it was from a public library or off the street, it's gonna be ugly. Which is why I find it beautiful.
On Tuesday, not wanting to mess up rows at work again (because I'm assuming it would not be good to say, stab the register with metal knitting needles), I started an easier pattern for a shawl to keep me busy during downtime. It is the Aubrey shawl from ravelry, and it is super easy, and kinda neat because as a triangle shawl, it's knitted from tip to tip (instead of top-down or point-up, which were the kinds that intimidated me initially). It is lacy too. I'm using a fingering/sock weight yarn, in a bizarre mix of yellow, gray?, and yellowy-orange, which at times, combined with the lace pattern, resembles honey-comb. Only I'm not all together crazy about the colors, and may give it away when it's done. I hope the Noro will knit up as well as this yarn does! (...and I was bad and bought a lot of 10 skeins of yarn for about $25...so if the Noro doesn't stand up maybe that yarn will do the trick...)
And now on to the pictures! (Both are still in prog.)
 | |
| The Alaina beanie, aran diamonds with moss stitch and cable twists |
 |
| The Aubrey shawl, tip to tip triangle in mystery fingering/sock yarn |
This is something from a while ago-the super old book of magic tricks I found in a pile of junk at the end of someone's driveway. You might shudder at the thought of taking a mangy used book like this home, but it is 100 years old...so whether it was from a public library or off the street, it's gonna be ugly. Which is why I find it beautiful.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
skates, hat burn out and new stitches
Just a quick up-date: I now own 2 pairs of skates! Today I bought the 2nd pair, the Sketchers sneakers kind. I also have a pair of the white old-skool variety, which I plan on decorating with feathers paint and glitter. Sad though, I don't know a good place to take them out...anyone else around P-town know a good place that isn't Oaks Park? Something on a bus line? (Don't get me wrong, I love Oaks but it is very hard to get there when one doesn't drive...)
So I only have one hat left to knit, but I'm taking my sweet time. It's a Pattern. Like a crazy complicated cable pattern that takes a lot of concentration, and it's just been too busy at work to break into it. It is the Alaina Beanie, and I'm using a green worsted wool. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/alaina-beanie
I also got my new stitch-dictionary, and I'm wondering if I take the five tiny volumes to Kinko's if they'll re-bind it, spiral style so it'll be easier to flip thru. There are still stitch styles I need to learn, like purling thru the back loop, which when I try it tends to create an extra stitch, like a yarn over...I'll need to do some looking up for that.
Kay, peeps so enjoy the weekend! We just bought all three of the special editions of Lord of the Rings for $30 at CD/Game Exchange, and I think there might be a marathon in the near future! Happy Crafting!
So I only have one hat left to knit, but I'm taking my sweet time. It's a Pattern. Like a crazy complicated cable pattern that takes a lot of concentration, and it's just been too busy at work to break into it. It is the Alaina Beanie, and I'm using a green worsted wool. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/alaina-beanie
I also got my new stitch-dictionary, and I'm wondering if I take the five tiny volumes to Kinko's if they'll re-bind it, spiral style so it'll be easier to flip thru. There are still stitch styles I need to learn, like purling thru the back loop, which when I try it tends to create an extra stitch, like a yarn over...I'll need to do some looking up for that.
Kay, peeps so enjoy the weekend! We just bought all three of the special editions of Lord of the Rings for $30 at CD/Game Exchange, and I think there might be a marathon in the near future! Happy Crafting!
Saturday, January 7, 2012
To do list for 2012
I don't really care for making resolutions, but I am now 30 and still living like a 20-year old. I think it's time I started trying to set goals for myself before I'm 40 and still living like I am today.
Happy New Years, everyone...by the by...
Since this is a craft blog, I'll start with my crafty wishes first!
1. I bought some Noro yarn this fall and I want to use it but on something good for myself. It's not often that I knit for me...I dunno, I like to give people things. But this is what I want to do for me, and I've been looking at shawl patterns, lacy complicated things that might have scared me off a couple years ago, the triangular kind that people wear with the point hanging down under their chins, which is what inspired me to buy the yarn in the first place.
2. I literally just bought a stitch dictionary just now, so I can learn more stitch patterns and design my own things. I want to actually say, "I made it myself." I usually use a pattern once anyway, before modifying it to my own preferences, but I don't feel it's fair to the person who wrote it. Maybe I'll never sell anything, but I want to have that option.
