Doh, still no pictures

Lawrence left the camera at work yesterday...tonight I'm going to my parents' place. Bleh. I did finish the bulky socks, so that's pretty cool. I'm going to give them to my grandpa tonight instead of waiting for Christmas. I've started a pair of Dashings for my brother, which I had to frog and re-knit because I did NOT check the gauge (bad!). I started crocheting baby ducky parts for the duck amigurumi. I really don't like working with the pure cotton. The non-stretchiness is tough on my hands and the fiber splits really easily so it's hard on my eyes too.

My list of things to finish:

• puffy slouchy hat (tweedle dee cinnamon twist)
  
• dashings (nashua creative focus) - 25%
  
• 3 baby ducks and a mommy duck (lily's sugar'n cream) - 10%
  
• triforce scarf (vanna's choice) - 40%
  
• crochet striped scarf (vanna's choice)
  
• bunny slippers (bernat cashmere/moda dea dream)
  
• shrug (black shimmer snowflake chunky)
• argyle golf cozy (red heart)
• baby booties (bernat be mine)
• basketball (orange yarn)
• amigurumi/fetching
  

Wow, that's still quite a bit. Most of these aren't difficult...just time consuming.

Procrastinated knitting

Okay, so I didn't get the 2nd sock done, but I did finish the first sock. I didn't get to go to Joann's because Lawrence was being neurotic over this minuscule rattling noise coming from the door of his car. I was working on the Hemlock Ring Blanket, however. I think it's like finals stress....when I have something I should be doing, aka Christmas knitting, I find a million other things to occupy me instead.

I finished putting together the wreath and we hung it on the door last night. It's pretty awesome...but we still need a nail to hang up the other piece above the door (I think it's called swag...). :D I can't wait to get a picture up!! Perhaps tonight...

2 weeks left...

What am I doing starting a Hemlock Ring Blanket (modified from a doily pattern by jared of brooklyntweed)?

I started the socks for my grandpa. It's pretty awesome for my first real attempt at a sock. I'm doubling the Tweedle Dee, so it's knitting up super-chunky at 3 stitches/inch. Unfortunately I didn't have enough yarn. I had to get some more from Michael's last night (they only charged me $1.50 because the ball band was missing!). I can see myself finishing it up fairly quickly...I may even be able to get the 2nd sock done tonight at Zephyr.

Saturday I made a slouchy hat in blue Dolcetto. I gave it to Peggy to try. If she likes it and will wear it, I'll make her another one so she can give that one to her sister. If not, she can just give it to her sister and I'll make her something else - like the argyle dog sweater she sent me a picture of. :) I've learned my lesson from last time and will do it flat.

Yesterday at the Subaru dealership I was able to finish several more inches of the Triforce scarf while waiting for Lawrence's car to get tuned. It may be about half done now.

Christmas Wreath

I got the urge to make a Christmas wreath this weekend. Lawrence and I went to Michael's last night for wreath-making supplies. This was spurred on partially because my apartment complex is having a door decorating contest. First place for best door decorations gets $350!!! :D I'm going to have the most awesome door in the building...

Spindle!

Lawrence drove me to Stick and Stone in Van Nuys on Wednesday and I bought a spindle! :D It's a Hi-Lo spindle, suitable for use as both a top-whorl and bottom-whorl. It's the only beginner spindle they had in stock, but they also had a 20% off sale going on so I bought some nice soft alpaca roving.

Attempts at Argyle

So, the argyle golf club cozies I'm making...yeah...um, they may take a little longer than I thought. I thought the 6.5 inches of 1x1 ribbing on size 5 needles would be the tough part! The colorwork is harder than I originally thought it would be, and I think that's particularly because it's argyle. There are places with several color switches, there are big blocks of color. Plus, it's in the round. The instructions specified to knit it flat and then seam up the side. I don't like seeming, I have all these nice shiny new circulars, so I thought I'd be clever and knit it in the round.

Fast forward to the argyle. I didn't realize color working technique would be an issue, and I certainly didn't think it would be that much more difficult in the round. I figured...well ok I'll just carry the yarn in the back and use it when I come to a color I need it for. I think that's called stranding, and is usually used with fair isle where you are constantly alternating between 2 colors. Problem is I was working with 3 colors, and some places I use one color every 15 spaces or so. That leaves a long loose strand hanging in the back. You have to leave enough slack to not distort the fabric. Even if you do that, your fabric can't stretch beyond the length of that strand, and you can't make it too loose or else the stitches will be loose on the front side, and the loops on the back may get caught on things. I did this for 2 rounds before I realized this was a problem. Maybe it's not so bad flat, but doing this using Magic Loop for a round item, I wasn't leaving enough slack at the turn, and my cozy was going to be permanently nipped in on 2 sides.

Okay, so that doesn't work and I tink back. I look up information and they say you usually use intarsia for argyle color work. No problem, I'll cut up my yarn and make bobbins even though I was trying to avoid doing that. I go for another 2 rounds and I'm all proud of myself for understanding the yarn twist at the color changes before I realize I'm running into a problem similar to the fair isle where the yarn is being stranded in the back. I finish series of stitches in a color, and since I'm working in the round, the next time I get to that section the yarn is on the far end and I need to pull it across the back so I can use the color on the beginning. That didn't seem right. I research some more and apparently intarsia is not meant for things worked in the round! When you knit flat, the yarn is in the correct place when you go backwards on the flip side.

Luckily there are a lot of websites and blogs that have dealt with this issue. They usually involve wrapping the yarn when you reach the beginning of the round, and then reversing your knitting and knitting along the back side. Apparently learning to knit backwards is awesome for this purpose (Knitty has an article on this).

Like an overexcited puppy

That's what I feel like whenever I go into a yarn store, or even the yarn section of a craft store. My heart rate goes up, my eyes get big, and my mind goes blank. I can't for the life of me remember what I need to buy. I can only recall a few things at a time and then hope that I covered all the bases.

When I was a kid, this used to happen every time I walked into the library.

Last night I went to Michael's before heading over to Zephyr. I bought 5 skeins of Red Heart (ok, one of them was Caron) acrylic yarn. Plain ol' Red Heart Super Saver - stuff that I swore to myself I'd never touch again. I'm using it to make the golf cozies. Even though the pattern calls for Malabrigo wool, I can't bring myself to use wool. Since the golf cozies go over the part of the golf club that contacts the grass, I assume the golf cozy will get dirty and need to be washed. Now who wants to hand wash golf cozies?

I may need to buy some more Tweedle Dee for various projects. I also still need to buy yarn suitable for Fetchings for my brother and maybe my cousin. I may also pick up some nice yarn for my aunts.

Faster than I thought

That double-knit (in the round) stockinette triforce scarf is coming along faster than I thought it would. It IS just knit stitches, since it's in the round. It is truly mindless knitting. I got it up to 11 inches last night while watching Tin Man. I also started the first Fetching in Tweedle Dee Blackberry to match my puffy hat. Right now, it just needs the thumb to be finished and I'll be able to start the second one. I had to modify the pattern a bit because the pattern is for worsted and I'm using a bulky yarn.

Using size 13 circular needles, I had a gauge of 3 stitches/4 rows = 1 x 1 inches.
1) CO 25 sts using cable cast on.
2) 4x1 rib for 3 rounds
3) cables for 1 round
4) 4x1 rib for 4 rounds
5) cables for 1 round
6) 4x1 rib for 10 rounds
7) k4 with waste yarn, re-knit with working yarn, finish round in 4x1 rib
8) 4x1 rib for 3 rounds
9) cables for 1 round
10) 4x1 rib for 3 rounds
11) picot bind-off
12) pick up 3 sts above waste yarn, 4 sts below, plus 1 additional at each end of the opening so you have 4 sts + 5sts on your needles
13) k 3 rounds & then BO loosely

This morning I chatted with the lady who sat next to me on the train. She was a librarian who crochets and sews. She likes reading science fiction and fantasy, and sews costumes. That was pretty cool! I need more interesting people like that to start talking to me on the train. None of that "oh, i'd never have the patience to do that, blah blah blah" stuff.

I'm going to go to Michael's tonight to pick up more yarn. I wish I could go to JoAnn's to see if they have the Debbie Mumm stuff in stock but the bus going up Lake doesn't come that often and I need to make it to Zephyr by 7:30pm for knitting. Well, I suppose I don't have to make it exactly at 7:30, so I'll see what I feel like when I actually get there.

