Picture-less craft update

Tesserae Socks: Stalled. Actually, I'm not sure where they are. Probably in one of my yarn bins, but I can't access them at the moment. Last I worked on them, I was working on the heel flap.

Through Any (Blue) Window: Making very slow progress. I leave it at my desk to work on during my breaks and lunches, but it's slow-going. Since being busted for being online during work time, I've been trying to be good about using the internet on breaks only, which is cutting into crochet time. But, it isn't quite stalled.

Sunflower Purse: Stalled. It, too, is probably in my yarn bins. I'm shooting for finishing it by September. Truthfully, all I have left to do is crochet the "trellis" and sew on the outer lining, and find (or make) some handles for it.

So what AM I working on? Well, not much. Swatching, mostly. Just small things to keep my hands busy and practice the knitting skillz. I found my Knitting Stitch Bible, so I'm having fun playing with new stitch patterns.

I've added some yarn to my stash. I've become a bit of a yarn snob, but I've decided I'm ok with that. My favorite recent addition is some bulky black superfine Alpaca from Lavish Fibers. I also bought my first laceweight yarn, Jade Sapphire Lacey Lamb. I was going to make the Fiddlehead Scarf with it, but it's causing me some major headaches so I'm going to re-evaluate that. I also ordered some sock yarn yesterday from KnitPicks (this in Purple and Grass, this in Cosmos, this in Mixed Berries, and this in Violet and Leapfrog), along with the beginning of my collection of KnitPicks Options circular needles (the 60" cable and size 4 nickle plated tips). I hope they're as great as I've read. I want to try my hand at two-at-a-time socks, both the toe-up and cuff-down versions.

Let's see, what else. I'm trying to keep my Ravelry notebook up to date with the new additions to my stash. I'm also building up my collection of bamboo needles. I bought some fabric that I want to use for a needle case specifically for the bamboo needles, and since I couldn't find a pattern online for exactly what I wanted, of course I'm making it up myself. I've got a schematic-type-thingy drawn up with measurements, so I hope to start work on that tonight or tomorrow. Malakai ate some of my bamboo DPNs the other day so I need a too-big-to-eat place to keep them all organized.

Speaking of Malakai, check out this video of him and my roommate's dog, Isha, finally playing together after a week and a half of nothing but barking at each other. (Oh wait, I can't get to YouTube from work. Well, do a search for "Malakai & Isha" and you should find it. If I remember, I'll update when I get home) **Ok here's the link**

Upcoming projects! I've decided to make the Shifty sock with my Knitters Without Borders skein of STR. I only have one skein of it, so I'll have to buy more and hope that the lots are close enough in color to pass. Other than that, I think I'm going to stick with small things, stash busters especially, until I can do some sorting out of my stash. Yarn snob that I'm becoming, I'm thinking of giving most of it away on Freecycle.

I finally started a notebook for my patterns, rather than having the pages scattered about willy-nilly. I'm also hoping to change my yarn storage method from the giant purple Rubbermaid bins to the sleeker, see-through, stackable Sterilite drawers.

I just realized I forgot to blog about my trip to LA. But that has pictures, so it'll have to be later. Look for it!

Through Any Window Progress

And that was a couple of days ago.

It's going pretty quickly, with the exception of the light blue rounds that are done in every stitch instead of the chain spaces. And I wish I had done the colors differently - I would have switched the dark blue and white, I think. But it's great, I like it, and I get lots of compliments on it when I work on it in public.

The baby that I'm making it for was born this week, about 3 weeks early, so I better get my rear in gear.

FO Alert! Half Moon Shawl

Just finished up the Half Moon Shawl - YAY!

I get excited about FOs because they're so few and far between.



The first pic shows the color better, but I really like the professional blogger quality of the second pic :)

I hope the recipient loves it as much as I do!

Baby Crochet!

Not for me though

My friend/co-worker Andrea is having her second child, due in September. I'm excited for her, of course, not only because she's such a great person, but because it gives me an excuse to do some baby crochet!

I did a blanket for Andrea's daughter when she was born, but... well ok, it wasn't very good. I had only recently become yarn-obsessed again. I used LB Homespun Baby and the long purple Knifty Knitter. Ok it was awful. Mostly because of the yarn.

