Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
I am not obsessed.
Okay, my title lies. I'm a little obsessed. I've always found knitting to be decidedly theraputic and instead of finishing lesson plans like I should've, I've finished another small project! It's a lace ruffle scarf, and probably one of the more useless items I've created.
The yarn itself is quite gorgeous -- bamboo tape. I thought I had enough with 100 grams of blue. The same proved itself with my slightly less than 50 grams of brown. Hence I had to cast off with pink, but all in all, I can't say it turned out poorly. Knit on size 11 bamboo circulars, by the time I got to 800 stitches I wanted to die. It sort of felt never ending. The laceyness is really quite attractive though.
It's probably going to go to my boyfriend's mom in Texas, where it's warm enough to never need a useful scarf...but meanwhile, Oreo Cheesecake the Stuffed Two Foot Penguin will model!
The yarn itself is quite gorgeous -- bamboo tape. I thought I had enough with 100 grams of blue. The same proved itself with my slightly less than 50 grams of brown. Hence I had to cast off with pink, but all in all, I can't say it turned out poorly. Knit on size 11 bamboo circulars, by the time I got to 800 stitches I wanted to die. It sort of felt never ending. The laceyness is really quite attractive though.
It's probably going to go to my boyfriend's mom in Texas, where it's warm enough to never need a useful scarf...but meanwhile, Oreo Cheesecake the Stuffed Two Foot Penguin will model!
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Synesthesia
Yesterday I briefly mentioned Alex Wong, a wonderful musician and friend who is part of a few great ensembles (Vienna Teng, The Paper Raincoat, Deadbeat Darling) that all play wonderful music. Aside from multitasking like crazy, he has a wild assortment of instruments that include a waterphone, melodica, and cajon (THE ELVES). Wiki it, you'll be there a while.
He also has this wild thing called synesthesia, where letters, words and pitches are colors to him. I once made a cross stitch that said "Glockenspiel Hero" on it and made the word "glockenspiel" out of the colors he saw. When I first started stalking/hanging out with Wong, he just got these new tattoos on his hands, I think they said "music" and "air"? I could be wrong. I feel like "water" might have been one of them but I have no idea. I'll have to ask him again. See tattoos that need to be re-inked!
Now, over Christmas, I gave Vienna a Christmas present but didn't give Alex one. Naturally, like any good fangirl, I felt bad, and ended up making these. I began these on the train Sunday afternoon, and just finished the stitching of the boxes just now. My fingerless mitties are getting better and better! I think the only thing that might annoy me is that white yarn? Dude, it was light blue on the spool. Thank you light and contrast. I tried!
He also has this wild thing called synesthesia, where letters, words and pitches are colors to him. I once made a cross stitch that said "Glockenspiel Hero" on it and made the word "glockenspiel" out of the colors he saw. When I first started stalking/hanging out with Wong, he just got these new tattoos on his hands, I think they said "music" and "air"? I could be wrong. I feel like "water" might have been one of them but I have no idea. I'll have to ask him again. See tattoos that need to be re-inked!
Now, over Christmas, I gave Vienna a Christmas present but didn't give Alex one. Naturally, like any good fangirl, I felt bad, and ended up making these. I began these on the train Sunday afternoon, and just finished the stitching of the boxes just now. My fingerless mitties are getting better and better! I think the only thing that might annoy me is that white yarn? Dude, it was light blue on the spool. Thank you light and contrast. I tried!
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
A Seriously Long Post
Ever notice how blogging goes so much faster than work/writing you have to do for your job? Blech!
So really, I've been intensely behind on updating on my created goods, because there's been a lot! I guess I should start with this great yarn store in the town I work in. The place is called Knit-a-Bit, and according to my boyfriend, you would never know there was a yarn store in this cute little downtown area. If their photos on their site are any indication, this is yarn heaven. I've become such a fiber snob because of them! On top of that, they had this great Superbowl Sale, where yarns were anywhere from 20%-50% off. Really, I should've bought more, but...alas! No monies! Here I ended up with this yarn stash.
The green, red, and black are Berroco Comfort (Worsted Weight), the pink is Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton, and for the life of me, I can't remember what the brown is. Frack! I know it's nice wool though. I also picked up a great self striping yarn from Lang called Milli Fiori (I think). That's not in the photo since it got turned into MITTENS! Two photos, one with flash. Both are pretty accurate representations of the beautiful colors.
Still have yet to master DPN's (somehow I feel very Old-Dog-New-Trick with DPN's) so I got a great two needle pattern here that I felt pretty good about. I made a thumb gusset for the first time and was so proud! I could do this again with a thicker yarn -- these are a little airy for me.
Like any good pianist, I'm fond of my handwear and so are my musician friends after seeing my eighth note fingerles-mitts (See other post). I'm a close stalker of a wonderful artist named Vienna Teng, whose fourth album, Inland Territory was just released in Germany and will be released here in April. (Buy it, she's amazing) I was just at Caffe Vivaldi (oh man, I feel like I could link forever) for a benefit that her and her percussionist, the indominitable Alex Wong were playing and like any good stalker, I offered knit goods. A few days later, I churn out these things and were able to offer them as fangirl and friend sacrifice.