I need:

• firm orange yarn, not too soft but good for plushy basketball
  
• yarn for fetching for bro
• cheap acrylics for golf cozies - white, purple, blue, green, red, varying shades
• blue cashmere?
• honey vanna's choice
• baby yarn for amigurumi
• yellow Sugar'n Cream cotton
  

Will I finish in time??

I didn't spend my Saturday knitting/crocheting as much as I would have liked. I did play WoW and my Ravelry-guilded hunter is now level 19.

This weekend I finished the cat sweater, and it cracked me up so much as I was making it because it's just the most ridiculous thing. I'm glad it didn't take too long, just in case the cat won't let us put it on her. I also finished sewing together one baby duck.

I need more Vanna's Choice yarn for the flower scarf. I think I'll just be perpetually buying the red or yellow as I run out of one and then the other every time I make this scarf.

I've been trying to decide which yarn I should use for the bunny slippers. I'm thinking maybe the Bernat Alpaca. I decided to use my second ball of Tweedle Dee Blackberry to make the socks for my grandpa. The baby booties, using the $2 ball of Patons Be Mine my mom found, are now on the needles (KnitPicks Options, hell yeah).

The triforce scarf is in progress, this is my biggest worry because I decided to knit this tubularly. It's going to be around 60 inches of tubular stockinette fun. I don't know how long it will take. I have about 4 inches done from last night and this morning's commute. That may be about 1.5-2 hours-worth of knitting. That means I may need 30 hours to finish within 3 weeks. Piece of cake! Right? Right?? :( I dunno...we'll see. It is going faster than I expected it to. I attribute that to my switching over to continental knitting. The yarn isn't helping, though. The Vanna's Choice isn't really stretchy with my knitting (maybe my needles are too small) and I have to readjust and tug often, slowing my knitting down a lot.

Looking at my list, it's so obvious why knitters have such large stashes.

• crocheted basketball plushy (need yarn)
• fetching (for bro, haven't decided on yarn)
  
• golf club cozies (need yarn - cheap acrylics)
  
• gray/blue bunny slippers (have yarn, not started yet)
  
• triforce scarf (in progress)
  
• bulky socks (have yarn, not started yet)
  
• flower scarf (on hold pending more yarn)
  
• basic booties (in progress)
  
• soft amigurumi for baby (need yarn)
  
• amigurumi (need 2 more babies & 1 mommy, need more yarn)
• slouchy hats (for 3 friends, pending yarn)

Other Photos

Ok, I guess it just felt like I had a lot of pictures. There aren't really that many new finished projects.

Mommy Duck from Anapaulaoli's Mommy Duck & Baby Duck pattern
Lily's Sugar'n Cream cotton yarn - yellow & orange
polyester filling, black snap on eyes


Saartje's Bootees
Bernat Satin Sport Solids in Aran and Wine, buttons from JoAnn's
- nice spare booties for last minute baby gifts, probably going to my erhu teacher, Karen Han


Ela's Scarf (finished at last)
Vanna's Choice in chocolate, olive, & honey
- doesn't look that much different from the last picture of it I put up. There's more brown...but it IS done and being shipped to its recipient this week.

Parade of Photos

And so it starts. I shall separate them into groups. Here are the pretty puff slouchy hats (I must've posted it a few times already, but for consistency's sake, pattern here).

Slouch Hat #1
JoAnn Sensations Bellezzo Collection Dolcetto in Dolcetto Blue


Slouchy Hat #2
Moda Dea Tweedle Dee in Blackberry


Slouchy Hat #3
JoAnn Sensations Bellezzo Collection Dolcetto in Dolcetto Yellow


Sorry the angle on these pictures is so boring and repetitive...but I suppose this is the only way Lawrence sees me since he's 9 inches taller than me. Can you tell I like this hat? :) Someone on Ravelry was able to find me some more balls of the blue Dolcetto at her local JoAnn's, so I will be making at least one more hat in the blue. One goes to JoJo and the other to Ally. I would make one for Peggy but she never puts her hair down. I think I will make one in a darker color for Becky.

Domo-kun Pillow

This is the Domo-kun pillow I made for my brother for his birthday. It's made of fleece, sewn together using a sewing machine (Simplicity Creative Spirit), stuffed with polyester filling, and its facial features are pieces of felt glued on with a hot glue gun. I think I did a pretty good job. Lawrence said I it needs arms and legs. Perhaps I'll try that on version 2.0, but a rectangular block is good enough for me on my first attempt at a sewn plushy.

knitting marathon

I find myself not really getting my knitting done on weekends because I've started playing WoW more. Well, December is now upon us and I've still got gifts to finish. It's crunch time and I was considering going to Starbucks, Borders, or some other cozy place with coffee and pastries for a Christmas knitting marathon! The Urban Craft Center is having a crafting event tonight, but Santa Monica is a bit far for me at night.

Then again it may be nicer to sit at home. I'll sit myself down in front of the computer and watch some TV series or movies (www.youtube.com/www.crunchyroll.com), and practice the skill of knitting without looking. At least it'll be warm. My fingers are freezing right now.

the AntiCraft

The AntiCraft is a crafting e-zine that comes out quarterly. It focuses mostly on knitting patterns but has things like cooking recipes and pumpkin carving instructions that I've seen in the latest issue. I found a link to it on Ravelry through a pattern for a knitted condom. Just looking through their archives, I found a pattern for a knitted snatchel (ha ha) and some wire beaded nipple pasties. Heh, this is probably not safe for work so I'll browse more at home.

OMG, YES!

I got my package, yayyyyy! The Scooba my bro and I are getting our parents for Christmas arrived too. :D Time to play!

Prioritization

Okay, in the interest of getting Christmas gifts done I've decided to prioritize new projects into a list. Not that I'll even follow it... :) But it's always good to have these ideas tucked away for future reference.

• gray bunny slippers
• triforce scarf
• bulky socks
• flower scarf
• cat sweater
• basic booties
• soft amigurumi for baby
• amigurumi (at least several ducks for coworkers, friends, family, & emergencies)
• slouchy hats (for 2 friends)

Note: lace scarf for my mom will probably be relegated to non-occasion fit status because my bro wants to team up with me to get them a Roomba, which I am totally up for. Those things are hella cute! BTW, I've noticed that I started saying "hella" again; no clue why. Need 2 knitting related things (shawls/yarn/hand-dyed) for 2 aunts who knit.

I have more pictures on the way, as soon as I get them from Lawrence.

ack, NO!

I missed it again! When I got to the leasing office, it was closed and there was no one inside. It was about 5 minutes past 6pm! If I got on the train just one train earlier I would have got my package...now I have to wait for tomorrow... That means no cool new projects for me tonight. :( I might finish a few though.

Amigurumi make for quick cute presents indeed

The first mommy duck needs to be stuffed & sewn together. The first baby duck just needs its head and then it's ready for stuffing & sewing. That'll be 2 down and 3 more to go! ;) I could have this finished by the end of the week! Or maybe not. I need to leave work earlier today so I can pick up my KnitPicks package. That means I can start knitting more things!

A few items from my Ravelry queue and Christmas gift list that I want to start on:

• the Peripatetic Knitter's Bag
• the Juno Regina Stole from Knitty
• a sweater that cats love
  
• a large, fancy, complicated lace stole/shawl like this, this, this, this, or this.
• socks
• a Zelda-inspired triforce scarf (for my cousin)
• slippers (for my grandpa)
• gray bunny slippers (for my cousin-in-law)

BTW, yesterday night I stopped by Vons on my way home and picked up several packets of Kool-Aid in cherry, strawberry, grape, lemonade, mango, lemon-lime, orange, and I think pina-pineapple. Unfortunately, there were no blue flavors. :(

Picking up the amigurumi again

At tonight's (last night's?) knitting night, out of all my projects, I decided to start on the amigurumi Christmas gifts for my coworkers. I'm thinking of making a mommy duck for each of my 2 bosses, and then baby ducks for the 3 other coworkers on my team.

The lady at the coffee shop asked me if I made my hat. She said it was really cute. That made me happy! :D

murgurglurglurgle

>_< I've been waiting for my KnitPicks order to arrive...I've got so many patterns using circular needles that I want to start!!! I was afraid they forgot to leave a package notification slip in my mailbox so I went directly to the leasing office after work.