Another co-worker of mine recently got her first grandbaby and I made a sweater for her. It turned out much nicer (even though she won't be able to wear it for another 6 months or so).

So this time I'm thinking about making the Through Any Window baby blanket. I love me some Granny Square. Picking yarn will be fun, now that I'm not obsessed with all things boucle. Andrea was pretty anti-Pink with her first baby, so I'll have to make sure there aren't color limitations for this one. Thank goodness I have so long to figure it out! Ok secretly, I'm hoping for a boy. I'm seeing blue/grey/green non-baby colors. Hmmmmm......

My Garden

I don't do well with plants. Never really have. This past spring, Annie and I planted lavender and sunflowers (started from seeds and sprouted in mini-greenhouses made of 2-liter bottles) and the sunflowers got about 5 inches tall before they died. The lavender barely poked their little heads out of the dirt.

But this is totally a garden I could get into:

**Yes, again with the crappy cell-phone pictures.

Have I mentioned how obsessed I am with this pattern? I think the lower left corner, with the black background, is the one I'm going to send to Krystal for her charity project. I don't get as excited about the black and white backgrounds as I do about the colors.

On another note, just want to give a shout-out to my dad, Mykall :) He was in the hospital last weekend, but he's home now and getting better. Poor guy doesn't get to have alcohol or spicy foods for a while (two of his favorite things), so have a drink and something with jalapenos in it for him. He's the only person in my family who actually talks to me about my blog so I know he reads it. So, Hi Dad! Love you!

Thou Shalt Not Covet...

Thy Fellow Bloggers Projects!

Thanks to Susan, I have a new project to put on my list.

I want to make This out of This

(ok, maybe this instead - same yarn, different color)

This yarn was part of the first batch of Yarn of the Month that I got and I LOVE it. It's soft (softer than it looks in the close-up) and yummy.

I think I'm going to start buying myself $20 gift certificates each pay day to The Yarn Garden or another LYS that carries this stuff. That's the only way I'm going to be able to afford enough of one dye lot all at once. Unless I get visited upon by the yarn faerie.

Daisy Geek

Ok, I SWEAR this wasn't on purpose. I got back to my desk from getting lunch and this is what was there:

Do we see a pattern here? A theme? An obsession? Hmmmmm

Not such a productive weekend...

I was going to be REALLY productive this weekend. Really, I was.


Here's what I didn't get done:
I didn't finish copying Interview with the Vampire
I didn't track the 45-minute chunks that I'd already copied
I didn't clean the kitchen
I didn't host 6 tournaments
I didn't exchange the pants from Catherines that I so desperately need to exchange
I didn't work on Mom's poncho
I didn't sit down with Annie and figure out what we're doing with what's left of her financial aid check.



Here's what I did instead:
I finished crocheting Mom's Christmas present (yes, I'm aware we're half way through January)
I blocked Mom's Christmas present (yay!)
I went grocery shopping (twice) on an empty stomach (not a good idea)
I finished two Daisy Squares
I visited my dad in the hospital (he was rushed to the ER late Saturday night, vomiting blood, but we think he'll be ok)
I visited Annie's grandmother in another hospital (twice - she was there Friday to Sunday for her first three days of kidney dialysis)



If you are NOT my mother, you can see a picture of what I made for her here. It turned out much larger than I anticipated, but I'm still pretty pleased. I am no longer scared of filet crochet!

Daisy Square

While perusing CPC several days ago, I ran across this Daisy Square pattern. The designer offers the pattern for free, and only asks that you send her at least one completed square, which she then joins and gives to charity. It's totally cute, so I decided to give it a shot. It calls for 4 colors: CA for the center color, CB for the petals, CC for the background, and CD for the border. I used only two colors (two very clashing, random, verigated colors) because I was on my way out the door for work and there were only two skeins easily grab-able. So my CA and CC are the same, and my CB and CD are the same. Oh here, see for yourself.

(Apologies for the green-ish picture. I took it with my cell phone, and for some reason everything I take with my phone turns out with a green-ish tint. I really need to get a point-and-shoot digital. Really.)