3. I've had the idea for making a blanket for a while, but it sounds very involved, seeing as how the biggest thing I've made was my first scarf (and first anything for that matter), which was 2 or 3 skeins of straight garter stitch. I think I want to use yarn ball left overs (there's a lot after this round of x-mas knitting), with a sort of, from the middle-out, crazy-quilt style. Don't know exactly how I'm going to do this but I'm already calling it my "raggedy quilt" idea, so that helps...having a name... (Yay)
4. And last but only because I don't want to sound pretentious and I don't want to say it if I'm not going to do it, I want to try to make a hat a month for charity. That's all I'll say about that.
And here are my more personal goals for this year... some will sound familiar, maybe a bit redundant...
1. I'd like to be more organized. I think I've said that my apartment resembles a crash site before and I think it looks like it'll just get worse if I don't clean it up now. I'd also like a new apartment, which isn't going to happen if I don't start saving. So organizing my crap might keep me busy enough to not spend money I need to save...I dunno, sounds like a good idea in my head. :)
2. I'd like to be more careful about what I eat and when, and be more active. This is something a lot of people say, I know, but I'm a smoker and have a bad habit of continuing to eat after a meal until I smoke, usually late at night(we've gotta walk outside, about 1 1/2 blocks to smoke). At work I also don't eat much because I like to keep busy during the down-time (at least half the day) and you don't have a lot of room to eat when you're knitting, sweeping and washing windows, much less when you're helping customers during the big rushes (probably 4-6 customers a minute). I do live in an ideal place for exercise and activities and while I live here I should still take advantage of that.
3. I need to write more, and even if it's a daily/weekly log of crafti-ness, it's better than nothing. Once I used to think I was going to be a writer, but inspiration is a bit hard to come by these days. I'm going to do what a very old friend told me once and write every day. Maybe I'll start a separate blog for creative writing...
So that's it, and I think they're fairly realistic goals, and I shouldn't think they'll be too hard to keep up. As my favorite Doctor says, Allons-y!
...yeah, ok, that was uber geeky...
Happy New Years, everyone...by the by...
Since this is a craft blog, I'll start with my crafty wishes first!
1. I bought some Noro yarn this fall and I want to use it but on something good for myself. It's not often that I knit for me...I dunno, I like to give people things. But this is what I want to do for me, and I've been looking at shawl patterns, lacy complicated things that might have scared me off a couple years ago, the triangular kind that people wear with the point hanging down under their chins, which is what inspired me to buy the yarn in the first place.
2. I literally just bought a stitch dictionary just now, so I can learn more stitch patterns and design my own things. I want to actually say, "I made it myself." I usually use a pattern once anyway, before modifying it to my own preferences, but I don't feel it's fair to the person who wrote it. Maybe I'll never sell anything, but I want to have that option.
3. I've had the idea for making a blanket for a while, but it sounds very involved, seeing as how the biggest thing I've made was my first scarf (and first anything for that matter), which was 2 or 3 skeins of straight garter stitch. I think I want to use yarn ball left overs (there's a lot after this round of x-mas knitting), with a sort of, from the middle-out, crazy-quilt style. Don't know exactly how I'm going to do this but I'm already calling it my "raggedy quilt" idea, so that helps...having a name... (Yay)
4. And last but only because I don't want to sound pretentious and I don't want to say it if I'm not going to do it, I want to try to make a hat a month for charity. That's all I'll say about that.
And here are my more personal goals for this year... some will sound familiar, maybe a bit redundant...
1. I'd like to be more organized. I think I've said that my apartment resembles a crash site before and I think it looks like it'll just get worse if I don't clean it up now. I'd also like a new apartment, which isn't going to happen if I don't start saving. So organizing my crap might keep me busy enough to not spend money I need to save...I dunno, sounds like a good idea in my head. :)
2. I'd like to be more careful about what I eat and when, and be more active. This is something a lot of people say, I know, but I'm a smoker and have a bad habit of continuing to eat after a meal until I smoke, usually late at night(we've gotta walk outside, about 1 1/2 blocks to smoke). At work I also don't eat much because I like to keep busy during the down-time (at least half the day) and you don't have a lot of room to eat when you're knitting, sweeping and washing windows, much less when you're helping customers during the big rushes (probably 4-6 customers a minute). I do live in an ideal place for exercise and activities and while I live here I should still take advantage of that.
3. I need to write more, and even if it's a daily/weekly log of crafti-ness, it's better than nothing. Once I used to think I was going to be a writer, but inspiration is a bit hard to come by these days. I'm going to do what a very old friend told me once and write every day. Maybe I'll start a separate blog for creative writing...
So that's it, and I think they're fairly realistic goals, and I shouldn't think they'll be too hard to keep up. As my favorite Doctor says, Allons-y!
...yeah, ok, that was uber geeky...
