August 5th, 2009
Dear Self,
No, you may not start a shawl. You have two sweaters on the needles right now (remember that other one? Hmm?), and the laptop bag, and if you cast on another giant project you will go cukoobananas. Put that laceweight down right now, missy.
You may, however, cast on a new pair of socks if you want. I am not entirely cruel, and that yarn you got for that sekrit project is not going to work for said project but would make a lovely pair of socks.
Oh, and remember: you have 14 swatches to knit for TKGA! Yeah, you were hoping I wouldn’t say anything, weren’t you?
Love,
The sane part of your brain.
In other news, I made Monkey socks! They are, well, Monkey-like. But they fit! Huzzah!
Tags: february lady, knitting, monkey socks, photos, project
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July 16th, 2009
This time, I’m blaming my silence on Anime Expo! It was my first time in Los Angeles. I brought my Artist Alley table, which was not terribly successful, but I had lots of fun anyways. I had authentic LA experiences such as In-n-Out and getting in a car accident on the 110. (In a rental. *sob*)
I got a lot of work done on my Two-At-A-Time, Toe-Up, Magic Loop socks. That’s too hard to say, so I call ‘em the stripey socks. I have no picture, so just imagine some turquoise, stripey, stockinette socks. Knitting on the plane was an interesting experience… My balls of yarn kept wandering off, tangling, and generally being pains. I have a feeling that if I wasn’t dealing with two tiny, slippery balls of sock-weight yarn, it wouldn’t have been a problem.
Here are some things I do have pictures of!
ITEM THE FIRST: Aguona! The laptop bag is toddling along slowly, but surely. The yarn has been irritating my hands lately so I haven’t put a lot into it. Still, I’m almost through the orange stripe and moving back into red territory. This is me performing the dance of joy.
See that spot on the left of the second picture? The one that’s missing the top row of white dots? Yeah, they’re in there, but they’re totally buried. Oops. I’m going to need to duplicate-stitch over those.
Speaking of oops, I made a big one on my new project. Our knitting circle is doing a February Lady knit-a-long, and I’m going at it with gusto. Unfortunately, at one point some stitches fell off the needles, along with the stitch markers at the increase point. I put them back on in what I thought was the right order, but alas! This was not the case. And me being a super-duper-genius, I didn’t notice for oh, six or ten rows. That’s something like 1800 stitches I need to rip out. ARGH. Check out my amazing photo illustration at the left to see the oops.
Fortunately, I’ve been able to console myself with ten delicious balls of Rowan Felted Tweed. I’m gonna make my husband a sweater as a reward for putting up with me.
OM NOM NOM
Tags: aguona, anime, anime expo, february lady, knitting, photos, stripey socks, wip
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June 25th, 2009
I am making a shrug! I based it off the Everybody’s Doing It pattern. I used garter stitch instead of seed stitch, though, and made as many border rows as I damn well pleased. As a person with extra-wide arms, wider bands tend to look more proportionate on me. Also, the yarn is so very, very soft.
I also picked up a hank of Noro’s Daria Multi in order to make some cute I-cord bracelets. Noro and I have such a love-hate relationship. This time around, I love the yarn but I hate how it absolutely refuses to become a ball. Honestly, I should go to JoAnn and ask for an empty trim spool – the sort with two posts – as I bet it would be the only thing that could properly tame this yarn. It’s more cord then yarn, anyways.
The other thing I’m working on is the TKGA Masters Program, Level I. I have heard tell that it can turn a normal knitter into a neurotic wreck, and it is SO TRUE. It’s for good reason, though; I’m learning how to really watch my tension and quality. The picture above is my billionth attempt at 2×2 ribbing. I am supremely unsatisfied with my ribbing skills. I am trying to tame the gutters that form in the second knit stitch, and so far I have not had much luck. Trust me, it looks worse in person. *sob*
In order to prevent myself from feeling completely inadequate, I knit Swatch 10, which deals with yarnovers. I discovered I also hate my yarnovers. Did you know that it’s possible to do them wrong? I mean, aside from wrapping the wrong way. I mean, mine were all sloppy. This did not help my feelings of inadequacy.
Finally, I turned to something I really can do: Swatch 4, bar increases. Bar increases! Easy peasy! I’ve done tons of those! In fact, it only took me about eight tries to get a decent swatch. I actually have to finish the top of that swatch, so there is no picture yet.