I got there at 6:20pm....apparently they closed at 6. For some stupid reason I thought they closed at 6:30. Of course, on my way back to the apartment I check my mail and there is a package slip, so my package DID arrive today. And I DID miss picking it up because I left work too late! That means can't start all these cool new projects at the knitting night tonight! That means I'm stuck with my boring old projects that I've been working on for weeks! :( booooooo

Ok, maybe not. I've got a bunch of cotton that I've been meaning to make amigurumi out of for Christmas presents. Or there's the scarf I've been meaning to knit for my cousin....haha, but that's boring! Who wants to bring plain ol' boring projects to knitting night? It's the perfect time to show off things to other knitters who will actually get excited with you!

gimme teh slouchies!

That Pretty Puffs Slouchy Hat is so cute, quick, and easy...I see myself making lots of them for people this Christmas. I'm keeping my Tweedle Dee one, but the light blue Dolcetto is going to Ally. I'm currently making one in light yellow Dolcetto for JoJo. I want more Dolcetto! I now really regret not buying them when I saw them on sale at JoAnn's. :( :( So much for being good and not splurging on yarn I don't have an immediate need for....this is why we need to follow our instincts and buy yarn when we feel the urge to! :D I now need another cheap option for these hats, something that will give me a wider choice of colors. Actually it probably doesn't even need to be that cheap since I'll only need one ball and maybe just a bit over 100 yards. I suppose this is where Ravelry's stash feature comes in real handy.

When I saw my aunt this weekend she said that she wouldn't really wear scarves, but she really liked the Garden Scarf I made and would wear that if I made it, because it's more of an accessory than a scarf. That means...I'm frogging that cat's paw scarf. It's funny how knitters say sometimes you knit something and it just doesn't feel right so you can't finish it. In the case of this scarf, it's so true! There's just 2 things I don't like about it....the garter stitch for one. Secondly, it's not very symmetrical - in the pattern at least. I don't think you can tell so much by looking at it, but I couldn't get into the groove of it. It just didn't make sense to me on a logical level. That's okay tho. The cashmere probably would have been wasted as a lace scarf. I think the yarn would rather be a pair of wristwarmers. :) Perhaps I'll make a Fetching out of it, or just use that pattern for the WoW wristwarmers - arctic gloves of the wolf or something. That'd be cute, with some beads in it for added sparklies. :D

Finishing

I think I have a problem with finishing my projects. Or maybe it's just that I'm starting so many.

On Thanksgiving I went to my parents' place and I made a Pretty Puffs Slouchy Hat using the "Bellezza Collection Dolcetto" yarn I got for $1.97 at Jo-Ann's. I had to modify the pattern by not doing one of the increase rows because the yarn I'm using is chunky and it would have been way too big. Yesterday I made one out of my Tweedle Dee in Blackberry, following the instructions except for one sc round. It is wayyy too big. I'm going to have to frog it back and remove the last increase round. x_x That means doing 3 rounds of puff stitch over again. GAH.

The party lace scarf & clapotis are now on repeat status...repeat until desired length. I don't have the cat's paw pattern memorized yet so that one is reserved for periods where I can devote undivided attention. Ela's scarf still needs one more row of brown I think. Today I'm going to go visit my grandpa in the hospital so I suppose I'll have some time to work on finishing these things.

Growing Exponentially

I've bought SO much yarn in the past 2 months, it's seriously scary. At least they've been cheap. Except for one $24 skein of cashmere. Everything else has been $6 per ball or under. I don't know how I'm ever going to use it all up. Every time I come up with a project I want to start, I need to buy the yarn for it. Either I don't have the right type yarn, don't have the correct color, or don't have enough. I can't even begin to list all the yarn here. If you're on Ravelry you can check it out (username: matikin9), otherwise tough luck. :)

Silly Boyfriends

I wasn't able to make it to the knitting meeting yesterday night because my boyfriend asked me to stay home with him. At first I was annoyed....because I was really looking forward to hanging out with other knitters for a few hours....and just knit. But then, he has been working at the LA Auto Show this past week and he doesn't come home until 10-11pm at night. He hasn't even had a day off because there's only 2 salespeople and him and his boss switch around between manning the dealership and the auto show. Yesterday was his only day off because he had to go to the dentist, and drive his mom all the way out to Santa Monica to her dentist. Oh yes, and he needs like $4,000-worth of dental work over the next year to replace all his fillings and get his wisdom teeth out.

He usually has a good reason to request things from me, and I figured these were pretty good reasons for me to skip the knitting and spend time with him. We watched Law & Order, House, and then played WoW a bit together. It was nice, and I still got some knitting done! :)

Busy at work

Work, as in "pays for my yarn" work. I haven't had a chance to write up about the spinning class, but I will say very briefly that it was awesome!

I worked on my Party Lace Scarf in on the bus that day, in continental, and I messed up at the end of a row. I didn't realize until I was 2 rows past the point, because there's a purl row in between the pattern rows. I tinked back, but I had no idea how the loops were supposed to go together because it was on the edge, and all the loops kind of pull in tighter there so there's no clear pattern. It made me put off working on the thing until today. I took a look at it at lunch and figured out a satisfactory solution without having to just knit two stitches together. I think I fixed it correctly. I was so worried that I'd end up with a mistake in the lace that would ruin the scarf and all the time I spent would have been wasted! There's still so much yarn left to go through, I might not use up the entire skein.

I'm almost at the end of my first ball of Tweedle Dee for my Clapotis. After the second ball, it should be just about the perfect size. I wonder if blocking will work. The yarn is 80% acrylic and only 16% wool.

I've started on Saartje's Bootees. At lunch today I finished up the sole in a dark red soft cotton yarn. I left the cream colored yarn at home, but doh, I totally did not think to start the second bootie! That will probably be my walking project.

Last night I worked on Ela's scarf and I have one more row to finish. Then I'll give it a wash and I can ship it off. I also need to send Sly his scarf.

Well! That it's been a rather productive first half of the week! Tonight is knitting night at Zephyr Cafe on Colorado Ave. (come join us 7:30-10pm if you're near the Pasadena area). Tonight needs to be very productive as well. :D

Urgh, I may need to stop by Jo-Ann's beforehand for some fabric. My brother's b-day is on the 28th and I need to make his birthday present. I have to give it to him on Thursday because we're all going to be at my parents' house for Thanksgiving that day.

Clapotis pics

Here's a pic of my clapotis taken yesterday morning. I actually have 1 more repeat of the straight section done. I don't think it's as boring to knit as some of the people on Ravelry make it out to be. For me, the thrill of every repeat is enough to get me to knit 12 rows at a time. It's very satisfying to be able to drop those stitches! I really love the color variation from the Tweedle Dee yarn: rich reds to purples to oranges and back to reds again.


Here's a picture of my improvised stitch markers. The only downside is that they're not as easy to transfer as the plastic stitch markers because they wind themselves close to the needle. At least that makes them less likely to accidentally fall off. The one on the left I made using one strand of red and one strand of black.


Here's a closeup shot. So basically the what you do is take a length of yarn (you could tie 2 pieces to get one length long enough) and fold it in half. Stick something in the folded end (crochet hook, pencil, etc.) and twist the loose ends on the other side. Keep on twisting until the whole thing starts to twist on itself when you bring the two ends together. Let it twist on itself, and guide it so the ends are even. Remove your hook/pencil/whatever from the folded end and stick the loose end through (pretty much like how skeins of yarn are made). Knot the loose end, and voila! You've got a little twisty-tie stitch marker that stick on a needle.

Finished my Garden Scarf

Here it is! :D This is the Garden Scarf from The Happy Hooker. I made a 2-leaf chain using instructions I found here. To keep the scarf in place, I merely cross the ends and stick one of the leaves through 2 overlapping holes. Instant wearable cuteness! :D

Yarn-made Stitch Markers and the Clap

The other day on Ravelry there was a thread on why the Clapotis was so popular (from the latest figures on Ravelry: 2,240 finished and 576 in progress). I didn't like it when I first saw it and I too wondered why it was so popular. But, after a while it really grew on me - especially after seeing other peoples' claps. I think it has to do with the way it's worn in the photos on Knitty. Someone in the thread mentioned that the model is wearing it purl-side out. That makes the dropped stitches bump out and thus you get the weird (to me at least) lumpy silhouette. In the photos on Ravelry however, it seems that most people are wearing it knit-side out, making the dropped stitches dip and the fabric drape more flatly.