So yeah, it's pretty wild. But I'm totally in love with it! I decided to make a negative of it (using the darker yarn for the petals and border, and the lighter stuff for the center and background) which I'm nearly done with. Then I decided, why not make a whole bunch of them in random colors, in pairs (a positive and a negative), and make my own afghan out of them. So, last night I went through my stash (two giant rubbermaid bins) and separated out the worsted weight acrylic from everything else. I was surprised (pleasantly) to find that fully half of my stash is WW acrylic. I've definately got my work cut out for me.

The pattern is pretty easy once you get the hang of it, and it's a good carry-along project.

Oh and Krystal, if you're reading this - I promise I'll get a square out to you soon. My guage ended up with a 6.5" square instead of 8, but I'll do some tweaking and color picking this weekend.

First FO of 08!

Yay!

I created this hook case for my brand new set (E through K) of bamboo crochet hooks. They are REALLY yummy and they needed a yummy place to live. This isn't the yummiest place I could think of, but it's a good home.

I used RHSS in the "Sunshine Print." I picked this up on Freecycle and wasn't sure what to do with it, and it was the closest yarn at hand when I decided to make this up.

**Well then. This is several days later now. I picked another of these skeins out of the bag, same print, and this one happened to have a label on it. Serves me right for guessing. It's actually 100% virgin wool Maypole Yarn by Oregon Worsted Company, and the color is called Indian Sunset. And I happen to have at least 4 more skeins of it, which makes me want to experiment with felting. I still don't like the colors much, but it's a little more cool now that it's wool and not acrylic :)**

I used a stitch pattern I found when I was making Holiday Dishcloths. Sc in 1st stitch, insert hook in same stitch, pull up a loop, insert in next stitch, pull up a loop, yo, pull through all three loops. After a few rows, I did a few slip stitches, then chain 2 and slip stitch in a few more stitches, rinse and repeat. I ended up with three chain spots, which I slip the hooks through to hold them. Next row I use the original stitch but the places where there are chain loops I just to single crochets under the loop so it pushes my loop to the front. I did that every several rows until I had enough loops for all 7 hooks, then a few more rows of the stitch pattern. Then I slip stitched until about half way across the row and did 4 single crochets, turned, 2 sc, turn, 2 sc, back and forth til it seemed long enough, then slip stitched back down the edge of the first tie to the spot where it split, then 2 sc back and forth for the second half of the tie.

Anyways, other than the color, I'm pretty happy with it. For your viewing pleasure.....

New Year, New Focus(es)

While sitting around the brunch table yesterday morning (ok, early afternoon), we all shared what we hope to accomplish in the next year. Call them resolutions if you must, I prefer not to.

One of my big ones was to become a finisher. I love projects. I'm addicted to starting new things. But I really need to be more focused about finishing the projects I start. This morning, Dawn over at Crochet Compulsive blogged about the subject. Gee, thanks for the reminder Dawn!

So, here's my photo-less confession of the things that I need to $%*! or get off the pot about.

#1 - Mom's Christmas present, a filet piece I've been working on since about 2 days before Christmas. I'm on row 28 or 29 of 50, so it's close. And I have been working on it, sporadically. The goal is to finish it this weekend. Since it's a chart, it's mostly a sit-in-front-of-the-computer project. Just means I need to spend more time there.

#2 - Mom's poncho. Yeah, I started it, got several rows done even. Then Christmas came and I got to be drowning in the sea of dishcloths and it got put on the back burner. But I have all the yarn for it, so I really have no excuse. So when I'm done with #1, this is next. Though this is a spread-out-in-a-pet-free-room project, so maybe I can train myself to work on it for an hour each night before bed.

#3 - My shrug. I hate to say it, but I think this one is toast. I free-handed it, which was the first problem (oh why oh why do I hate patterns so much?). The second problem is that I used LB's Chenille Thick & Quick. Really chunky yarn on already really chunky arms - not a pretty sight. It's a cute idea - fingerless gloves that turn into sleeves, which are then connected to each other by a strip of three granny squares - but the yarn was just not right. I don't even think I'm going to bother frogging this one. It might just disappear into The Void.

#4 - The hook case for my bamboo crochet hooks. This is in progress, and is doing pretty well as a take-along project to carry in my purse. Freehanded, again, but turning out nicely. I just need to stick with it. This is my travel and at-work project.

#5 - Socks. Horrible, ugly socks. Made with really cute yarn (lime green with multi speckles, fingering weight acrylic I think?), but with the way wrong hook and pattern. Definitely frog-able. I'll revive them into better socks with a different hook size and different pattern, but in their current state they're not going to work.

