Well, I haven't fulfilled my sock itch yet, but I did buy some lovely orange Koigu yarn that is destined to become biking socks! For some reason, I feel a little reluctant to actually cast on. I always feel a little intimidated casting on for a new project - especially with yarn as thin as this. It's like part of me already senses the hours of work ahead of me and balks a little. So, for now, I've mostly been squishing the yarn and appreciating it in cake form.
I guess my knitting has improved because the 2nd one felt much easier to knit and I didn't mess up on the placement of the thumb like I did the first. However, I realized halfway through that I must have been using a larger needle size than I did on my first armwarmer (either that or my hands have learned to relax considerably) because the stitches looked much bigger. But I wasn't willing to rip back so I plunged ahead and finished the thing anyway. Now, seeing them side by side, I can see that they are, indeed, two different sizes. Fortunately, it's not as noticeable when I'm actually wearing them. It's just that one feels a little more snug than the other.
Anyway, I'm just glad they're done with.
I also finished a quickie project the other night - a neck-warmer. My friend Feaver sent me a link online to a shop that sold neckwarmers and commented on how it'd be cool to learn to make one. I agreed, and decided to try one out. It's basically just a really short scarf, so it flew off my needles.
Speaking of needles, I actually started this project as an excuse to try out my new Lantern Moon rosewood needles that my friend Cecily got for me! They are the most amazing knitting needles I have worked with. I thought I was happy with bamboo... until now! Thanks, Cecily!!
Anyway, I digress. Here's my finished neckwarmer which I made using Bernat Alpaca Natural Blends Yarn:
I love Alpaca yarn and was excited to see a "cheapie" yarn with Alpaca fiber at my local Michaels. But even though it feels soft to the touch, it's incredibly itchy against my neck...
I have an urge suddenly to knit socks. I made one single sock about a year ago, with crappy yarn, just to prove I could learn how, and my interest in socks waned after that. I finished about 75% of the second sock but then let it sink to the bottom of my "project basket".
Now I suddenly want to knit socks again, only I want to knit yummy socks with nice yarn. But part of me wonders if this will be folly. Surely, second sock syndrome will hit me again and I won't be motivated to finish what I start. And, let's say that I do finish... well, in that case, can I be sure I would even WEAR said socks? I've found that of all the hats and scarves and sweaters I've made, I've never actually worn any of them other than for project photos. And I'm worried that if I make nice socks that I'll feel like my feet are unworthy of wearing them, or I'd be too paranoid about getting them dirty.
So I'm going to try and come up with a compromise for myself. First, I need to finish the crappy sock set I started a year ago and be done with it so it's not at the back of my mind. Secondly, I need to finish my second Hurry Up Spring arm-warmer to prove I can, indeed, finish a pair of something.
Then maybe I'll allow myself to dabble with socks again.
I have way too many unfinished projects that are starting to gang up on me and demand attention even though I'd like to forget some of them exist. Mainly, my mom's never-ending-scarf that I started well over a year ago and failed to give her at Christmas 2006 and again at Christmas 2007. It's becoming the bane of my existence. Just row after row after row of k1p1 ribbing. It's like pulling teeth. And I still have one more skein of yarn to use up. Will it ever end?!
About a month ago I almost snapped and decided to frog the whole thing, all 4 feet of it, and make a NEW scarf with a nice lace pattern that would keep me entertained. Thankfully my husband intervened and told me in no uncertain terms that I was crazy for even considering it. So I have to keep going. And going...
My husband is currently out of town at the moment and while he's away, I decided to knit him some nice fingerless "Beer Gloves" from the book Son of Stich'N Bitch. Again, I started the project simply because I've never done gloves before and wanted to learn how. (Even though, when I showed my husband the pattern a couple weeks back, he said they looked like hobo gloves and he doesn't understand dressing like a hobo, especially since we have so many real-life hobos living on our street at any given time). I just pretended I didn't hear him and when he left town, I went ahead and started on the gloves anyway, certain that he would come back home and fall in love them at first sight.