Fast forward to 2 nights ago when I went to Michael's and saw the Moda Dea Tweedle Dee yarn. It was on sale, it's SO soft, and the colors are SO beautiful I wanted to buy balls in every color (see the pretty shades on Yarndex here)! But...I couldn't justify it to myself when I already had 2 balls sitting at home with absolutely no project in mind for them and tons of other projects on the needles/hooks. At some point I made the connection: Clapotis....Tweedle Dee. Tweedle Dee...Clapotis! Soft, fuzzy, reddish-orangey-brown variegated bulky yarn...dropped stitch and thus not too heavy scarf knit in bias! I've wanted to try drop stitch. Apparently Clapotis is good for showing off variegated yarns. I need to go back to Michael's tonight to buy all their Tweedle Dee. Good thing Lawrence isn't coming home till late tonight. Bleh, unfortunately that also means I might not get pictures up today. The camera is in his car.

Since I'm using a bulky yarn I didn't want to make this full-sized. The pattern only calls for a worsted weight yarn. The directions on Knitty include instructions for adapting the pattern to accommodate size preferences. After the Set-up rows, I did the increase rows once instead of the 6 times required by the pattern. So far I've done the one repeat of the straight row section. It was very satisfying to drop those stitches! :) I didn't realize how much the dropped stitches would cause the fabric to open up! It's going to turn out larger than I first thought, but it's okay because the dropped stitches scrunchy up nicely too.

I almost forgot my original idea for this post...the stitch markers! The pattern calls for 18 stitch markers. I've never even used 1 in my knitting before, but I have several from an eBay purchase a few years ago. Since I'm using size 11 needles, I need larger stitch markers. I originally bought these cheap wire jewelry findings that bend open. I was thinking I could use my wire beads to decorate them and make my own cool stitch markers. Well, they're not big enough for the size 11 needles. Ok, no cool stitch markers...so I go to the regular round plastic things. Luckily the largest ones fit. BUT, I only have 4 of them and I need 6 total even with just 1 pattern increase. This is where those little yarn bits I've been saving come in handy! I keep them in a little baggy on my desk. So, I took a couple strands, tied one end together, and twisted it in until it twisted back onto itself. This is the way the ties inside the Butterfly Wrap are made. The part where the yarn twists back onto itself leaves me with a loop of potentially large sizes. Because of the twist, it will naturally twist itself down as much as it can so it's not prone to falling off the needles. Eh, it's hard to explain but it's intuitive awesomeness will be apparent once I get a picture up!

Tomorrow is the Spinning class, 10am-4pm, at the Urban Craft Center! w00t! I have a feeling I will need to go buy myself a drop spindle afterwards.

I'm starting to get confused over whether I've already posted on something here or in my Ravelry project pages. Eeps!

Funny bunnies

I should have called the wonky slipper a "she". They're analogous to Lawrence and me...he's more of the serious, lost-in-his-own-thoughts type while I'm the weirdo. haha.

I went to Michael's last night because I read on a forum that ALL their yarn was on sale. Well...they had no more Vanna's Choice in chocolate. :( I needed 1 more ball for Ela's scarf. GAHHH. However, I did pick up other yarn...specifically some cotton because I wanted to try making Saartje's Bootees (under free patterns on the right). They are SO cute, and I figure it can't hurt to have a few lying around for the next time I need a baby gift!

Yesterday morning I started a Garden Scarf (from The Happy Hooker). It's basically a bunch of big open flowers crocheted together. It's perfect for walking because I'm only holding 1 flower at a time until I have to join it to the scarf. I'm making this one for myself so I don't get burnt out making gifts for others! :) I've already 7 flowers (over 2 feet) done. I'm using the left over Vanna's Choice yarn in Brick and Honey from Ela's scarf.

After getting more involved in the knitting community, I'm just finding more and more things I want to make! :D Like the slouchy hat on Happy2Knit's blog. That led me to go look for patterns and I found the Pretty Puff Slouchy Hat.

Scarf Pictures

3 scarves, with pictures!

Sly's scarf - I designed it myself, although it was more *ahem* improvised than designed.


Ela's scarf - I need another ball of the brown to finish this up. This is the Stars (and Stripes) Forever scarf from The Happy Hooker, but modified for 3 colors instead of 4. Lawrence said adding in the red would be overkill.


Mom's scarf - This is the Party Lace Scarf, without beads.

Bunny Slipper pictures!

Here they are! :) One of them is a little wonky, he looks confused.

I got it!

I was just sitting here thinking about the ladies I was knitting with last night and I put the yarn in my left hand and picked at it with the needle. Before I knew it I was knitting continental, just like that! I even finished the rest of my lace row (with yo's, ssk's, and k2tog's aplenty). I tried doing continental once before, but for some reason the hand motion just didn't click. This is awesome! One thing I'm having a little trouble with is holding the yarn in my left hand but I'm sure I'll figure that out with some more practice.

On another note, last night was the first meeting for the Tues night Pasadena Ravelry knitters group. We met at Zephyr, a very cute little coffee house with yummy pastries. I loved meeting other knitters & crocheters and one of the ladies runs an online yarn shop where she sells cashmere yarn! At $24 a skein, I can't run out and buy a bunch, but I think I will get some to make something for my aunt Jennifer. She loves cashmere, but I'm having a hard time thinking of something I can make for her. She doesn't actually wear any knit accessories...but then perhaps she will if I make some for her! lol, she'll love anything I make for her just because I made it.

Edit: Ok, so maybe purling isn't as intuitive. I need to figure out how to hold onto my left needle without my index & middle fingers.

While (yarn<infinity) { yarn+=100; project+=1;}

The yarn I ordered from Knit Picks arrived last week! I picked it up yesterday because I didn't realize it would ship SO quickly! I made my order on Sunday, Oct. 28th, and apparently the package arrived at the end of the week. I didn't even check the mail because I thought it would take 2 weeks minimum. Then Lawrence told me yesterday that when he checked the mail, there was a package notification slip...which must have been my package of yarn!

I bought several skeins of lace weight yarn in colorways that were on sale. In fact, I think they still have more of it that's on sale because they're making room for more colors. Of course, I ordered $47-worth of yarn because orders over $45 get free shipping.

Shadow
100% merino wool
440 yards
$1.99/hank

Gossamer
100% merino wool
440 yards
$2.99/hank

Alpaca Cloud
100% baby alpaca
440 yards
$3.99/hank

Then yesterday when we went to Arcadia to buy Chinese newspapers, we stopped by the JoAnn's there and I bought $27 more in yarn. I bought some Sugar 'n Cream cotton yarn for amigurumi, some JoAnn Sensations yarn that was on sale (omg that stuff is so soft!), and some Patons worsted weight classic wool in Aran so that I can try dyeing and maybe felting.

.._.._.._.._.._.._..

Last night I finished weaving in the random ends that were sticking out of the bunny slippers. So that project is completed.

On Sunday, I finished up the lace cuff of the butterfly wrap and wove the ends in. I didn't have time to properly finish the ribbon ties, so I will need to do that. I didn't end up wearing it to the Nightwish concert...and truthfully I probably would have been very cold if I wore it. It still needs to be blocked, and I hope I find another occasion to wear it.

Being a productive weekend, I also finished up Sly's scarf last night. I don't know what the hell is up with my row counting, but it turns out that after "fixing" the red stripe, I ended up with an extra row. However, it's okay because I just made sure that the horizontal red stripe connecting the two pieces had the same number of stitches on both pieces so when I sewed it together, it would just kind of...line itself up. It doesn't look so bad, and will probably be better after I block it. If I can block it. I just realized the Vanna's Choice yarn is acrylic.

I frogged the beginning of Ela's scarf and restarted it to go along with the striped self-fringing scarf pattern in The Happy Hooker. I made it slightly shorter so it's 250 stitches-long instead of 300.

