17 posts tagged “knitting”

i described it to them on the phone, using a series of artful euphemisms

5 days ago
6 comments

Life has been very crazy around these parts. Last Saturday I went up to Wyandotte, MI, to see my dad at the Wyandotte Street Art Fair. There was a local spinner tent and a yarn store a block away. Needless to say, I made a few stash enhancement acquisitions.

AuGres sheep factory 2ply wool, natural/undyed

AuGres sheep factory 2ply wool, charcoal

I immediately cast on something with the Skacel Divine, which you'll see very very soon.

Then I packed a ton.

Then I went up to Ann Arbor yesterday to see my dad again at The Guild's Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair. The Ann Arbor Fiberarts Guild was there, so naturally I picked up something. This time around I got some 10/3 mercerized cotton to weave with (my next adventure ... learning to weave).

Bloody gorgeous stuff, I say. Good god, those colorways are amazing.

The homespun yarns at the booth were incredible as well, though way out of my price range. So I just took pictures instead.

While getting my oil changed today I finished the alluded-to project, Sunray by Ulli S. Shibuya (Ravelry link).

sunray neck warmer

It really needs to be blocked, but practically all of my knitting stuff is packed already. It'll have to wait. The brooche is something I got recently on my last visit home. My Great-Grand Aunties had all sorts of jewelry and stuff, and every time my mom comes back from a visit to see my grandad she brings back a few boxes of jewelry and knick-knacks. The brooche also has matching clip-on earrings (hah! I can barely well regular ones thanks to my 0s, oh well) but they're genuine crystal so they seemed worth keeping together.

I also finished up a project for the BBC. I'm honestly not sure if I can talk about it here, so I won't. But once the project is all said-and-done and pictures are made public I'll share the details.

OH! And while out and about in BG today I saw a window display full of those Uglys things that M-----l is a big fan of. So I took pictures. Or tried to at least. I was getting major glare.

Oh, and for those of you that may for some reason be interested in seeing what my dad does, here you go:

That's it from me for now. It might be a few weeks until I update again, seeing as I am supposed to be moving soon. Like, this weekend. Who knows how long I'll be without the internet. It might actually be nice to get away from it for a while.

ciao,
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so who should I root for? america or one of those other countries I learned about in the food court?

Jul 10, 2008
7 comments

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

Grassy by Larissa Brown

... and Cashmere Cowl No. 2 by The Purl Bee

I have a feeling I'll be doing the last one, because I have a skein of absolutely stunning Malabrigo Lace in violet that I am dying to use. Seriously.

For the next event, the Amigurumi Toss, I am going to make the set of four Fighters by NeedleNoodles:

I may need to limit myself to one of them, maybe two. It depends on how quick they are to crochet (which it looks like they are very quick projects, minus the felt parts, etc.).

And for the Mitten Medley I'll be making a pair of Rose's Wrist Warmers.

Here's a terrible picture of them from the show:

DW20052x13Doomsday-02295

You can kind of see them I guess. I couldn't find a better shot.

I'm pretty sure of what yarns to use so far. Malabrigo Lace for Cashmere Cowl No. 2 (if that ends up being the cowl I choose), I'll probably make the Fighters out of scraps of Knit Picks Swish Superwash or Caron Simply Soft (while packing today I discovered that I have, like, ten skeins of the stuff in lots of different colors), and Rowan Pure Wool DK for the wrist warmers.

Phew. That's a lot of stuff. I can't wait!
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for external use only

Jul 4, 2008
5 comments

Here is a quick picture parade of my latest FO, Ysolda Teague's Rose Red.

rose (not so) red

rose (not so) read close-up

rose (not so) red

Oh, and I did some more holiday yarn shopping at Wool & Co. in Geneva, IL.

BUT! I was good and only got yarn for patterns in my Ravelry queue.

