Back with Needles

Finally!  PocketSize has come back to yarncraft! 

I'll forgive you if you don't get the reference. 

Anyway, with the apartment getting settled, I have gotten a little knitting time.  And with some small departmental meetings at work with people that know that I'm still paying attention, I've been able to crochet.  So I've got a sweet little project basket kickin'.

Want a closer look?  It's three shawls I'll show you, though one is only a few rows in.  I've been really wanting more shawls, so that's what I've been into making.  Here we go...

This one is Katika.  I had started it back before Christmas, and got several rows in, but then let it sit for months.  When I picked it up again last week, I dropped half a row and I realized I'd been leaving out an important yarn over for most of what I had done, so I ripped it back to the beginning and started over. 

 The yarn is Neighborhood Fiber Company in a one-off colorway.  I got it at last year's Homespun Yarn Party.  It's really nice and bouncy.

Next up, I'm finally knitting Damson.  I've been trying to settle on the perfect yarn for it, and even though it's a few yards shy of the required yardage, I'm using another yarn I got at last year's Homespun Yarn Party, from Ashton Studio Arts. 

Doesn't look much like a shawl in this pic, because I started it on the spur of the moment and grabbed straight needles to do so.  Now I really need to switch to circulars, because it's getting a bit heavy.

It was really hard to get the color of the yarn right, and even this shot isn't really accurate.  It's a gorgeous bluish lilac color. 

This last one is my travelling project, because it's very simple and easy to keep track of.  A couple weeks ago, I went to a yarn shop I hadn't been to before and they had Zauberball.  I'd never found a Zauberball before, but I wanted one.  So of course, one had to come home with me :)  I had such trouble deciding on colors that I realized that I don't have any really neutral shawls, so that's what I got:

The pattern is Eva's Shawl, and it's a really simple three-row repeat.  Which is what makes it ideal for department meetings and other times when I need relatively mindless work.

By next week I should have some bookbinding photos for you.  My only DIY project for the wedding...  So check back soon... :)

Gobble Gobble

Happy Turkey Day! I realize I haven't posted in a looooong time, and Thanksgiving day seems like an odd time to take the time to blog, but I'll take what I can get.

Christmas is on the way, so naturally I can't post a lot of what I'm working on lest people see their presents, but I can say that I've got one finished and two in progress. I'm ahead of schedule, which never happens. I can't show you the finished one, or one of the in-progress ones, but I can show you what I've been working on while watching the Macy's Day Parade, because I'm pretty sure the recipient doesn't even know I have a blog...


Raven Clan color "Tlingit"

How about a glamor shot?


I know I'm overdue on a picture of my Raven Shawl, which I did finish before Halloween. To be honest, I haven't been able to get any good pics of it, but here's a teaser, taken while it was blocking:


I hope everybody's having a wonderful day with family and/or friends! Santa's almost at Macy's, so Merry Christmas season, too!

Back to School

Well, my two month break is over, but I've been keeping busy with the craftiness. And I've already got an entry for Michelle's latest Crusade! A couple of things for it, actually.

Took a class with Tim Holtz this summer... Oh. My. GAWD. He's a total rockstar. I had so much fun! The class was on bookbinding and creating covers with embossed metal and of course Tim's own findings. In one afternoon, we learned a simple bookbinding stitch, metal embossing, the use of alcohol inks, and what the faun to do with all his little findings and details. This is what I took home, along with a head full of ideas:





Since coming home, I've been doing a lot more stamping and paper art. Don't have much to show yet, but I'll give you a glimpse soon... :)

I've finished Ishbel, too, finally. I had to put it down for a little while sometimes, but I got it done!



Extreme closeup!


And I've had the chance to start the much-awaited Raven Shawl!


That's just the first three colors, accomplished while I watched the Ravens vs. Jets pre-season game. Oooooh I'm so excited for football season!

And, it being Monday, it seems like a good time to show off my most recently spun yarn. Yep, I've been getting back to spinning! This is what I've done with Mountain Colors targhee in Copper Mountain:


Spun on my Traveller, chain-plied for a good stripe effect.



