Category: craft

New Hope.

~ laura ~ 3 Comments

After I finished the seed stitch washcloth yesterday morning…. I seem to have tripped and fell on some knitting mojo I left lying around a while back.
But first, the washcloth. Every FO deserves a moment in the spotlight, even if you are just going to wash your face with it.

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There, an excessive amount of photos for a simple face cloth. Moving on….

There’s this sketch book cover by Veronik Avery that appeared in IK Summer 05 issue. I have some some yarn in my stash purchased just for this project, and it’s even set aside for it in a ziplock, and has been for.. oh…. a year and a half or so.

So yesterday, I decided to make it. But not with the pre-established set aside yarns. Oh no. And the actual cover part.. not just plain reverse stockinette, oh no no no. The newest issue of Knitty has an article about tiny mitered squares with hand-painted yarn. And I read it last week, and tucked the ideas away for later, and apparently when I wasn’t paying attention, my little knitter brain plotted out a project, and then presented it to me fully blown.

LittleKnitterBrain: So.. check this out…Mitered squares like little windows in autumny leafy colors for the background…. AND THEN… the leaves from the Vintage Leaf kit!!

Me: ….and how would I decide where to put them?

LKB: Well lay out the cover and then drop the premade leaves on it of course! And where they land, that’s where they get attached!

Me: But what about the ties? I won’t have ties? Or the panels that make the ties possible!

LKB: Who needs panels? Use a leaf dumbass! They have stems. The stem could be long enough to go to the other side and hook to a little button….

Me: Oh. OH!. Neato!

LKB: Well of course it’s neato. I thought of it. Now go knit.

So, I’ve cast on. If this works out as well as my Little Knitter Brain thinks it will, I will be damned pleased with this project. And best of all, it’s small, and portable, just like a sock, but it’s not a sock. Which is good, because I don’t want to knit socks right now.

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Spring?

~ laura ~ 3 Comments

Last Monday, we got a ton of snow.

This was what my porch and trees looked like midmorning. And it still snowed a for several more hours.

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The two days after it quit snowing, it was 7 and then 9 (F) when shmoo left for work and didn’t get much warmer.
I think the high that second day was 16.

During those cold days, I made shmoo wear the handspun cowl I had made, because he doesn’t like long scarves and wouldn’t wear one at all. He liked it, and I had some more Manos that matched a hat I had made him about 2 years ago, so I whipped him out a cowl. The two days I knit on the cowl, the temps were in the 70s and the high ended up being 78.

Of course. (Though it has since cooled again.)

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And now, a week and a half later from the day we got around 8 inches of snow…. the trees are acting like it wasn’t super cold at all!

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Ingenious.

~ laura ~ 3 Comments

First, I promised a picture of the Shmocks.
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Done with Blue Moon STR med weight in Loch Ness, Basic two at a time toe-up, plain foot, short row heel, and 4×1 ribbed cuff. He wears them, and asked all on his own about how to wash them, so I am guessing he likes them. I think they look a bit funky and am not sure what the hell I did to make the wraps so bulky, but they’ll be hid in his Doc’s most of the time, so it’s all good.

And now, the good stuff.
I have been aware of turtlegirl76 for a while now. After all, there really aren’t that many knitblogging turtle lovers out there, and the intartubes makes us more interconnected. But I don’t read her blog regularly, and in fact, I only stumble across it now and then, read a bit, and then continue on my merry way. But yesterday while perusing, I saw something that made me think, “Dear God! She’s fucking brilliant!” So, I am pointing you there today. Specifically I am telling you to click on her free patterns link on her header and then scroll down to number 5. Row Counters. Simple, easy, no brains involved row-counters.

Seriously. Go read. Download her tutorial and peruse it. I’ll wait.

So now that you are back… Neat, huh?
I made some last night.
I plan on making more.
Should I ever find myself in a swap again I will most definitely make some of these to give.
Hell, I may make some to give to random knitters I see on the street.
I like them that much.
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Blue.

~ laura ~ 2 Comments

Wow, is it Thursday already? I totally meant to post this on Monday or Tuesday, but it would seem I suck and lack time management skills.

I haven’t been very productive knit-wise lately and it’s bothering me, but with my arthritis flaring up, it’s not like I am going to get a much done, so in the interests of instant gratification I whipped out a Reverse Bloom Washcloth.

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This pattern was the reason I learned how to knit. I had already been making soap for a while and the pairing of a handmade soap with one of these luxury cloths was just too much. I WANTED one. I didn’t actually learn to knit and knit one up for the first time until a year later, but this pattern will always hold a place in my heart. Also, they are pretty damned nice to use.