I sewed the body to the head of the amigurumi elephant. I ran out of yarn in the ball I was using, so I'm using the other balls of random blue yarn I had. I thought they were all the same color, but it looks like the other balls are slightly darker. This elephant is going to be kind of weird looking. I also sewed on two of the legs, but I think I sewed them in the wrong place. Maybe it will still be cute in a sort of deformed way... :/

This morning on my way to work, I wound one of the hanks of Knit Picks Shadow into a yarn cocoon so I can start knitting (w00t, knitting!) a lace scarf for my mom's Christmas present. The pattern looks insanely easy...it's just 4 rows of alternating knit increases/decreases & purls, repeated to the desired length or until your yarn runs out. It's the Party Lace Scarf from MagKnits, but without the beads. I'm just doing knit stitches where the beads would have been.

One step forward, two steps backwards

...and then perhaps another 2 steps forward.

The other night I was finishing up Sly's scarf. The one that's black with a red stripe. The one that I didn't make long enough so I thought, it's ok I'll just crochet some more and attach it one way or another. I wove the ends in, I crocheted two rows to the correct ends of each piece and rejoiced that I would soon have another Finished Object! I was in the process of sewing them together when I realized the two pieces weren't aligned properly. I re-seamed several times before I [stupidly] realized I was one row short on the extension piece. . . one row of the red stripe. Of course, that means the majority of the piece will have to be frogged and re-crocheted. Thankfully it shouldn't take too long. Now my only problem is getting around to un-weaving the ends.

The Nightwish concert is Sunday! I still have half the lace cuff to finish. The piece still needs to be blocked. Lawrence and I spent all of tonight cleaning out the closet. That's just fine and peachy and normally I would love to get the apartment cleaned but I've got a damn wrap to finish by Sunday and I don't want to stay up all night doing it! Tomorrow I've got to go to my parents' place because it's my deceased grandmother's birthday. We're going to go visit her grave site, maybe have lunch. They might play mah-jong in the afternoon. Maybe I'll have time to finish this wrap and maybe I won't. Even if I have time to finish the crocheting I won't be able to block it there. I'll bring a few other projects to work on, maybe the amigurumi or the scarves.

Sunday is also the Weaving and Fiber Festival, hosted by the Southern California Handweavers' Guild. The ladies in the Los Angeles group on Ravelry have been saying it's worth going so I've convinced Lawrence to drive me all the way down to Torrance for it. If I block the wrap on Saturday night, it should be finished in time for Sunday night, eh? Hopefully.

Addicted to Ravelry

OMG, some of the posts are hilarious! Using old knitting needles as stakes for tomato and orchid plants...

Butterfly Wrap - I'm finally done with the right sleeve! I've started on the left one and I have 14 sleeve rows and 17 cuff rows left to go.

Baby Jellyfish Amigurumi Photo

Here's a photo of the finished baby jellyfish (pattern by Anapaulaoli), made with Sugar 'n Cream cotton yarn.


I put the bunny slippers through the washer & dryer so they're a lot fuzzier now. But, after giving them to Lawrence to play with, somehow I'm missing a slipper so I won't have pictures of them up tonight.

Photos on Saturday

Lawrence forgot to bring home the camera again. BUT, we had to stop by his work place anyway to check up on an appointment he made for Saturday, so we did end up bringing the camera home. This means I can upload a ton of pictures tomorrow, yay!

Progress, all around

I finally got my invite to Ravelry yesterday! I spent all day on the site, and it looks pretty awesome. I will probably spend a large portion of Saturday entering project & yarn information.

Lawrence helped me sew the button eyes onto the bunny slippers, so they are also finally, um, non-eyeless! I think I'm supposed to wash them and let them dry to fluff them up a bit, and then they will be completely finished.

Unfortunately Lawrence left his Nikon at work so I'll have to wait for tonight to take pictures.

I am on the last row of the right sleeve before the lace work on the butterfly wrap. I may save that for when I get home just because I don't want to have to deal with losing my place in the pattern. Or I won't be able to help myself and I will work on the lace at every spare moment I get.

It's really a toss up because yesterday I started the mommy elephant amigurumi from Anapaulaoli. I finished stuffing the head last night, and as of this morning I've got 1 ear done. The other ear shouldn't take too long, and then there's the body and 4 legs. Making these is actually very fun! Even though the long stretches of single crochet are monotonous and make me impatient, I love how these things get created so quickly. It's like "Rows 4-11: sc 18" and you're like "4, 5, 6, ....that's 8 rows of single crochet...am i done yet? how many more rows?" But before you know it, you're decreasing and decreasing, and you've just got a little hole left for the stuffing. Like most crochet & knitting, the foundation row/chain and the first row are the most annoying.

The great thing about this elephant is that I get to use up the gigantic balls of blue yarn that my mom and I found in our garage many years ago. I don't know what the fiber is or what brand it is, I just know I have several huge balls of it. There are 4 plys and it splits easily if it becomes untwisted, which it tends to do. However, for some reason it has been fairly easy to work with for this elephant. That's good because I had no idea what I was going to do with all the yarn and it was just taking up space in my stash. On a side note, I think it would be very cute to tie little bow ribbons on these amigurumi.

Eyes

Eyes are an important anchor in a face. They bring soul to inanimate objects and can convey a variety of emotions and impressions.

That said, my bunny slippers are still missing their eyes. My [almost] complete baby jellyfish is also waiting for eyes. I need to finish them before I start to amass a horde of eyeless animals in my apartment. That could be pretty creepy.

#580 on Ravelry!

Amigurumi Jellyfish

No pictures, I forgot. :( I was busy last night going to Michaels (Vanna's Choice on sale for $2!), the supermarket, cooking food, going to the gym, and also trying out the amigurumi patterns I bought from Anapaulaoli!

I started with the baby jellyfish because I had some leftover cotton yarn. It's a natural off-white color, with random flecks of blue, red, yellow, and purple thrown in. It crocheted up really quickly - which, I suppose, isn't a surprise but I've never gotten that far on an amigurumi before. Before I knew it the instructions called for me to embroider the mouth and put on the eyes, but I had no eyes! Hence, I convinced Lawrence to drive me to Michaels so I could get eyes to finish the jellyfish. :) While I was there I also picked up 4 balls of Vanna's Choice in brick, chocolate, honey, and olive for another striped gift scarf.

As of this morning after the walk to the train station and the train ride to work, I have only 3 tentacles left to finish the jellyfish. :) I bet the mommy and daddy amigurumis would work up pretty quickly too. I could make pairs of them in a period of 2-3 days each and give those out as Christmas gifts!

OMG it dropped below 1000

I'm now at # 931 on the waitlist! XD

I'm planning to stop by Michaels tonight to get some more Vanna's Choice yarn for another Christmas scarf. This one is going to be asymmetrical vertical stripes in various earth tones. I'm almost done with the black & red scarf and will try to put up a picture of that tonight.

The edging on the butterfly wrap has been rather painful. Thank goodness those picots are over with. I am now working on one of the sleeves. It should be pretty straightforward until the lace detail at the cuff, so it's working out perfectly on schedule. I still have 2 weeks before the Nightwish concert.

Amigurumi

I bought these amigurumi patterns from Anapaulaoli at www.etsy.com

They are SO cute, and I can't wait to make a bunch to give to people as Christmas presents.

More Strangers on the train

The past 2 days I've been having encounters of a different kind with strangers on the train. The first day was when I forgot where I put my iPod so I didn't have anything stuck in my ears. The girl sitting next to me started asking me about how to get started with crochet. She took notes on her phone and asked me how I first learned, and where to buy yarn. On my walk from the train station to the apartment, a lady walking in the opposite direction admired my ability to crochet while walking. When I got home, there was a lady in the elevator who commented on my crochet and started talking about how her sister, mother, and grandmother all can crochet but she was never able to. The next day I actually did have my headphones on (I found my iPod in my purse, doh!). But the lady sitting next to me, as well as this old Asian lady sitting in front of me both started admiring my crocheting and asking me questions.

I don't know why there is suddenly all this interest when I've been crocheting on the train for the past month now. Here are some possible ideas I threw around in my head.