I've decided that targhee goes on my list of favorite fibers to spin. It might actually spin easier than merino. Definitely a good fiber to learn :)

So, more on the learning front, I'm finally taking a rare books librarianship class. It promises to be super hard, but I'm really looking forward to what I'm going to be learning this semester. It's going to cut down on my crafting time, that's for sure, but given certain financial restrictions I'll have to make a lot more Christmas presents this year, so I'll definitely be finding or making time to get some crafting in. Nevertheless, crafting must needs take a backseat to academia sometimes. We'll see how the trip goes...

Two weeks in a row?

Yes, another WiP post! Still Ishbel, but this time... I've started the lace!



I've got a portable project going, too - another Triangular Shawl by Doris Chan - but no pics of that yet. Yeah, I forgot to bring it out when I took the Ishbel pic at sunset, and I'm too lazy to do it now. But I have gotten people talking about crochet because they see me working on it in public. At my orthodontist, one of the technicians asked me to show her what I was doing because she crochets but can only keep track of simple stitch patterns. Now she and the receptionist want lessons!

Also, the Raven Shawl color sequence is all figured out. I'm going to wait til I'm finished with Ishbel before I start the Raven Shawl, though. There's a great story there, though. See, when I was winding off all my Raven Clan skeins, I found that some of them had more knots than I'm accustomed to seeing. A couple of them had two knots each and lots of slubs, which seemed odd, and one skein had four knots and slubs all through it. So, encouraged by Pam and Cristi, I went ahead and emailed Blue Moon. The next day, they had written me back apologizing and promising that new skeins of those three colors would be shipped to me by the end of the week! Awesome customer service. I'm very impressed. They're not even asking me to return the knotty skeins! So now I'm trying to think of little projects to use them in... :)

Well, that's all for now. Vacation this weekend, and I'll get to hit up Knitting Sisters. Woooo!

Victory!

I finally have pics of my Ravelympics projects! Cos I did finish in time. Just barely.

First, the Triangular TARDIS Shawl.


Crappy pic, I know. I gotta get better ones. But I'll be wearing it tomorrow so maybe I can get them then. For now, how about a closeup?


ETA: Okay, the lighting is yellow, but I took some modeled pics. Had to use the timer on my camera, cos the parents were already in bed.




I like it as a scarf-type-thingie:

Pardon the room. Laundry day. Hadn't put the clothes away yet.
**Back to the original post:

Synchronicity is just so shiny. And glorious. My mom says it's a little too delicate looking to dress it down as much as I wanted to, and I'm still undecided on that front. I'm inclined to think I should keep it for more special occasions, but that means I am still wanting a casual shawl. Oh noes. I guess I'll just have to make another.

As for my other project, this is all I'll show you until after tomorrow. That's the thing about presents. You gotta keep them secret. Can't let them leak out on the interwebs.


Now I've really got my crochet mojo back. And I have a desire to knit as well. Which is good, because it's time to be making Christmas presents! Not to mention getting on to all the stuff I've queued on Ravelry...

Ravelympics Update

I know, no creative title. It's late and I'm low on brain-juice.

AnyWho, I felt the desire to post and celebrate that my shawl for the Ravelympics Shawl Relay is finished! Well, not completely. Well, it's finished but the ends need weaving in. And it needs to be blocked. BUT the crochet is done! I am dubbing it my Triangular TARDIS (Shawl), because it is blue like the TARDIS and I crocheted it for Team TARDIS, and it's at the moment quite small and scrunchy but I have faith that once it's blocked it will be much bigger. It's a moderately sized shawl disguised as a tiny one.

Pictures to come soon, once it's blocked and the ends are woven in. For now, though...

Going for Gold

A little late with this post, but guess what? I'm in the Ravelympics! Went ahead and joined Team TARDIS, because seriously, the Doctor is made of Win. Check it out:

Running:


Equestrian:

(I'm a little bitter that the Dressage final was not televised in its entirety... The one year I actually remember to try and watch it!)

And should marathon cabinetry installation ever become an Olympic sport, you know he's got it covered.