*whew* and a bit of *W00t*
My apologies to the blogosphere, I've been neglectful these past weeks, all in the name of crafting. More specifically knitting. All but one of my Christmas hats are finally done, plus a couple extras...you know, the things you make aren't always perfect for who you have in mind, but thankfully they find a home too. It's one of the things I love best about knitting.
I have some things on my list left for my sister and her kids, but I've got them presents (store bought!) and their birthdays are all in the spring, so I can take my time a bit, let the hand cramping ease up first and finish reading the books I got for Christmas. (This also includes books I bought myself before and after Christmas... :D ) So far I'm almost done reading Boneshaker by Cherie Priest (picked up on a whim, and is my first foray into Steampunk culture, other than ogling jewelry on craftster.org), and I've got Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett and Going Out by Scarlett Thomas, as well as some poetry by ee cummings and Dorothy Parker.
Also for x-mas we treated ourselves to Doctor Who and Star Wars marathons, peppered with Black Books and Spaced episodes. We're not nerds or anything...ok, yes we are. My new bright idea is to start a sci-fi-punk band with ballads for the Doctor. Now I've just got to teach myself to play an instrument. I'm thinking of a tiny keyboard with sound-effects.
*OMG I just took a little break to try to get a washer and had a bit of time to spare, so we're walking down the street and found a free pile with a type writer (broken, unfortunately) and a few books. I found a great like new copy of CS Lewis's Perelandra and an extremely old nearly falling apart copy of Magicians' Tricks from the "Free Library of Philadelphia." Pics of this relic will follow soon!*
I have some things on my list left for my sister and her kids, but I've got them presents (store bought!) and their birthdays are all in the spring, so I can take my time a bit, let the hand cramping ease up first and finish reading the books I got for Christmas. (This also includes books I bought myself before and after Christmas... :D ) So far I'm almost done reading Boneshaker by Cherie Priest (picked up on a whim, and is my first foray into Steampunk culture, other than ogling jewelry on craftster.org), and I've got Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett and Going Out by Scarlett Thomas, as well as some poetry by ee cummings and Dorothy Parker.
Also for x-mas we treated ourselves to Doctor Who and Star Wars marathons, peppered with Black Books and Spaced episodes. We're not nerds or anything...ok, yes we are. My new bright idea is to start a sci-fi-punk band with ballads for the Doctor. Now I've just got to teach myself to play an instrument. I'm thinking of a tiny keyboard with sound-effects.
*OMG I just took a little break to try to get a washer and had a bit of time to spare, so we're walking down the street and found a free pile with a type writer (broken, unfortunately) and a few books. I found a great like new copy of CS Lewis's Perelandra and an extremely old nearly falling apart copy of Magicians' Tricks from the "Free Library of Philadelphia." Pics of this relic will follow soon!*
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Kerfuffle updated
Well, no cleaning was to be done...I had to wipe my ipod and find everything to put back on it which took nearly three hours. On a good note, all my Christmas shopping is done so all's left is to clean (ugh) and finish knitting. Another good note is that all the projects left use pretty chunky yarn so they'll knit up fast!
As I was charging my pod, I also put together a list of projects for presents next year, so after I get this years knitting done, and a couple personal projects (Noro, I'm looking at you), I can begin proper, more personalized gifts for friends and family.
*insert a burnt out Woot here*
Also of note, knit up about half a hat with Tony while watching The Year Punk Broke, an early gift to my fave dood. It was like living in 1991 all over again...with bonus features as well! Would my younger cousin appreciate the fact that I was re-living an important era of music while I was making her hat? Does she even know who Nirvana and Sonic Youth are (well, most likely yes...)? Let alone Dinosaur Jr., Babes in Toyland and Meat Puppets? Guess I'll find out.
For Funsies, the striped hat I gave away because I didn't know who'd want it:
As I was charging my pod, I also put together a list of projects for presents next year, so after I get this years knitting done, and a couple personal projects (Noro, I'm looking at you), I can begin proper, more personalized gifts for friends and family.
*insert a burnt out Woot here*
Also of note, knit up about half a hat with Tony while watching The Year Punk Broke, an early gift to my fave dood. It was like living in 1991 all over again...with bonus features as well! Would my younger cousin appreciate the fact that I was re-living an important era of music while I was making her hat? Does she even know who Nirvana and Sonic Youth are (well, most likely yes...)? Let alone Dinosaur Jr., Babes in Toyland and Meat Puppets? Guess I'll find out.
