21 posts tagged “crochet”

Well, I've been putting a lot of thought into the knitting that I've been doing over the last year. I've gotten a lot better at it, and I think the stuff I make turns out quite well. I've gotten better at photographing my projects and keeping track of my yarn. To keep the good times rolling, I've decided to make a list of goals for 2009. Resolutions are for suckers. These are things I will do.

1- Major stash-organizing. I have little room to work with at my house, seeing as my bedroom is only 9'x10' (thanks, roomies!). The result is that my yarn gets shoved in big rubbermaid containers in a hall closet. I forget what I have in there and it's a major pain to get to. So when I get some $$$ I'm going to invest in some storage for my yarn. While organizing I'll need to do some ...
2- Major stash-busting. One of my big rubbermaid containers holds a ton of acryllic yarn from Warm the World, a non-profit that makes blankets. I can't explain why, but I just can't get myself to do the work. Maybe I am that big of a jerk/selfish knitter. Either way, the yarn should go somewhere that will use it. So I'll probably box it up, plus some extra acryllic stuff that I will never use, and send it back to Warm the World. That will clear up a lot of space.
3- Learn intarsia. I really want to get into colorworking, and I feel like my total avoidance of projects involving colorwork is keeping me back. I'm pretty sure my LYS will have some sort of class at some point. I may ask the owner about it.
4- Do more weaving. I took a weaving class back in August and it was awesome. The owner of Hill Country Weavers reminds me every time I go into the shop that I should keep it up, and I agree. HCW has three properties, one of which is a house filled with large looms and warping umbrellas that are open and free to use. So I think I'm going to make a rug for the hallway outside of my bedroom. I'll use up some acryllic yarn and scraps that I have from old projects.
5- Start selling projects on Etsy/etc. I've made plenty of things because I like the patterns. But what should I do with them? I think I'll try selling stuff. I would naturally give full credit to the designers and would only look for reimbursment of material costs. I think that's reasonable and fair. I don't want to get in trouble with copyright but I'm not really trying to make a profit. If I want to make a profit from this then I'll need to stick with #6.
6- Design more original projects.  I've made one original pattern and it has over 100 projects on Ravelry. I think that's pretty good! I've been asked by two different people to think up stuff from various knitting magazines/online zines so I'd really like to do that. Hopefully I can budget myself time to design and test stuff out this semester.
7- Learn to spin. I know there will be spinning classes at HCW, so whenever one pops up I'm going to take it. That will involve, at some point in the future, probably buying a wheel. We'll see about that. I can't really afford that and if all goes according to plan and I get a teaching job in the UK after I finish my PhD I won't want to bother with trying to sell it/move it/whatever. But I definitely want to learn how.
8- Knit at least one project from every knitting/crochet book I own. I have quite a few, and this will be a good test to see what I should keep and what I should sell.

I think that's a good list of stuff to do, and it seems pretty reasonable. I'll keep track of the projects I finish for the year, like I did last year (62!), but now that I know I can have a large output of quality/cool items I don't feel like I have to challenge myself in that way. This year I want to streamline and learn new things. I admit, though, that forcing myself to make so many projects this year has really improved the quality of what I make.

Here's the list of what I did in 2008:
- Pineapple Hat
- Amigurumi Bear
- Amigurumi Squid x2
- Quant
- Womb
- 2x2 Ribbed Hat
- Amigurumi Raindrop x2
- Amigurumi Whale
- Birds of a Feather (amigurumi bird) x2
- Cthulhu Baby Bib
- Aramis (sweater)
- Tudora (cowl)
- Katamari Earmuffs
- Biscuit Pillow
- Adipose (Doctor Who, stuffed animal) x2
- Smocking Stitch Mug Cozy (by MK Carroll)
- Garter Stitch Mug Cozy
- "Cashmere" Cowl by Purl Bee
- Triple Cable Muffler
- Train Tam
- Lopi Lace Scarf
- Brain Slug x2
- Aspen Cowl
- One Skein Wonder (shrug) x2
- Parallelograms Scarf
- Twirly Top Toque
- Calorimetry x3
- Stella's Hat
- Rose Red x2
- Sunray
- Reverse-Bloom Flower Dishcloth
- Rose's Wristwarmers (Doctor Who)
- A Nobel Cowl (my original pattern!)
- "Cashmere" Neckwarmer by Kim K.
- Woven Scarf x2
- Amigurumi Ninja
- Beech Wood Cowl
- Clapotis x2
- French Press Cozy
- Wedding Shrug (improvised pattern)
- Amigurumi Lion
- Spring Beret
- Gooseberry Hat
- Baby Hat (from One Skein)
- Rib & Cable Quarter Gaiter x2
- Urchin
- Abalone
- Propeller
- Fence
- Give a Hoot Mittens