Totally unrelated:
I am seriously flipping out over tomorrow's Doctor Who episode. Although I have to admit, I am more concerned about Jack, Gwen & Ianto, and Sarah Jane than I am about Ten's pseudo-regeneration or whatever may happen. Please don't let Sarah Jane die! ah! ;_;
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a head in the polls

Jun 27, 2008
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I'm on a knitting role lately. I think I mentioned earlier that I got an informal commission to make some hats. Well, I made some hats.

I made the first one, Stella's Hat, today while at work. Very quick project, and I really like how it turned out. The yarn doesn't give much stitch definition (Knit Picks Swish Superwash) but it's light and you can wash it in a washing machine. Gotta like that. The second is a Twirly Top Toque from One-Skein Wonders. It's a great pattern, but not the best yarn for it. I still like it, though. I'm hoping the woman I knit it for likes it too. She probably will; she seemed pretty jolly. These bring me up to 34 projects this year. Hooray!

Now I'll leave you with the TILT I made yesterday and forgot about. Oops.

Things I Like Thursday, a day late (oops)

1. raspberries, 2. tea, 3. doctor who, 4. robots, 5. pinhole cameras, 6. cupcakes, 7. jellyfish, 8. corn on the cob, 9. reading

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ETA: I finally have a decent picture of my Aspen Neck Cowl. So here it is.

apsen neck cowl

when will man learn that all races are equally inferior to robots?

Jun 24, 2008
2 comments

My new addition to the Futurama family:

Futurama - The Beast with a Billion Backs

Futurama DVD collection

WOO! I can't wait to watch it tonight with commentary. Wait ... why wait until tonight. I'm doing this RIGHT NOW.

Well, after I post this.

parallelograms scarf

Knitting New Scarves: 27 Distinctly Modern Designs

Harmony Guide: Cables & Arans: 250 Stitches to Knit (The Harmony Guides)

This is the Parallelograms Scarf (no, really?) from Knitting New Scarves. The whole thing, 70 inches worth, only took two days to knit. What a lovely and quick project. I checked the book out from my local library and may-or-may-not-have copied a few patterns out of it ... but I caved in and ordered a copy fro Knit Picks. I mean, they're having a 40% off sale. Why wouldn't I? I also picked up the Harmony Guides: Cables & Arans book. I have a few scarf design ideas. I really really want to start designing my own patterns.

Next up is a hat or two for a commission. The story goes like this. Ever since I finished my thesis, I've been at a loss of what to do at my computer lab job. I mean, before, I could write and research. But now I just sit there for seven hours. So. I started hard-core knitting while on the job (hence so many FOs lately). A woman saw me knitting, and asked if I'd knit for her. Pssh, why not? Easy money! And motivation to use up my stash of yarn. So my first project is the Twirly Top Toque from One-Skein Wonders.

Now I'm off to watch some tentacle-filled-sci-fi-cartoon-action-adventure goodness!
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too hot for radio

Jun 20, 2008
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Time for another edition of Friday Fill-Ins.

1. A smile is less taxing on your facial muscles than a frown.
2. UNO is my favorite board or card game.
3. I would love to have more time and money to travel in my life and less being stuck in school.
4. When I think of the Summer Solstice, I think of Xena: Warrior Princess (which is totally weird because I've only seen a handful of episodes of that show).
5. I just remembered I need to call my pop.
6. One of my favorite song lyrics goes like this: "Now that we're here, we may as well go too far."
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to finishing my One Skein Wonder, tomorrow my plans include working and cleaning my kitchen and Sunday, I want to go for a swim!

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now with 10% more future

Jun 6, 2008
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I just ordered what may be the greatest cross-over of all time.

Doctor Who Pattern Book

Seriously. And it only cost $2.95 from Whona.com. I ordered it last night (pretty late, too) and I already got an email confirming that it has been shipped. They're based out of Indianapolis, so I might even get it in the mail tomorrow. So awesome. I want to knit K-9 so badly.

Also, I found this really awesome site that lets you make your own postage stamps. Check it:

Picture 2

Picture 4

Picture 3

So cool. I love the internet.

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dancing space potatoes? you bet!