Yeah, I’m taking this program pretty seriously. How seriously? I knit a gauge swatch, which I then washed and blocked before I measured it. Doing things properly and by-the-book from the get-go? That’s serious business right there.
Tags: knitting, masters I, photos, wip
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June 23rd, 2009
The Fake Isle hat.
The Aguona laptop sleeve in progress. It looks way cooler than I actually am.
I am kind of irritated with Knit Picks, because they printed the two charts for the bag on two sides of the same page, meaning I have to pull the chart off my board every time I need to change charts – which is twice per row. If they were on separate pages, I could magnet them back-to-back. I ended up scanning them into Photoshop and following it on my laptop.
Tags: aguona, fake isle, knitting, photos, wip
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June 15th, 2009
I realize I need to get photos for these things, but I’m just so lazy.
Recently finished objects:
- Fake Isle hat (needs blocking)
- Striped mat (needs ends woven in)
- 2, yes two, Clapotis-es
- Several dishcloths.
I also took the plunge and signed up for the TKGA Masters Course, level 1. I anticipate many learning experiences, and also tears, which are also learning experiences.
Tags: knitting, masters I
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May 12th, 2009
For the third year, I had an Artist Alley [small press/vendor] table at Anime Central. This is why the blog has been so quiet; all my energy went into convention prep!
The con went really well. I met great people, I did a lot of fun commissions, and I made some money. Other than MORE SLEEP, what more could I ask for?
Now that the convention is over, I can actually breathe for a few minutes!
Here’s a couple pieces I did for ACen:
I wanted to have more done, but alas! I had a severe case of artist’s block. Ah well.
Tags: acen, anime, Artwork, photos
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April 17th, 2009
Okay, I’m still obsessing over this book. I am declaring tonight to be NAAN NIGHT. To facilitate this, I picked up some ghee the other day. I also made the mistake of looking at the nutrition label on the ghee. It is about as healthy as one would expect clarified butter to be…
To combat that, I’m also going to try making the granola recipe. Sadly, I had almost none of the nice healthy ingredients needed. Yeah, I’m never gonna lose weight with my pantry like this.
In non-food news, I picked up some trim for the Flora Dress. I had an old Spool O’ Ribbon that I thought would work, but it was too shiny. Instead, I found this adorable, soft, multicolor braid. I love it – it keeps the dress festive.
See that line across the bodice? That’s where I screwed up the dot pattern repeat. Whoops. I still need to put the elastic shirring through the bodice, though, and I’m hoping the elastic will hide that little oops. It’s more obvious in some lights, anyways.
Next up: elastic, blocking, and then straps.
Tags: baking, flora dress, photos
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April 16th, 2009
My Flora Dress is off the needles! Finishing a knit is the greatest feeling in the world.
Of course, I still have a lot of finishing to do, but hey. It’s off the needles!
Pics later.
Tags: chatter, flora dress, knitting
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April 13th, 2009
For my birthday, my husband gave me a book I’d been wanting – Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. My mom gave me her unused baking stone, and I was off like a rocket. This book has me making all sorts of delicious things.
Sandwich bread: om nom nom.
I need to pick up some honey, and then I’m going to make brioche like a fancy baking person. I’m no Big Chef (friend and amazing baker), but hey, my house still smells delicious!
Tags: baking, books, bread, photos
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April 8th, 2009
I joined a knitting circle, and I’m super excited about it. They have a focus on charity projects, and so I knitted a teeny tiny preemie hat.
The pattern is Bev’s Baby Ribs and it’s just a little k2,p2 ribbed hat. Still, I quite enjoyed the company and the knitting! I didn’t finish up on Monday, so I finished it as “homework.” I wonder how many hats I can get out of one skein of yarn….
Oh, and I tried the Baylene needles. I like them! They’re grippy and flexible. They worked great for this project; I wonder if they would hold up to, say, sock knitting.
Pattern: Bev’s Baby Ribs
Yarn: I Love This Yarn! Sport Weight, soft blue
Needles: size 3 DPNs
And now, I’m off to figure out the difference between tags and categories. I feel a strange deja vu – yesterday I figured out the difference between sets and collections on Flickr, so.
Tags: charity, knitting, knitting circle, photos, project, review
Posted in Finished Objects, knitting | No Comments »