So that's 50 unique projects and 62 total projects. Pretty good year, I think.
s

A few weeks ago I was contacted by an ex-pat living in Sweden about some yarn I had listed as "sell/trade" on Ravelry. We ended up doing a bit of a swap; I sent her all of my Knit Picks Essential and a big bag of Reese's Pieces, and she sent me this:

Today I found out about a wonderfully wonderful knitting event, the Ravelympics! Basically, it's a free-for-all where knitters/crocheters/spinners/etc. pick crafty events to participate in. You can't start the project(s) until the opening ceremony, and you have to finish before the closing ceremony.

I signed up for three events: Cowl Jump, Amigurumi Toss, and Mitten Medley. The whole idea is the challenge yourself, and I think three projects in 17 days is a good challenge! Most people choose one complicated pattern to undertake, but I thought a few different kinds would be fun. So here's the plan:

For the Cowl Jump, I have three different patterns in mind:

Smoke Ring by Cosette Cornelius-Bates

Well, I do, to be honest. But I just crochet instead.

This past week I traveled all over the place. Being Spring Break, I felt it necessary to travel and get out of the misery that is NW Ohio. Seriously, I hate it here. Anyway. While at home in Chicagoland visit my folks I did some vacation shopping ... $90 worth of yarn, pattern books, crochet hooks, and other fun notions from Knitche in Downers Grove. I keep forgetting to take pictures of the hooks ... they are really nice Addi-turbos with cushioned handles. I picked up B, C, D, and E, since those are the ones I use most frequently to make amigurumi. I also picked up 5 skeins of Cascade 220 in a gorgeous Kelly green.

I'm using this stuff to make Aramis, a pattern out of Norah Gaughan vol. 2. The sweater is simple and beautiful. The trim is garter stitch, which I love. I think it gets a bad wrap because it's the "beginner" stitch, but I love how it looks as a trim, particularly when knit on small needles. And used in contrast of stockinette, which is how it is used in this pattern.

When I got back from Chicago I immediately wound two skeins into balls, with the intent of knitting on the planes. And oh my, did I knit. I have the back panel nearly finished, and intend on finishing it tonight and casting on the front panel tonight after work. I'm a bit worried about the size ... the picture has the model wearing the 34" version an is a size 2, and I'm like ... size 2??? I'm a 38" bust easily, but only going up two pattern sizes to get to that bust doesn't seem like enough. So I cast on the 42" version and hope it's not enormous. I have big shoulders anyway. Hopefully it works out.

So, the flying that I somewhat eluded to above involved me traveling to Austin, TX. It was a two-birds-with-one-stone kind of trip. I write reviews for StaticMultimedia.com, a site that reviews movies and tv shows and books and games and all sorts of stuff. As part of SXSW Interactive, GameCock Media Group put on EIEIO, which let independent developers showcase their upcoming games. So that was on Thursday. The other part of my trip involved visiting UT's campus because I got into the PhD program there in music theory and wanted to check things out in person. Friday I had meetings with professors, a lunch meeting with another professor, and I observed the theory seminar in the afternoon. So yeah, two birds with one stone. Saturday and Sunday I had wide open, so naturally I went exploring. I particularly went exploring for yarn stores. And I found wonderful ones.

The first shop I went to is called Gauge. It is relatively new, and located up in the NW part of town on Parkcross Dr.

The ladies that work there are incredibly nice, very sincere, and LOVE socks. Seriously. One of the ladies there is a tenured professor of French language studies at UT. There really is something about higher-ed/academic types and knitting. We almost all do. (Or crochet. Or in my case, both!) I picked up some yummy yarn while there.
The first is, well, I don't know. The tag doesn't really give much information, and to be honest I only bought it because it was the most beautiful yellow yarn I've ever seen. If it wasn't $17.50 a skein I would have bought 2. The second is a gorgeous worsted-weight handspun yarn by Robincat Handspun. I really wanted to buy something spun locally, and I couldn't resist the colorway. The last is Peace Fleece in a heavy worsted weight. You can read about Peace Fleece here.