As for me, I have entered the Shawl Relay (about the closest you're gonna get to me running) with the Triangular Shawl by Doris Chan and one other event but we'll let that one slide for now, hmm? Okay. The shawl is kinda stalled out right now. We'll call it a rain delay. Got a little confuzled with the pattern cos I didn't have the first row erratta with me when I started it so I had to muddle through myself. And since then I haven't had the chance to get back to it. Not entirely sure that I like the yarn I'm using for it. Really don't want to have to frog it and start over with different yarn though. We'll see. I'm about to work on it now, actually, and we'll see how the second row goes.

So, Ravelympians and spectators, it's time to get back to it. Allonsy!



*Screencaps from Sonic Biro, Doctor Who-ness property of BBC, etc.etc.etc. If I had come up with this stuff, I wouldn't be working where I do.

Mmm... tea....

I have an active WiP!!! Can you believe it??? I'm crocheting again! Woooo!

Oh... you wanted to see it? Hm. Okay, I guess I can show you. ;)




I know it doesn't look like much now, but it's slowly becoming Sweet Tea from Doris Chan's Everyday Crochet. I'm really liking the pattern. Easy enough that I can watch Doctor Who while working, interesting enough that I'm not getting bored. It's a win-win project, I tell ya. It is, in fact, fantastic. :)

And besides, its name involves tea. Seriously. Can it be more perfect? I submit that it cannot.

Cracking the WiP

zOMG! A blog! I knew I had one of these things around here somewhere!

For real though, I have an excuse for not posting. I've been a little busy. I've so far seen Prince Caspian 3 times (if you haven't seen it yet, what are you doing here? Go! Get thee to the cinema!), Indy once, visited Williamsburg with my mom, been increasing my WiP pool, been spinning more than previously (yayz!), and have been cultivating my new obsession with which I've been surely driving my friends and family completely insane. And as usual, I am planning on blogging more often. *snort*

Anyway, I've got fun Narnia-related stuff to show you, but since it's Wednesday, perhaps instead you'd like to see those aforementioned WiPs? Well how about...

A crocheted sock?


Kureyon Sock. Not the softest ever, but just gaze for a while at those glorious Noro colors...


P.S. That is only about 3 hours of crochet, give or take a few minutes. Now you understand what there is to love about being a hooker.


The Knitting Sisters beret. Could not resist this pattern. Yes, it's Kureyon; I can't help myself. This skein seems remarkably soft, though. Same color as the socks:



And the WiP that I started before either of those. I'm knitting Askew from Knitty. But not in Noro. Aha! A non-Noro WiP! Anywho, what I am knitting it in is Tess' Microfiber Ribbon. Yes, I am aware that it is not the same gauge as Silk Garden, and I should've reconsidered my yarn choice and gone with something that's the same gauge. But where's the fun in that? I redid the math. And it came out to me knitting the numbers for the size XL. Ironic? I think we would call it that, yes. But once you see these pics you will know why I had to do this.



See?


Is it not remarkable? Is it not gorgeous?
It's become my Robin Hood knitting, despite brief forays into the above Noro projects. I feel it is appropriate knitting for Robin Hood, it being green and kinda evocative of some of the costuming themes of the show.

Well there you have it. My WiP Wednesday post, and it's still Wednesday! Go me! Now I'm off to debate whether to start spinning, work on one of my current WiPs, or start a new one I have planned...

Handspun FOs!

I have been remiss. I finished a project last week and didn't post it. In fact, I finished it exactly one week ago. Bad Carrie.

But, as it is made from my own handspun and I have nothing new on bobbin or spindle (and I'm sure you don't want more pictures of the same roving in varying amounts on my bobbins), I feel that it is appropriate for Handspun Monday. Ladies and Gentlemen (are there any?), I give you -- the Ocean Waves Boteh scarf!