The grey is just Lion Brand Wool, while the purple is Cascaade Heathers, 100% Peruvian Highland Wool (Oh god, Fiber Snob!). They look really great from the front, but I was ridiculously ashamed of taking a picture of the seam. My boyfriend was helping me seam but between the two of us, it got sorta lumpy and awful. I blame the color changes.
More things on the way...especially after receiving yarn for Valentine's Day!
So really, I've been intensely behind on updating on my created goods, because there's been a lot! I guess I should start with this great yarn store in the town I work in. The place is called Knit-a-Bit, and according to my boyfriend, you would never know there was a yarn store in this cute little downtown area. If their photos on their site are any indication, this is yarn heaven. I've become such a fiber snob because of them! On top of that, they had this great Superbowl Sale, where yarns were anywhere from 20%-50% off. Really, I should've bought more, but...alas! No monies! Here I ended up with this yarn stash.
The green, red, and black are Berroco Comfort (Worsted Weight), the pink is Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton, and for the life of me, I can't remember what the brown is. Frack! I know it's nice wool though. I also picked up a great self striping yarn from Lang called Milli Fiori (I think). That's not in the photo since it got turned into MITTENS! Two photos, one with flash. Both are pretty accurate representations of the beautiful colors.
Still have yet to master DPN's (somehow I feel very Old-Dog-New-Trick with DPN's) so I got a great two needle pattern here that I felt pretty good about. I made a thumb gusset for the first time and was so proud! I could do this again with a thicker yarn -- these are a little airy for me.
Like any good pianist, I'm fond of my handwear and so are my musician friends after seeing my eighth note fingerles-mitts (See other post). I'm a close stalker of a wonderful artist named Vienna Teng, whose fourth album, Inland Territory was just released in Germany and will be released here in April. (Buy it, she's amazing) I was just at Caffe Vivaldi (oh man, I feel like I could link forever) for a benefit that her and her percussionist, the indominitable Alex Wong were playing and like any good stalker, I offered knit goods. A few days later, I churn out these things and were able to offer them as fangirl and friend sacrifice.
The grey is just Lion Brand Wool, while the purple is Cascaade Heathers, 100% Peruvian Highland Wool (Oh god, Fiber Snob!). They look really great from the front, but I was ridiculously ashamed of taking a picture of the seam. My boyfriend was helping me seam but between the two of us, it got sorta lumpy and awful. I blame the color changes.
More things on the way...especially after receiving yarn for Valentine's Day!
Friday, February 6, 2009
Coasters...not just for grandma!
Hey all! I am soo happy to be making my first post to the blog!!! This is Niki here and I am really excited to share crafts and other created good with Kim, Candace and the blog-world! My crafting skills are crocheting, making wire jewelery, and really anything else I can get my hands on.
And today we have....Coasters! We all need them....and don't pretend that you dont! Who likes funny rings on tables and drippy glasses? This project is suprisingly quick AND easy!
And today we have....Coasters! We all need them....and don't pretend that you dont! Who likes funny rings on tables and drippy glasses? This project is suprisingly quick AND easy!
Ring Coasters
This pattern came from the Crochet Today June 2007 issue! http://www.crochettoday.com/articlepage.aspx?articleid=143
And I just noticed too that you can buy the supplies on-line when you click the above link! I would actually reccomend doing this. Mostly because I had no clue were to find these different size rings and that the size of the rings I used are not true to the pattern so my coasters do not make perfect squares (but close enough) annnnnd you can buy the pattern, all for a reasonable price...
They came out really nice and were Kim's birthday present! The magazine also suggests you can make a bunch and sew them together to make table runner or place mat...nice additions for any apartment.
Enjoy!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Bonnie sweater!!!
hello all! short and sweet, i made bonnie a doggie sweater! i got the pattern out of The Chicks with Sticks Guide to Crochet which is a pretty sweet book for learning to crochet, very easy to follow and explains lots of the basics.
i followed the large pattern (specifies number of stitches for small, medium and large) cause apparently bonnie is a little chub! she's pretty fluffy too, so the sweater kind of makes her butt look big, but she didn't care, she wore it anyway and didn't seem to mind. we never really put doggie clothes on her before, this is her first. its a little snug around her rib cage, so i would make it bigger next time, as well as longer. i added two extra rows to the pattern for her as is, hehe.
anyway, here's pictures!
please keep an eye out for the upcoming bunny post! ;)
i followed the large pattern (specifies number of stitches for small, medium and large) cause apparently bonnie is a little chub! she's pretty fluffy too, so the sweater kind of makes her butt look big, but she didn't care, she wore it anyway and didn't seem to mind. we never really put doggie clothes on her before, this is her first. its a little snug around her rib cage, so i would make it bigger next time, as well as longer. i added two extra rows to the pattern for her as is, hehe.
anyway, here's pictures!
please keep an eye out for the upcoming bunny post! ;)
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