• iPod - Having headphones on stops conversations before they can even start because people assume you don't want to be bothered. Sometimes this is true. This also does not deter some people from bothering you anyway.
• Project specific interest - One interesting point about these past few days is that I've been working on a scarf. It's a very bold black with a red stripe running vertically, and I can work very quickly on it because it's only single crochet with a large hook. Maybe as a more fun project, it's more approachable to ask about than say my lacy butterfly wrap, which uses thin yarn, a tiny hook, and no color other than black. Other women look at the scarf and it piques their interest because they think to themselves "Hey that's pretty and it looks easy, I can do that."
  
• Familiarity - Maybe these people have seen me on the train before and decided to comment because I happened to sit next to them.
• Gender - Maybe I sat next to too many men before.
• Clothing - Maybe I dress better now so people don't think I'm some weirdo.
  

#2889

...on Ravelry. I'm estimating 3-4 more days before I get my invite! :D

Lion Brand - Vanna's Choice yarn

I've read some differing opinions of this yarn on the Knitter's Review forums. Some thought it felt strange and too scratchy, not soft enough. Others found nothing wrong with it and appreciated the value (it's only $2.49-2.99).

When I first felt it I wasn't impressed, but after buying some and crocheting with it, I must say that it definitely isn't as scratchy as Red Heart acrylics, nor as stiff feeling as some of the wools. It doesn't slide that easily on my hook, but then maybe it's because my hook is too small. The wrapper calls for size J, and I'm using size I.

One thing that is nice, and I suppose would make sense since they say that Vanna is an avid crocheter, is that the yarn does not split easily. That is the one thing that has annoyed me about working on my Butterfly Wrap - it's so easy for my hook to split the Jojoland yarn if I'm not careful. The Vanna's Choice yarn is wound more tightly or something - haha, or maybe it's just because it's thicker! Come to think of it, I've never crocheted with thicker yarns before. :)

Strangers on the train

On the train home from work today, there was an old man. He didn't speak English, but he signaled me for my attention. He pointed at my crocheting and pointed at his eyes and then made negative motions. I gathered that he was trying to tell me to stop crocheting on the train or else I'll ruin my eyes. I didn't want to bother trying to argue with an old man I couldn't even communicate with so I put my crocheting away. Oh well. Instead I took out the pattern and started reading ahead on the edging and sleeves.

Yesterday a friend I met from World of Warcraft asked me for a knitted scarf. That should be easy enough. I shot him a series of questions about his preferences (because I know he's rather picky about some things) and decided to do a black scarf with one off-center vertical dark red stripe. I figured that it might take too long to knit and so I'm going to crochet it. I also thought this would be a good chance to practice some Tunisian Crochet. I could either do it length-wise or width-wise. If I do it length-wise, the dark red yarn will only take 3-4 rows. If I do it width-wise, then I'd need to do 3-4 stitches of red on every row, meaning I'd have to do intarsia. I suppose it would be a good opportunity to practice that too...even if that means it would be really annoying to do. If I crochet it the easier way, length-wise, I'd have to use regular crochet because my hook isn't long enough for an entire scarf. However, regular crochet isn't as thick as Tunisian crochet, and so wouldn't be as warm - and that was one specific characteristic my friend asked for.

On my way home from work today, I decided to go to Jo-Ann and the local yarn store, Skein. It was a nice little yarn store, with all the yarns nicely stacked in little cubbies everywhere. There were a ton of books, magazines, and binders full of patterns. There was also a table in the back where you can get knitting help. There were a bunch of people there knitting when I arrived at 5:30pm. I decided it would be a good idea to make a lace scarf/shawl for my mom for Christmas, but the mohair yarns were so expensive...either I'd have to make it smaller or I'll have to find a cheaper alternative. I didn't end up buying any of the books or the yarn because it was too much for me to justify when I already had another project I had planned to start. I did however buy a Tunisian hook because I wasn't sure if Jo-Ann would have any. At Jo-Ann, I bought 3 balls of black Vanna's Choice yarn and 1 ball of cranberry worsted Wool-ease. Not bad for $10. I didn't even have a 50% off coupon on me.

As soon as I got home I tried Tunisian knit stitch with the black and red yarns together. Perhaps I was a little too ambitious. It was hard to tell where I was supposed to put the hook, and some of the stitches didn't look quite right. I took out the red and used only black with regular simple Tunisian, and the crocheting started to curl severely after just a few rows. I looked it up and found out that it's *supposed* to curl. Tunisian is back-heavy on the yarn, causing the yarn to pull in a way the curls the bottom edge, the same as a knitted stockinette stitch. It helps to crochet very loosely and use a larger hook, but I don't think my hook is big enough for the fabric to not curl. I think I'll just crochet this normally and save the Tunisian for something simpler. OR...I could try using the knitting loom I bought! I would probably need to double the yarn and then learn to do intarsia on a loom.

I got an e-mail tonight saying the ribbon I ordered has been shipped. w00t! Must...finish...wrap...

Project update

Fuzzy Bunny Slippers - In my rush to finish the butterfly wrap and perpetual procrastination when it comes to finishing things, these cute little things have been put aside. All I need to do really is to sew on the buttons. But then, I have to use a smaller needle because my tapestry needle won't fit through the holes on the buttons. Well, if I do that I probably can't use the embroidery thread I bought because it's too thick to fit through the eye of a smaller needle. Yeah. It's just too much hassle when I have the butterfly wrap to finish. Most likely, I'll just sit down and get it over with this weekend once I have a sizable chunk of free time and no pressing need to work on the store website.

Hearts - I did completely finish 4 of these. However, I wasn't entirely happy with the eyes I embroidered. I think I will get some beads for future hearts. The 1 heart I didn't like the most, I took with me to my aunt's home in Temecula for her cat to play with. Again, as long as I can crochet my butterfly wrap on the train, making more of these will be on hold. Oh, and I need to go to Ikea to get some suitable jars. Once I have something I can watch fill up, I'll have more of an incentive to make more hearts.

Butterfly Wrap - I finished the back, front right, and front left partial panels yesterday after work. While I was waiting for Lawrence to get off work at the Maserati dealership, I seamed the pieces at the shoulder and connected them at bottom by starting the waist detailing. They have these nice plush leather seats at the dealership that were very comfy to lounge and crochet in. The waist detailing is basically 4 rows of rectangular holes that the ribbons will be woven through.

While working on the front partial panels, I ran into an issue. It took me a while to think it through but I think there's an error in the pattern. I've only looked at it for the L size, so I don't know if it applies to the other sizes (I think it does). First off, the back partial panel is supposed to be 28 rows when finished. The left front partial panel is 21 rows for the rectangular portion with 8 rows of shaping. This gives you 29 rows (21+8=29?), although the pattern indicates there should be 28 rows. The right front partial panel is only 20 rows for the rectangular portion, and 8 rows for the neck shaping, and it indicates there should be 28 rows total. I think somewhere either before the shaping or on the first row of the shaping, the instructions skipped a row. The first row of the neck shaping says to chain 7 and shl in the next ch-1 sp. That only makes sense if I crochet in the pattern to the end of that row because the start is a 3-dc motif while the end is the shl motif. I did that to keep with the patterning, and so I end up with an extra row, or 29 rows. This makes sense since the left front panel turned out to be 29 rows as well. However, this means I was short 1 row on the back panel, so I went and crocheted an extra row. I love that about crochet - try doing that with knitting!

This was the only big problem I had with the pattern. There were some other things I would nitpick at, specifically consistency in wording and punctuation but it was nothing I couldn't figure out. Although...I think the Main Body Trim section was accidentally printed twice. I'll have to e-mail them at StitchDiva to get some clarification on this. If anyone reading this is working on this pattern and having trouble, let me know and I'd be happy to help.

Stroke of genius

I hate throwing anything away. Lawrence is constantly frustrated at how much junk we've [I've] accumulated and how it creates a never-ending mass of things that need to be cleaned or put away. So, when he tried to throw away his Diesel jeans, I squeed at him and cried inside. They're a beautiful dark blue, thick, solid jean fabric. He had bought 3 pairs because they were on sale. I ended up wearing them. Turns out he didn't like the fit.

He complains that I always save up all this stuff with the idea that it will be good for something one day, but I never actually do anything with it, and indeed end up going out to buy more new materials. Well. Today, I figured out what I can make with those jeans - a shopping bag! These alternatives to your standard market plastic/paper bags are getting popular, why not make myself one? I don't know if I can even bring myself to cut up the pants, the stitching on the seams is very nice. They're very nice jeans. >_< If I lose enough weight I'd be able to fit in them again.