Actually, I've been on a roll with the handspun this week. Because on Saturday I started -- and Sunday I finished -- another long-planned, never-executed project. This one is from the roving that I bought at Stitches East in 2006 and spun on my first Golding Spindle (I've since started a collection). The roving caught my eye because the colors reminded me of the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean, and I eventually decided I would make a moebius wrap out of it. Sadly, some of the color washed out in the finishing bath, butit still makes me think of that beautiful sunrise. So about a year after finishing the yarn, I finally sat down and made the moebius. If I don't just decide to make it happen, it's not gonna make itself, right?


The color in the picture is off, unfortunately, but that's what I get for having such yellowy lightbulbs in my room. I'll try and get a more true-to-color pic. Since the color is really what's important about this piece. *sigh*

I've spun half of the Earth & Sky roving, and I need to ply what I've spun and get to spinning the other half of the roving, so that I have more handspun yarn to play with!

Handspun Monday: The Update Editioin

Sorry, haven't been very talkative lately. But I do have an update!

My Earth and Sky spinning looks much the same as it did last week:


But I do have a new project. One that should've been finished by now, but apparently I can't count, so I've had to frog most of it twice. Anyway, I'm finally using my Ocean Mist yarn to make the Boteh Scarf from Interweave Crochet Spring 2007.

Ooooh.


Shineh.

Science!

She blinded me! With science!

When I saw this yarn from Storm Moon Knits, I knew it had to be mine. Just based on the name alone.

And I knew it had to be armwarmers.

And so it is.

Blinding Armwarmers.


Scientific armwarmers. (Well, mathematical at least. Can you find the Fibonacci sequence? Look carefully, it's subtle...)


This yarn is definitely awesome. Twilight Sock in "She Blinded Me With Science" = Awesome. Which means that, yes, these armwarmers are in fact made of Awesome.


Hellz yeah.

Yay?

Last night was a night fraught with emotions. Most of them negative. I will explain.

First off, Mom and I went to the fabric mecca yesterday. I got some of the stuff I was looking for (rayon velvet so I can try embossing it), but the main thing I wanted just wasn't there. I'm more than a little frustrated.

Then there was the evening. My computer was just not responding to anything I tried to do to fix it. Even advice from Roxy's hubby was in vain. But finally, last night as I reached the breaking point and gave up in a fit of rage, my dad stepped in again. Seems he had turned on a security feature that was blocking my laptop. So he turned that off, and now I'm connected! Woohoo!!!

That, however, could not help my Ravens. As a Ravens fan, I am depressed and more than a little embarrassed over last night's sorry excuse for a game. I don't even know what that was. I had to turn it off after the Colts' third touchdown. Did turn it back on in time to see the last two minutes of the game, though, and saw Troy Smith play with some guts. Granted, it was against the Colts' second-string defense, but still. He didn't dither. He didn't cower in the pocket. He played. OMG! I hope we get to see more of what he can do. In the meantime, I am not making any Ravens gear. I had plans. Those plans will be on hold until the Ravens come back and play in Baltimore. I'm a loyal fan, and I still love them, but if they're not gonna put in the effort to play the game, I'm not gonna spend my crafting time making Ravens gear.

And now, since it is still Handspun Monday for another few hours, a spinning update! I don't have pics (bad Carrie! no cookie!) but fear not! I have spun in the past two weeks! Last Sunday, I tried spinning some of the silk/merino I got from Lisa Souza. It was such a frustrating exercise that I had to walk away from it. I'm not one to give up on things, but at some point I do have to acknowledge that I'm not having fun and shouldn't waste my time. On the other hand, yesterday I pulled out some of the alpaca I got at MDS&W and started spinning it on my square spindle. Yum. I'm in love with that alpaca fleece. Being alpaca, it's a little tricky to spin. A little bit slippery. But if I'm paying attention it works just fine. Woohoo!!! Pics will come soon, I promise!

I've also started a Christmas present. Remember Charmed? I'm developing a crocheted version, this time using the cashmere I got from Habu Textiles. Having never worked with cashmere before, let me say: YUM.