#6 - Nancy's Mickey Mouse afghan. Annie's going to have a cow when she reads this, but I need to scrap and start from scratch with this one. I went though a phase where I was in love with LB Homespun and started it then. Now I've burnt out on it and don't want to touch the stuff. This is going to join my shrug in The Void, and I'll re-group. But not until I've finished #2.

#7 - My Hoodie. This needs more yarn, since I ran out. Well ok, first I need to FIND it. Then I need to buy more yarn and work on it. This comes after I've finished #2. But before I re-start #6.

So that's it, I think. I have two scraps, a frog, and three WIPs. One computer WIP, one travel WIP, and one spread-out WIP. I'm not going to allow myself to start anything else until I finish these three! But don't worry, I have plenty of things to tackle when these are done!



...Well, unless I make something up quick for the Swap

Where have I been?

Well, busy.

I've got nearly all of the gifts made that I need to have done, with still a week to go. I've started another project which of course is a gift for someone else so I can't talk about it. Suffice it to say that I've taught myself Filet Crochet, and it's not nearly as scary as I thought it would be.

We've been watching mass quantities of TV at home, too. Thank goodness for whole commercial-free seasons on DVD available from the library! Shylent and Annie have got me hooked on Grey's Anatomy (finished season 1, working on season 2), plus I've got Law & Order (season 3), House, M.D. (season 2), Frasier (season 7), South Park (season 5), and L&O SVU (seasons 1-3 and 5). Oh and I just yesterday finished season 1 of the American version of Whose Line Is it Anyway. That's some funny shit right there.

After the holiday I'll post some pictures of my Christmas Crafts, and the December installment of my Yarn of the Month Club review (better late than never, right?). Plus a couple of dishcloth patterns I've come up with.

Oh and today I got a big fat raise. I'm not supposed to tell anyone, according to my boss. But it's my raise and I'll gloat if I want to! I got a 7.5% increase, not merit-based. Plus next month is my review and I'll get my merit increase on top of it all. So HA!

Weekend Re-Cap: A ~*Hoodlum*~ Adventure

Friday night ended with the threat of snow on what was supposed to be our day trip to Eugene. Why Eugene? Well because that's where you get Chocolate Milk From Chocolate Cows.

Saturday morning Annie - who had spent most of the past 48 hours in bed with a respiratory something-or-other - had to go out to Beaverton for a dentist appointment. Since she was feeling so crummy, I went with her. No snow on the ground, but while I sat in the waiting room reading Reader's Digest the flakes started falling. They built up a little, but not enough to get in a fuss over. Not even enough for the news stations to break into their regularly scheduled infomercials to report on "Storm 2007." By the time we got done at the dentist, Annie was feeling well enough to give the go-ahead for our Eugene trip, so we packed up ourselves, Shylent, and Rufus the ferret and headed out.

Oh, and did I mention that the Civil War was this weekend? Thousands of football-crazed maniacs were due to flood Eugene to watch OSU and UO battle it out in the mud.

Before we could head south we had to drop off some equipment with one of Annie's classmates, who lives in Gresham. Innocently (or maybe not) I suggested that we meet half-way on 122nd & Stark. Well that also happens to be where Fabric Depot is. Like I said, maybe not so innocent. So while Annie and Shylent - and Rufus of course - waited in the car, I ran into FD to scope out some yarn. Ended up getting some LB Microspun to work on a project for Annie (she wants crochet sushi), some TLC Amore just to play with (it's turning into a scarf for myself) and some Christmas-sy yarn for one of my Christmas projects.

Thankfully by the time we got on the road, most of the crazed fans were well into their tailgate parties and traffic was light. It was even mostly dry until we hit Junction City (right about the time I texted Mom to tell her it was dry... sure, make a liar out of me).

First stop in Eugene was our favorite burrito joint on 5th & Blair. It's such a hole-in-the-wall that it's not listed in the YP. Ginormous burritos though, smothered in sauce and cheese and totally to die for. Annie even told the guy that we drove all the way from Portland just for the burritos. Not quite true, but true enough!