Swift and winder

If I start dyeing or spinning yarn, I'm really going to need a yarn swift and ball winder. A yarn swift is a large wooden folding contraption that can extend or retract its arms to hold your hanks of yarn. It also has a center post that allows it spins around. You use it in conjunction with a ball winder. A ball winder is a small device that you manually crank. It pulls the yarn from a swift (causing the swift to turn) and wraps it around a post to create a nice, loose, yarn "cake."

I want one. Of each - a swift and a winder. I don't want to order them for myself right now because I feel like I've already been spending so much money. I probably will anyway. They're on sale on the Joann website - $41.99 for the swift, $34.99 for the nicer winder. OMG, they're on sale! I don't know how long these sales last for, but the website says yarn winders are on sale for 30% off this week, and that's why they are on sale. Combine that with the free shipping coupon (on orders over $35), anda 50% off one item coupon, and this could be a very good deal!

Naturally dyeing yarn, after the class

Last night I barely caught the bus to get to the Urban Craft Center out in Santa Monica. I was already cutting it close, but there were just a few things I "had" to finish up - like actually looking up how to get there. I ran down the stairs, walked briskly to the corner and realized I didn't bother to lookup which direction the bus would be going, and hence I had no idea which corner I was supposed to be on. I saw the triangular Big Blue Bus sign for the Santa Monica buses for the side of the street I was on. As I wondered if that was the right stop, I saw a big blue bus across the street going in the other direction. Years of riding public transportation cause my eyes to snap to the display at the top of the front of the bus...."10 Santa Monica...3rd street..." Lucky for me, as the bus was stopped the light changed and I could cross the street. I swear I left work with at least a few minutes to spare. The bus must have been early.

I really think it was early, because by the time I got off at my stop in Santa Monica it was only 5:33pm, when it was supposed to be at least 5:40pm. A quick look around and I found the next bus stop I was supposed to wait at for the #5 bus that goes down Olympic. I got off at Stewart, and proceeded to wander around looking for this Urban Craft Center place. I thought it was going to be its own building and would have a big sign making it easy to find. Haven't I learned enough times not to make assumptions? Murphy's Law.

In any case, the area was very interesting. Apparently the UCC is in a complex called the Santa Monica Studios. Every door was a different sort of cool indie-type company. There were recording studios, dance studios, art studios/galleries, acting studios, graphics companies, leatherworkers...all manner of just totally cool stuff. Unfortunately I was also pretty lost. I had to call Lawrence to ask him to look on the UCC website for the map. He got frustrated with me while I tried to reconcile my immediate surroundings with his description of relative layout of the building, the Pit, the Cafe, and the parking lots. Eventually, I figured out where the UCC was supposed to be and made it there in time. The artsy community residing in this industrial location reminded me of Berkeley's 4th street, another industrial area full of warehouses turned artsy.

I've never been to a craft class before so I didn't have an idea of what to expect. There were only 2 of us there for the class, and although it would have been nice to see them more active, I liked the intimacy and access you get by having a 2:1 student to teacher ratio. It was a nice spacious studio, with high ceilings and a sort of loft area where they had a library and some reading tables. The ground level was spacious but there were supplies and tools for all sorts of crafty ventures scattered around the edges of the room as well as nicely tucked away in tall cabinets. They even had some nice comfy upholstered chairs (of the type perfect for knitting/crocheting in).

Since this was a natural dyeing class, we used cochineal (an insect) for purpley red color, onion skins for an orangey color, dahlia flowers for yellow, and a plant called madder for brown. The cochineal and bark had to be ground into powder before being used. All the dye materials were boiled in water. We then put in hanks of Knitpick's Bare yarn that had been treated with mordant and soaked in water. Note: the water used in the boiling must be distilled water, or you may get unexpected color variations from the metals and minerals in the water. After the yarn has boiled long enough in the dye water to give you the color you want, you let it cool off. Then, you rinse out the yarn. You need to get out as much excess dye as you can or else the texture of the yarn when it dries will be off. That means rinsing the yarn until the water runs [nearly] clear. Let the yarn hang on a rack to dry, and you're done! We took our yarn home in ziplock baggies, to finish drying at home. Since I didn't have a drying rack, I rigged something up using 2 barstools , 2 brooms, and 2 rolls of toilet paper.

I really want to go home and play with my yarn! :) I will also probably give in and buy the swift & winder from Joann's. I found a 50% off coupon, but the sucky thing is it's 50% off the regular price. Also, you can only use 1 promotion code per order so I can't add in the free shipping coupon.

Natural dyeing class at the Urban Craft Center

I've wanted to take dyeing and spinning classes for a while now. While browsing around the Craftster forums, I saw someone mention this place in a post: The Urban Craft Center.

It's a communal workspace for crafters of all kinds, located in Santa Monica. You pay by the day(s) for a pass to use their space and tools. They've got a long list of craft mediums they support listed on their website. In addition, they offer private lessons and host craft classes. They are currently running a 12-class series called "The Well Rounded Crafter." These introductory classes cover everything from journal-binding to screen printing, and of course fiber dyeing and spinning. There are still 9 classes left, including the Natural Dyeing class scheduled for today. Next week is the Hand Spinning class. It's nice that some of the classes tie in with each other. You can use the roving you dye today for the spinning class next week. Classes aren't too expensive either - the dyeing and spinning classes are $55 & $45, respectively. I plan to take the bus over there, which should take about an hour. Lawrence will then pick me up at 9pm because he's afraid of me walking around that area of Santa Monica alone at night. :)

Quality over quantity

Time flies - it's already been nearly a week since I last posted. In that time I have been busily working on the butterfly wrap, putting the final touches on my retail business' website, and making an effort to spend more quality time with Lawrence.

It's been a pleasure working on the butterfly wrap, especially since it's been working up rather quickly. I ordered the ribbon yesterday. I ended up choosing the color Lobelia. It's a darker bluish color than the other options, but slightly variated so hopefully it will be good for matching other outfits as well. I've got the back partial panel and the front left partial panel finished, and I only need a few more rows of the front right partial panel. Once that's complete, I can seam them together and start crocheting down for the bottom half of the wrap. After that, only the sleeves, finishing, and ribbon ties are left. Haha, okay, so maybe that's still quite a bit, but it does not feel as daunting as when I first downloaded the pattern! The pattern itself is quite simple, it's basically a repeating series of dc stitches, shells, and chains. Once you have the first row, all the other rows follow the same pattern - you just need to look at the previous row to know what's next, not that it's even a hard pattern to understand. Again, it works up so much more quickly than knitting.

I almost feel like I'm betraying my knitting, but I think I am starting to like crochet more than knitting. You can do 3D objects, cool lace work that isn't difficult, and whatever shape you crochet all you need is a hook. As an additional bonus, I don't feel so weird crocheting while walking. I saw a top on Craftster this morning that I really loved. It would make a great project for me to do next, but I would need to lose some weight first. The garment in question is the Dahlia top found at Labrajogo's Etsy store. It's made with crochet thread, which makes it much finer than the wrap I'm working on right now. Given the surface area of the top, I'm sure it would take much longer to finish as well. Regardless, the detail on the Dahlia is beautiful! The creator took 3 months making it, frogging and reworking rows to get the fit just right. I wouldn't mind doing that if I knew the result would be so beautiful.

Usually I stay away from thin sport weight, fingering weight yarns because it seems like it will take forever before an object starts to look like anything recognizable. As a result, most of the yarns I stock up on are bulky. This results in me making only bulky items with my bulky yarn. As I start to wear things made with bulky yarn I realize how this can be a problem. Even a scarf that's too bulky, wrapped around my neck, will make me look like I have a double chin and no neck. Part of this may be tied into the fuzzy yarns I love to buy. I'm not talking about the boa-like fun furs, but the insanely soft fuzzy yarns like Sirdar's Snowflake. Unfortunately these yarns all tend to be bulky. Stitches also end up being very undefined. The finished object is a fuzzy mass, making patterns with intricate stitching completely pointless.

Lately I feel myself being drawn more towards the no-nonsense non-fuzzy yarns, the ones that give you well defined stitches. I've always been interested in working more complicated patterns, but again, that hasn't been possible with my yarn selection.