For Funsies, the striped hat I gave away because I didn't know who'd want it:
Kristmas Kerfuffle
Well, I haven't been posting because I've only completed 4 of the 12 or so hats I need to finish for x-mas/new years...and every time I think about this blog I feel guilty that I'm so far behind in my knitting. Actually I've made 6 hats but given 2 away...co-workers. One who liked a hat I didn't know who to give it to and another co-worker who has worked with me for about a year and is moving almost all the way across the country. But due to lack of sleep and increased business at work, I've fallen behind, as I could have had at least 2 more hats knitted up in addition to those finished/given away.
Add to that getting my apartment ready for a quiet but hopefully satisfying X-mas most likely alone with my fave dood, Tony, I've gotta make my kitchen usable after a hostile take-over by mouse...eek/eww. There's no tree or tree like substitute this year (in the last few years I've decorated a few sprigs of eucalyptus branches with earrings, necklaces and a few random Mardi gras beads in a Christ-massy tin can), hardly any presents for Mom and Tony, and well, the apartment is kind of a disaster zone. Honestly, I didn't think I wanted a Christmas until this week.
But I'm thinking that no matter what is going on, I can't selfishly believe that I can just step away from the holidays without other people depending on me like I was going to this year. From now on, I'm getting a head start on knitting gifts, because I've got a lot of cousins, most of who've got kids of their own now, and a step-sister (who is no matter what always my sister) and she's got 2 kids too. I have a huge area of my teeny tiny apartment devoted to craft crap that NEEDS organizing, and my eventual plan for new years is to save up money to get out of this apartment complex (and away from the mice that come with it), which will involve packing, most likely scaling down the hoard of crap I've got and finding a way to fit it all into a new but probably just as teeny tiny apartment.
At the moment I'm doing laundry, still sipping my first cuppa coffee (yes, it's almost noon), and thinking about what to do while my ipod is charging: 1. dishes. 2. organizing the crash site that is my craft pile. 3. bleaching EVERYTHING that is in my kitchen...at least 4 times. And after all that, I still need to go to Hawthorne to get a CD I ordered from Jackpot, and pick up at least 2 skeins of yarn (probably bulky super-wash in navy and purple for 2 of my cousin's kids), and think about one of those ironically tiny potted x-mas trees if I can find them. I figure if I've got about 8 hours to do all this (3 of which will have to be while charging the pod) I can still relax for 2 hours before bed if I don't just drop into a coma when it's all done.Or just give up half way through.
...Yay for christmas cheer...
To give you an idea of the frame of mind all this christmas crafting puts me in, here's a great vid of crafting gone horribly horribly wrong. I think Tony found it once and thought of me immediately.
Add to that getting my apartment ready for a quiet but hopefully satisfying X-mas most likely alone with my fave dood, Tony, I've gotta make my kitchen usable after a hostile take-over by mouse...eek/eww. There's no tree or tree like substitute this year (in the last few years I've decorated a few sprigs of eucalyptus branches with earrings, necklaces and a few random Mardi gras beads in a Christ-massy tin can), hardly any presents for Mom and Tony, and well, the apartment is kind of a disaster zone. Honestly, I didn't think I wanted a Christmas until this week.
But I'm thinking that no matter what is going on, I can't selfishly believe that I can just step away from the holidays without other people depending on me like I was going to this year. From now on, I'm getting a head start on knitting gifts, because I've got a lot of cousins, most of who've got kids of their own now, and a step-sister (who is no matter what always my sister) and she's got 2 kids too. I have a huge area of my teeny tiny apartment devoted to craft crap that NEEDS organizing, and my eventual plan for new years is to save up money to get out of this apartment complex (and away from the mice that come with it), which will involve packing, most likely scaling down the hoard of crap I've got and finding a way to fit it all into a new but probably just as teeny tiny apartment.
At the moment I'm doing laundry, still sipping my first cuppa coffee (yes, it's almost noon), and thinking about what to do while my ipod is charging: 1. dishes. 2. organizing the crash site that is my craft pile. 3. bleaching EVERYTHING that is in my kitchen...at least 4 times. And after all that, I still need to go to Hawthorne to get a CD I ordered from Jackpot, and pick up at least 2 skeins of yarn (probably bulky super-wash in navy and purple for 2 of my cousin's kids), and think about one of those ironically tiny potted x-mas trees if I can find them. I figure if I've got about 8 hours to do all this (3 of which will have to be while charging the pod) I can still relax for 2 hours before bed if I don't just drop into a coma when it's all done.Or just give up half way through.
...Yay for christmas cheer...
To give you an idea of the frame of mind all this christmas crafting puts me in, here's a great vid of crafting gone horribly horribly wrong. I think Tony found it once and thought of me immediately.
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