Our next goal was to find Shylent's friend FerretMike. We took Rufus down there so that he could bunk with Mike's ferret, Bug, for a while. Only problem though, we didn't have a phone number or address for Mike, so it was going to be a hit-and-miss adventure trying to find him. Our first attempt was at the Eugene Holiday Market, which is just like Saturday Market but goes indoors when the weather chills. We wandered around for a little while, saw some neat things but nothing we couldn't live without. No sign of Mike though, and no luck asking around. We headed down to the neighborhood that Shylent and I used to live, drove around a little hoping to spot Mike's van or motorcyle and actually did! The whole small world thing really comes in handy sometimes. While Shylent went inside with Mike to get Rufus settled, Annie and I sat out in the car - me crocheting and Annie surfing on some found wifi - and it dawned on me... Eugene is full of hippies! I bet they have some neato yarn shops!!

So we left Shylent and made our way (thank goodness for some of the net service I get on my cell phone) to a place called Soft Horizons Fibre, located in a cute little house and packed to the rafters with yarn of all sorts. After talking to a sales person (who was a knitter, but God love her anyway) I picked up a couple of hanks of some 100% Merino Wool in what I'm pretty sure is fingering weight (it's not so well labeled, so it might be sport weight, but I don't think so). The goal was to pick something up to make a pair of socks with, and according to the pattern I was looking at (found in a book at the shop... a book I didn't end up buying) 300 yards would be enough. So I got a total of 350. It's beautiful, all purple-ish colors. Pictures later. When I got home I discovered that all of the sock patterns I see online call for more than what I bought. So I've started inquiring about the availability of the same brand here in town. I don't even care if it's the same color scheme or not.

Anyways, back to pick up Shylent and then we had dinner with FerretMike and our friend Jamie, who I hadn't seen for years. Neat little cafe that had a little bit of everything and served whatever you wanted - breakfast lunch or dinner - regardless of what time it was. The food was just so-so and the coffee wasn't that great, but we had a good time catching up with old friends. By the time we left it was pouring down rain and we still had one more stop to make before heading home! Dari-Mart! We had to get our Chocolate Milk from Chocolate Cows!

If you've never had the chocolate milk from Dari Mart, you're missing out. It doesn't separate, doesn't require shaking, and doesn't get that yucky chocolate buildup on the bottom of the container. Dari Mart also carries the best egg nog you'll get without making it yourself. When people know we're going, they send us with their orders! We ended up leaving with a dozen half-gallon containers. Got lots of funny looks from the cashier and the other customers. But it was fun anyway, and well worth it!

The drive home was rainy, dark, and did I mention rainy? But we made it home in one piece and only 3 hours later than we expected to!

YotM November

My beautiful, loving, wonderful wife - who doesn't always "get me" but totally comes through when it counts - signed me up for a Yarn of the Month club (like I said, she's awesome). I just today opened up my first delivery (though apparently it came in the mail a couple days ago and has been buried under a pile of stuff on the couch).

It all came nicely packed in a Tyvek-like envelope with a pattern (knitting, unfortunately), a bi-monthly newsletter (this one about fibers from Camelids - camels, llamas, alpacas, etc), and four samples of yarn. No cheapie Red Heart Super Saver here, this was awesome stuff!!

It didn't come all crocheted up like this, by the way. Just wound in a little ball. I used the same process to crochet all four samples: My favorite hook (which isn't anything special, just an aluminum H hook, but it's purple) 10 sc wide and however many sc rows I could fit without running out of yarn.

The first one I pulled out and worked with was Camelino by Knit One Crochet Too. Felt like worsted weight, I'm pretty sure. It's 90% Merino Wool and 10% Camel. I've never worked with wool before, or camel for that matter, so this was a new texture to me. I'm not sure I like wool. But it was fairly soft and on a slightly larger hook, perhaps a J or something, probably would have draped nicely.

The second was Pastaza by Cascade Yarns. It was chunkier, not quite bulky but thicker than worsted weight, and 50/50 Llama and Wool. It's got some stray fibers (you can see it better on their website than in this picture) which I didn't like, but it was neat to try out anyway.

Third out of the bag was Camelon by Zaol, 80% Merino and 20% Camel. This was my second favorite of the four, not too fiberous and fairly soft. It's also about worsted weight (4.5 st/inch according to them, but that's knit).