Stitch Cafe & Butterfly Wrap progress

Last night I made Lawrence drive me out to North Hollywood so I could visit a yarn store - Stitch Cafe. It was a small store with many shelves, baskets, and racks full of yummy yummy yarns. We went specifically on a Thursday because that's when they're open until 9pm. Other days they are only open until 6pm, and of course Lawrence doesn't get off work until 6:30pm. Wednesday night looked like a get-together night because there were a bunch of people knitting together in the front section of the store.

I went specifically looking for Hanah silk cording to use in my Butterfly Wrap. The Artemis website lists Stitch Cafe as a retailer that carries Hana silk ribbons. Silly me, I did not think that meant they may only stock specific ribbons. At the store I realized they didn't have the cording I needed. They only carried the regular silk ribbons. Regardless, the ladies at the store were very willing to help and so friendly! They immediately made me feel comfortable, and also pointed me to the yarns out back that were on sale for 30% off. Even though I didn't find what I specifically came for, I loved browsing through all the beautiful yarns, and I even bought 2 hanks of sale yarns. I don't know what I'll use them for, but they're beautiful nonetheless. I suppose it would be easier to just buy the silk cording online instead of calling all the different yarn stores to the one that carries it at least an hour away. Now...what color should I get? :( Should it match the dress? Complement the dress? Shouldn't I pick a color that would be easily matched by the other clothes in my wardrobe? Then again, what other clothes do I even have that would match this wrap? Ahhh!

On another note, so far I've finished 7 rows of the back panel for the butterfly wrap. It definitely isn't perfect so far, but I'm torn between wanting to get it done as soon as I can for the concerts,
and wanting to start over now that I have a better insight into how loose to make the stitches. I reread the pattern and this wrap is worked top-down. That means that my *worst* and loosest rows, the initial ones, will be right up at the top. Being so loose, the might make for a strange fit up top. I don't know if the size I chose is correct either, it does seem a little big so far. Maybe it's supposed to be like that? I can't really tell until I finish the other panels and start putting it together. I suppose if it's too big I could wear it for the concerts and then gift it to someone else. I'd really much rather make something nicer the first time around. Even if I decide to restart it in a smaller size...what if that smaller size is too small?

O_o I'm probably just going to continue and hope for the best. If it turns out to be way too big, I could always frog the panels and start over. It shouldn't be too difficult if I don't actually knot the yarn ends together, and it's not like I have to use lots of small lengths of thread.

yarn in the mail

Receiving a package of yarn in the mail makes me so happy! :D The 12 balls of black sport weight yarn I bought off of eBay came today. I'm using them to crochet a Butterfly Wrap (pattern from StitchDiva). IF I can get this finished in November, I'll be able to wear it with my dress to the Nightwish and/or Evanescence concerts! The pattern itself isn't that difficult. The only thing I'm worried about is the tension. I don't want it to be too loose, or too tight, but at least since it's a wrap and will be tied....it probably won't matter very much.

finished Hearts

Here are the Hearts (designed by Anna at Mochimochi Land) I've finished, with their uh, interesting expressions. Adding embroidery for facial expressions is something I'm new to. I've seen some really cute pieces that had so much character to them just by having a slight curve to the mouth. I hope I get the opportunity to practice this some more.

KnitPro from microRevolt

I just found an awesome resource through the Craftster forums! It's a very simple and easy to use little online tool called KnitPro. What it does is transform your digital images into knit, needlepoint, cross-stitch, or crochet patterns. It accepts .gif, .jpg, and .png files less than 1MB - outputing the patterns as .pdf files. They also offer ratio options (specifically because knitting isn't 1:1).



I can even see this being useful for some basic quilting…like that Link quilt I wanted to make! Here's what it did with the little 11x37px Link sprite image I dug up.

almost Finished Objects

The bunny slippers have had their ears since yesterday. I went to JoAnn's yesterday to buy the black button eyes, but today when I tried to sew them on I realized my tapestry needle was too thick to go through the button holes. DOH! As I considered my options, I worked on the only other project I had on hand - the Hearts from MochimochiLand. Anna has some cool knitted toy patterns for free and for sale on her website.

update on the bunny slipper

I haven't actually posted pictures of the Fluffy Bunny Slippers yet, so I took the opportunity yesterday to do so while one of them didn't have the lower sole completely sewed on yet. Note, I haven't had a chance to put on any of the bunny aspects yet - the ears, eyes, nose - so these are pictures are of just the slipper portions.

Here's both slippers looking ready (click to enlarge):


The following is a photo of the unfinished slipper, which I am in the process of sewing together. The tapestry needle I'm using is on the top of the slipper, you can kind of see it hiding there. I'm using safety pins to hold the lower sole onto the rest of the slipper so that I don't accidentally sew it on lopsided. I had to resew the slipper top a few times because it kept on turning out crooked. The instructions aren't entirely clear where you're supposed to sew the lower sole to, so what I've done is sew it high enough for the crocheted edge (the V's) to cover up the seaming on the slipper, i.e. where the slipper top and the upper sole join.


Here's the same picture from above, but with lines drawn in for the various pieces.

1. This is the slipper top. It's shaped like the letter U, and is sewn to the upper sole.
2. This is the lower sole, and it's a big oblong shape.
3. This is the upper sole, another oblong shape but it is smaller and the stitches are tighter than the lower sole.
4. This isn't actually a piece sewed on. After the slipper top and upper sole are sewn together, you crochet around the foot opening. That's comprised of the portion of the upper sole not connected to the slipper top and the portion of the slipper top not connected to the upper sole.

I still need black buttons for the eyes. I also need to decide whether or not to embroider the nose on. Lawrence thinks it may look cuter without the nose. I'll see once I get the ears and eyes on.

people are in a knitting revelry over Ravelry.com

You just need to read the comments on their news blog to see how excited people are. It's so cute that they're all so excited over a knitting website. >.> Then again, I'm very excited too. I've only got 13,507 people ahead of me now, w00t! ::clicks Refresh again...and again...::

Knitty - Womb

Womb, from Knitty

I made a few of these several years ago to give to friends because they're SO cute! :) Whenever people see it, their first reaction is that it's cute. They start wondering what it is, and then they think: "No way, it can't be. It's not.....is it?" This one was actually the first one I made, and I screwed up on the bottom where the cervix is. As you can see in the photo, it just goes straight down. It's supposed to flare out a bit, like in the photos on the Knitty website. I actually have a properly flared Womb almost finished, but I still need to sew on the fallopian tubes and fill it with stuffing.

finally, some pictures

Here's the information, direct from the label for the 2 yarns I used for the Fluffy Bunny Slippers pattern found in The Happy Hooker.

Bernat - Natural Blends Cashmere
color: Petal
1 ball = 60g, 103 yds
65% acrylic/30% nylon/5% cashmere
gauge: 17s x 24r = 4" x 4" on US 8 needles/US H8 hook [medium 4]
care instructions: Hand wash, lay flat to dry. Wash gently by hand in water (not exceeding 30C/86F). After extraction of excess water, dry the article on a suitable flat surface. Do not bleach. Do not iron or press. Do not dry-clean.
Made in Canada.


Moda Dea - Dream
color: Waterlily
1 ball = 50g, 93 yds
57% nylon/43% acrylic
gauge: 16s x 23r = 4" x 4" on US 10 needles, 11sc x 13r = 4" x 4" on K-10.5 hook [medium 4]
care instructions: Hand wash, lay flat to dry. Do not iron, bleach, or machine dry. Dry cleanable with any solvent except trichloethylene.
Made in Italy.


The angle is a little strange, but here's a picture of me crocheting with both strands together:



My Comments
This was my first time using two strands of yarn together on a project. It was surprisingly easier than I thought it would be. It was easy to feel when I accidentally slipped the hook through just one yarn and not the other. These yarns were easy to crochet with, the loops slid smoothly off the hook (an aluminum size H/8 Boye hook) and I was able to maintain tension smoothly. The only problem I ever ran into was with the Bernat Cashmere yarn, being 4-ply, my hook would sometimes go through the yarn and snag on the plies. Both yarns are deliciously soft, not scratchy at all. I would definitely use these yarns for future projects. As for the bunny slippers themselves, they are not yet done. I'll put up pictures as soon as they are, but right now I still need to sew on one of the lower soles and then sew on the ears, eyes, and noses for both slippers.