Well, the more I work on the first glove, the less I think this is likely. The more I knit, the more the thing seems to grow and sag. I mean... the ring finger opening shouldn't be wider than the thumb opening, right? And the palm seems so long it's beginning to look more like toe-less socks, rather than fingerless gloves. Let's not mention the huge ladders running up the sides due to my first attempt at knitting in the round on two circulars. And, why do I keep insisting on knitting with this Plymouth baby alpaca dk yarn even though everything I've made with it to date has been a disaster?
Even so... I'm gonna keep going. Well... I'll finish one at least.
So I got a new orange bike recently and I can't fight the urge to decorate it with woodgrain patterns. For me, the color orange and 70's style woodgrain go hand in hand. If they made them, I would certainly have a woodgrain patterned bike saddle, and handlebars....but they don't. I even looked for a woodgrain top-tube pad but I couldn't find one of those either.
I then realized I'd have to make one myself.
My first instinct was to look through my stash of cheap yarn and see if I had anything that looked "woodgrainy". I found 4 contenders and crocheted up 4 swatches. In the past, I've both knit and crocheted bike cozies, and I've found that the crochet cozies are a little more snug and durable than the knitted version.
So my next step was to look online and see if there were any woodgrain knitting or crochet patterns. Once again, I came up empty-handed. So I figured I could use some graph paper and make up my own pattern. And that's what I did!
So, halfway through that bag, I taught myself to knit with two colors at once with one color in each hand, one hand doing continental style knitting, and the other doing english style knitting. After some intitial awkwardness, I got the hang of it and the rest of the bag just flew off my needles! Now I actually think I like Fair Isle knitting!
Anyway, I think if I didn't learn to do the two-handed thing, this woodgrain project would have driven me crazy with all the yarn twisting. But it went by really fast, and I'm pleased with how it turned out!
I'm still not convinced it really looks like a woodgrain pattern...(Already someone has mistaken it for tiger-stripes.) I'm not sure what more I'd have to do to make it look undeniably like woodgrain but this is a start!
And lastly, here it is in action!
Secondly, my workload has increased considerably. I've taken on another comics-related job in addition to my main gig, so my schedule has become MUCH more hectic! Unfortunately, that means less time for crafting... which sucks because I have so many things I want to make: sweaters, socks, hats, gifts, Blythe clothes, amigurumi... the list goes on and on!
However, I have managed to complete a couple projects since I 've moved: I finished my Cobweb scarf, my Jolly Roger Sweater, and I completed a project from Twinkle's Book of Big City Knits! I also completed the seabird bag from Andean Folk Knits and several Blythe outfits for my own dolls as well as swaps I've participated in!
Here are some pics of my FOs!
Anyway, along with her and my husband, and a couple other pals, we've created a sort of weekly crafting club or get-together called "Craftonite" where we meet up, eat, drink, and make stuff! And we've had such a good time doing it, we've were inspired to apply for a table at Felt Club this past November, and we got in! Woo! We also made a Craftonite website! There's not much on it yet, but we're planning on opening an etsy store at some point. Anyway, Felt club was quite a success! We sold crocheted amigurumi budgie buddies, Cecily sold lovely snowflake ornaments, and my husband and I sold our Dollar Dreadfulswhich are short stories inspired by the original dime novels. Oh, we also had prints and buttons and I sold my knitting comic ashcan! We were all worried about getting enough stuff done to fill up a table, but we actually had almost TOO much stuff to fit on a table. It was a fun day!
As far as Blythe goes, ever since getting my first doll, Lemony, back at the beginning of the year, I've become hopelessly addicted! I've now got 7 dolls!!! I used to say that 3 was my limit. But now I'm thinking maybe 9 or 10 is a good cut-off point. I don't want to get TOO many because then I won't have enough time to play with them all, but they're all so unique and they all have their own personalities that I can't resist! I'm really excited about knitting and crocheting more things for them because I want to update their wardrobes with something other than Barbie clothes, and because making little hats and sweaters is so quick and satisfying! I want to get back to sewing as well, but I haven't yet unpacked my sewing machine. I do have a little crafting room in our new place (um, more like a converted closet!), but it's a bit of a train wreck at the moment! One day it'll be very cool!
Anyway, that's the general update. I'll try to post more often about the various projects I'm actually working on. (Right now, I'm tackling my first pair of knitted gloves! Yikes!) And now that I have a shiny new bike I keep wanting to adorn it with a cool bike cozy! Stay tuned!