Speaking of soap….last Friday night, after getting pissed off in WoW, I decided to take the night off from gaming and make soap. I wanted to try swirling 4 colors. Unfortunately, the entire pot basically instantly set up as I was adding in the colors to the pot for the swirls. Which meant I just had to make the best of it and mix it all up for as uniform a color as I could get, and it turned out a deep dark blue. So while the smell is nice, and the oils used in it are nice, it’s not the prettiest stuff by any means. It’s also a bit soft. And the lather is blue. And it turns the water you are washing in blue. And I have 3 pounds of the mess. The blue doesn’t stain anything (it’s just a powdered oxide) and it all rinses off, but I hate soft soaps, so I am not pleased. Kids should like it however, as they can mush it up in their little foamy blue hands when they use it. Now I just need to find some kids to shove it off on. BUT! I’ll try again when my new fancy silicon lined soap mold gets here, and it’s due to be in tomorrow, so woot!

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Made.

~ laura ~ 3 Comments

I made a new summer themed project bag last Wednesday.

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And I finally made the checkbook cover I had in progress for ages. The Back/Outer shell is crocheted in single stitch with Berroco Suede in a nice green color. I love it! Shmoo even complimented me on how well the lining matched! :)

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FO: Lace Leaf Shawl

~ laura ~ 4 Comments

Lace Leaf Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark
Started: August 2, 2006
Finished: May 26, 2008
Yarn used: Dale Baby Ull, in darkish true red, no idea about the number anymore, and some of my first handspun. 117 yarns or mohairy purple goodness.
Why I would ever mix red and purple: Because my mom is into that whole red with purple thing, and this was done for her. I don’t think she knows that I was doing it for her, and it’s good thing because it surely took me long enough to get around to finishing it.

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And if that’s not enough, I’ve got some spinning photos for you. The gold singles from Loop were done ages ago and I just finally got around to taking a photo. The stuff on the bobbins is Party Roving from MSW last year.

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Wooly

~ laura

Ok.

The reason I took a month’s hiatus from knitting was because I was making a Wooly.

Specifically I was making a Puzzle Pirates themed Wooly for this contest.
The entry thread where you can see all the Woolies produced for the competition is here.

My entry looks like this:
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The gallery folder with all the pictures I took of the entire process is here.

Now that all the links are out of the way…My thoughts on this project are….

  • I didn’t like the cloth I ended up using as a backing. It had too much give and kept giving off fuzzy things.
  • I would have liked more time.
  • I should have made a grid on my fabric so that the lines formed from stitched were more inline and not so irregular.
  • While I like the authenticity of using my very own handspun, I think commercial embroidery floss would have made a better final product. It would have been much easier to have better detailing had I done so.
  • I think I should have been move creative in the scene I tried to create.
  • I am blown away and awed at the quality of the entries for this contest. There are so just many that are really great. And even the ones that are not so great each have *something* about them that is really neat.
  • I think that I *might* like to do this again sometime with no time limit on my own and see what I come up with because it the final product is really kinda neat. But not any time soon.
  • I don’t think that I will be the winner.
  • I am really happy to go back to knitting. My fingers are happy about it as well. Especially the one I kept stabbing with the needles.

Also, do you know what kind of willpower it took not to start my Firebird Sock kit right when it arrived and work on the wooly instead? DO YOU? And I am still not going to start the Firebird Sock just yet. I am going to finish shmoo’s socks first. He seems to feel unloved because I haven’t finished a pair for him yet

I promised pictures.

~ laura ~ 3 Comments

So there’s a crap load of them today….

First photos of Ufserud, including a rare photo of myself wearing it.

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The spinning I finished last week. This is Crown Mountain Farms Pencil Roving in.. Pumpkin Patch…I think. No idea on yardage. I didn’t bother to check it as I still have a good bit to spin up and add to it.

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Look at these socks! Don’t they look like these? Yeah, I didn’t slip any knitting by you. I bought them at Target. In fact, I bought them because they looked so much like Red Herrings.

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Sahara will not be done in time for this weekend. I made it sit in time out too long and there’s just too much ripping back I am going to have to do in order to be happy with the end product. So I’ve cast on two other things instead! But I’ll save those for another post.

In other random news, a little over 2 weeks ago, I got my eyebrow pierced.

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And finally, I leave you with a picture of what appears to be the cat being pervy while sitting on my pillows.

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FO: Unorignal Hat

~ laura ~ 1 Comment

Yarn Harlot’s Unoriginal Hat, Size US 10.5 dpns, Manos yarn.

I finished this up while taking a break from Sahara. It was quick and easy and is entirely to small and too short for my fat head.
Luckily, I know a someone at work who has two little girls, so it should fit one of them. (Yes, Chris, I am talking about you. Your oldest girl like purple?)

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New Year, New FO.

~ laura ~ 4 Comments

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The Shmoose Hat
A Bea Ellis Original

Thoughts: I loved the kit; it’s a great value. Loved the pattern. I am thinking of ordering another from her at some point in the future, but want to finish more things up first. The hat is for shmoo, mostly to keep his head warm, but also because shmoocon always says “less moose than ever!” every year, so I felt like he needed some moose. The line where I joined the liner to the hat is very obvious, and my floats aren’t the best, but other than that, the hat pleases me. If the rest of my knit items turn out this well this year, I think it’ll be a good year.

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