Jun 4, 2008
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I just found a new source of entry titles. Big win.

Being Wednesday, it seems appropriate for a What's On Your Needles Wednesday kind of thing.

Here are my two go-to projects of the moment:

dr who scarf in progress

Like any knitting DW fan, I am making a must-have scarf. Based on Four's season 12 scarf. It's about five or so feet long at this point. I'm just about half way finished with it. Blocked it'll probably end up being about 15 feet long.

wip - bam boo cowl

I love cowls. And I love green, So really, this project is perfect. And ohmygoodness is this yarn amazing to knit with. Classic Elite Yarns Wool Bam Boo. It is so so so silky soft. I wish it wasn't summer so that I could wear this (when I finish it).

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p.s. I got an awesome new ring and I love it to bits.

P1180449

It's called "Music Ring" and it's made by MarieCarter. I adore her stuff. She custom made this to my specifications and it only took four days to get to me from when I clicked "submit" to when it was in my mailbox. How awesome is that? Very.

your neutralness, it's a beige alert.

May 8, 2008
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First and foremost, Charlie has taken over my chair.

charlie's chair

It's now called "Charlie's Chair." Whenever I'm not sitting in it, he is. And when I am, he sits on my lap. I'm not complaining, that's for sure.

I missed the whole "What's on your needles Wednesday" thing. Well, I didn't know it existed until ... today. Soooooo here is a belated WOYNW post. Right now I'm working on a hat.

It's a generic tam pattern, knit with worsted weight yarn. I want it to be a bit slouchier (and I have a big head I guess) so I'm knitting it up on US8 needles, instead of US7. While procrastinating on Ravelry I found a butterfly stitch, so I stuck one on there. It looks a bit lonely, so I may add some embroidered butterflies after I finish knitting up the rest. The yellow is obnoxious and I love it.

Unrelated: straight As this semester, aww yeah. That's three in a row! My MA gpa is a 3.95. Not too shabby. I got one lousy B in a 2 credit class because the professor refused to round up a 89.83% to an A. Thanks.

i can hit you over the head until you think that's what happened

Apr 23, 2008
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I owe three different people knitting items of various sorts. Actually, five now that I think about it. I'm going to use my "blame school" card on that one. This week is my last week of my last semester in my masters studies. And the time leading up to this has been big-time busy. So. Friday I am mailing out what I owe, assuming they're all finished being knit. Which most of them are. I'm being vague I guess, but if I owe you something you know about it already.

If you're curious, the non-knitting/crocheting, non-vinyl related things I've been working on for the last few weeks are:

" 'That Rug Really Tied the Room Together': Popular Music and Authenticity in The Big Lebowski." My grand masterwork for POPC 680 "Genre and Authenticity in World Popular Musics." This is my first attempt at an article that isn't a theory article. How I'm going to fill 20 pages without musical excerpts is beyond me.
Tomorrow I am doing a seminar presentation on Schenkerian analysis and popular music.
A (Schenker) graph of R. Schumann's "Warum?" from Fantasiestücke, op. 12, no. 3. Apparently this must be accompanied by 750-1000 words about the analysis. Whatever.
My thesis: "A Fistful of Drama: Musical Form in the 'Dollars' Trilogy." This is indeed about that Dollars trilogy, directed by Sergio Leone and scored by Ennio Morricone. It should be a good read, once I actually, you know, write it.

I do this thing where I use knitting to procrastinate the work I need to do. I hear lots of other knitters do that as well. So I am on a self-imposed knitting ban until my work for this semester is finished. Or more realistically, I have to do a certain amount of writing before I can knit. Let's say ... five pages. That sounds good.

I guess I do have one knitting-related thing to say here. I was working on an Adipose before the school business began, and then when I went back to finish the arms and legs the pattern was gone. Apparently someone sold a version of the author's pattern, or the resultant toy from said pattern, and the BBC got mad. I'm currently trying to find someone who has it saved so that I can make the arms and feet. If all else fails I'll have to wing it.