Last, but by far my favorite, was Lacampo by Karabella Yarns. 60% Dehaired Llama, 40% Cotton, DK weight, and ooooooh so soft. This felt SO good to work with, I WILL buy it in the future. And until then, I will visit the website often to covet and drool.

And so ends my first month of YotM. My swatches have gone back in the plastic baggies they came in, and the baggies have gone into a Crocs shoe box. I'm going to keep them all and eventually patchwork afghan them.

Until next month (or, next blog)!

Go Granny!

This is Kim Werker. I don't know her (hadn't even heard of her til recently) but she seems like good people. She crochets and she likes sushi - she's already a winner in my book. Anyway, she doesn't know me either. What's funny is that she was just here in Portland not long ago and I found out about it the day after she left. My luck.

Anyways, this girl GETS IT! She totally rocks socks. This is why.

We interrupt your regularly scheduled project...

Don't worry, Ma - it'll get done eventually!

But for now, this is my project of choice! It's the first arm of a shrug. Second arm is in progress. Once arms are complete, the back will be joined to them with a series of granny squares.

It's made with leftover Lion Chenille Thick & Quick that I had after I finished this afghan for my grandmother.

It's lovely luscious stuff. Mmmmmmmmm

Yes, there is crochet in this blog.

Current WIP is a poncho for my Dear Mother. She found a pattern she liked, and I just happened to have yarn in my stash (inherited from her) that would work. It's soft and lovely, and other than the colors being such that I wouldn't personally wear them, I'm totally coveting. She got this yarn at the Knittin' Kitten, and I might have to go and see if they have some more in more appropriate colors. It's niiiiice (that's for you, Ubbieten).

Other UFOs (UnFinished Objects) include my Hoodie from this pattern, done in Lion Suede, and a gift for someone who might read this so I'm not talking about it :) Both require the purchase of more yarn, but thankfully the Lion Suede is available from Smiley's for cheap. Well, relatively. Oh, and a bunch of small, quick projects also for gifts so that's all the info you get. Christmas, here I come!

Speaking of Christmas, I've started getting questions about gift ideas for Annie and I. So look for another blog soon with a list.

Wubster Wednesday: The Halloween Edition

Three little witches flying on their brooms. The first one said, "Gimme candy!" The second one said, "Where's my hair?" The third one said, "Auntie Zarah, do you know what the most poisonous spider in the whole world is?" Man, those kids are the best.

On the menu was (among other things): Pimples, Bellybuttons with Blood Sauce (cheese tortellini with marinara), Werewolf Fingers with booger sauce (chicken strips with honey mustard), and Snake Bites . Next time, more planning ahead. I'm not so good at that. Spent half the night in the kitchen wearing myself out instead of with the family enjoying the party.

On the craft front, I'm putting my shrug on hold for the moment. I'll just wear a jacket. I need to find a pattern and a yarn that I like, instead of making it up as I go along and using whatever I have on-hand. Instead I'm teaching myself to make Granny Squares because they're so versatile and are a good travel project, and a good way to use up yarn.

Tomorrow after work, Annie and I are headed to the beach to stay at our favorite hotel for three nights. Key Lime Martinis, here we come!! We'll be sure to take pictures. And I'll start posting some. I promise!

Not quite, but almost

You know it's been a productive day when your fingers start cramping up from holding a crochet hook. My costume is really REALLY close to being done. The top and fringe are all done, and all my ends are weaved in except for the skein I'm working with right now. It's long enough that it doesn't look funny, so I've decided I'm just going to finish off the current skein and when it runs out I'll call it done. I also glued my horns onto my hair clips today and they're all dry. Just in time for the Bridge tomorrow!

Next project up is a shrug. Mom had a "Mommy Moment" the other day and told me it was time to start wearing a jacket or something to cover my arms. We compromised and a shrug will do. I was going to use my Knifty Knitter, but now I think I might just crochet it. Hopefully something in my current yarn stash will do. Decisions, Decisions....

Alright, back to work!

Time to get cracking

Annie's in Seattle with Jen and Michelle until tomorrow afternoon/evening, so I've got 24 hours of home alone time. Time to finish my costume!! I've also got the first season of House and the second season of Law & Order waiting for me to finish watching them. I might be up all night.

Speaking of Halloween, here's Rhionna and I carving her pumpkin together. She's going to be my apprentice.