Then I drove around downtown Austin for a while, and went to the big State House. You can seriously see that thing from everywhere in town. While there, I did some knitting. I didn't intentionally take a picture that dark ... I guess the shadows I sat under really blocked me out. And being alone makes KIP (knitting-in-public) pictures hard to stage without looking like a crazy person. There were definitely looky-loos, and I heard a few people say "oh, I wish I could knit!" and things along that line. I love that. I hope they become inspired to pick up needles and give it a try. Fiber culture and crafts are a huge deal in Austin. They could go to many cool little shops and get help.

Speaking of more cool little shops. After I wondered around downtown and took lots of pictures of the Capital Building, I went to another yarn shop called Hill Country Weavers.

This is quite possibly the most overwhelming LYS I have ever been to. I mean, yeah, Mass Ave is frickin' huge, but place was just packed to the brim with everything. Yarn, notions, people, books, bags ... it was simply amazing. While there Saturday I picked up a few more skeins of vacation yarn.
I got two skeins of Berroco Trilogy, which is absolutely lovely and reminds me of recycled sari silk. The colors are just gorgeous. Who knows what I'll end up using it for. And who cares. I'd rather just look at it anyway! The second is a skein of Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton. This yarn is just lovely to work with. I'm planning on knitting another cable scarf from One Skein with this. I made one for my accompanist last year and he really liked it. I personally really love the naturally nut color of this skein. But seriously, before I cast on anything else I have to get cracking on all of my unfinished projects, and the few small things I've promised people. Now that I have some nice, cushioned crochet hooks I can get cracking on some amigurumi. It'll be a much more pleasant experience. I'm also really excited about the sweater I'm working on.

Speaking of which, on Sunday while I was out wasting time before my flight back to Detroit, I decided to stop back into Hill Country Weavers to get some help on binding off. My bind-offs are always really tight, and I was worried about that while I shaped the armholes. Turns out that the second Sunday of every month is, well Second Sunday, the store's own little "stitch 'n' bitch" gathering. So. I got the help I needed, met local knitters/crocheters, and even one guy from California that was in town for SXSW. He was knitting socks on two circular needles and I was jealous of his mad skillz.

So I guess I'll wrap things up there. This is, like, a monster post. But it was a busy and fun week, especially in Austin. I really like it there and I have a feeling I'll be living there starting in August.

s

I've been doing well recording my adventures in KNITWARS so I thought I would use some of my GP on a bit of stash enhancement (which I get to record as an adventure as well. neat!). If that's giberish to you ... don't worry. It probably is to most people.

I'm working on a Cthulhu Bib for Dr E/Dr Broman's baby boy Erik. It's going to kick so so so much ass and look adorable on him. There is a bit of a story to this ... Dr. E had Erik with her one morning and I ran into them. She bent down to him and noticed the particular bib he was wearing and said "Oh ... did Papa put on the pink bib again?" She then turned to me to explain: "This bib used to be white until Papa did laundry ..." Poor little dude. So, I felt inspired to make a kick-ass bib for him. Because it's a baby item I decided 100% acrylic would be a good idea. I really like Patons Canadiana, so I picked up a few in contrasting colors. While at Never Enough Knitting (Wheaton, IL) I got some cute buttons for my up-coming biscuit pillow, and US H hook for the Bib (because I can't find mine for the life of me), and a US4 16" circ for a hat pattern that I cannot think of for the life of me. I have it printed out and sitting in my apartment somewhere. I'll link it on Ravelry whenever.

So I really like supporting small, local businesses. I also like yarn. So. I have this cool little Google Maps think that I use to keep track of LYS (local yarn stores) that I have visited and would like to. Let's see if I can embed the map here ...

The yellow push-pins show LYSs that I have been to, and the purple ones are for stores I'd like to go to. I did manage to hit up a few places while I was in Europe, so I marked those as well. I love technology!

And last but not least, here are my new cacti babies that I got at IKEA Schaumburg yesterday.

Now that I have successfully passed all of my masters comps I can resume craftiness!