This present may or may not be aided by a class I took on Saturday with mom. The class we took was on soldering small glass pieces together to make jewelry, ornaments, multimedia art, etc. My pieces ended up a little wonky, but for a first attempt they aren't bad. I'll have to post pics of those too. Mom and I now have a little soldering kit and plenty of little glass bits to encase pictures or fabric or whatever we want. Whee! I really wanna play with it right now. But I can't. Have to make an hors d'ouvre for the office Holiday Party tomorrow. Ah well. Soon. I will be making charms, and pendants, and such things. After all, the only way my soldering is going to get better is by practicing!

eep...

Okay, still no pictures to post. Haven't downloaded them from my camera. And I haven't taken any of what I've spun. But I wanted to post anyway, and rant a little about how very over my head I am in. If you don't want to hear me rant, just stop reading. But opening up about stuff helps me get my head in order.

See, with the costumes for the show, I feel like I'm just treading water. No matter how many people I dress, there are still five million more. And I only have one person helping me. It's a nightmare. Not that I'm not enjoying it at all, but it's just getting more and more stressful.

And because I put it aside for so long, I now have to finish that baby blanket I was crocheting by this weekend. Funny thing, that's also the first deadline for costumes. Hm. Funny how that worked out.

And there's a good deal of personal stress that I won't get into here but suffice to say it's all a bit draining.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could each just take a month whenever needed and say "bug off, world, I need some time to myself!" and just do whatever inspires us? I think that would be fantastic. I definitely need about a month to myself. That would be nice. But alas, I have no such month, so I guess that means I'm off to bed so I can get to work in the morning!

Zombie-head!

That's what I kinda feel like. I started the week -- no wait, day -- out with a minor cold. A low-grade cold that was barely a cold at all. By the time I got home from my sweltering, semi-tropical office, I was feeling definitely infected. And as the evening has gone on, I've gotten progressively more zombie-like. Grr.

In my stuffy-headed state, I did manage to not only get some real work done but also take WiP pics! Oh yes, my friends. I am actually posting WiPs. Go me!

First, the ever-present Razor Cami. In the car this weekend, I kept screwing up the front. So I had to keep ripping it back. I finally got tired of it and left it screwed up until today, when I finally frogged the same damn rows for the gazillionth time, and now it looks like this:



Notice the heap of yarn? Gotta knit that back up.

And then the New Design. No, it's not finished yet. Haven't been working on it. Much. But it's progressed since the last time you saw it, so here:



Exciting, no?

I'd post more (there's so much I want to post about!) but instead I am taking my hopped-up-on-nyquil self to bed. As soon as I stop sniffling to death.

Combination Thursday

I suck at this game. Haven't posted in over a week again. Lame... I'll just have to combine yesterday's WiP post and tomorrow's Yarn Pr0n.

Anywho, I've got new stuff going on. Got a new design in the works, which I've got pics of in progress, and I've got a gig doing costumes for Ragtime. A little intimidating. And by "a little" I mean "a lot." Granted, I won't be building the costumes myself, we're going to be renting them. But still. That's a big show to manage. *gulp*

Meanwhile, I've still got the Razor Cami on the needles.


But look!

Ten inches done!!!

And, as I said, I've got a new design in the works. It's a shawl. I'm hoping it's gonnna turn out the way I've planned.


And the yarn pr0n? It's the yarn I'm using for my new design! Mountain Colors Half-Crepe, in the Eureka colorway.





Yum, right?

By the way, is it Fall yet? I love Summer, but I'm very ready for Fall to be here. I'm getting psyched about Halloween. It's putting me in quite the Gothic mood. And this, from the new issue of Somerset Studio, made me gleefully Gothic. It's from the article "Model Behavior" by Michelle Ward (apologies for the crappy photos).

Who's that dapper gentleman on stage left?


Why, I do believe it's Ville Valo! *squee* Only, ya know, one of my ALL TIME favorite singers, from one of my ALL TIME favorite bands. Perhaps even #1 for me, though that's tough what with Blackmore's Night, David Bowie, The Beatles, and The Monkees around. Yes, I'm weird. But yeah, I've been flipping through The Victorian Trading Co. catalog repeatedly, looking at all their Halloween stuff, not to mention their usual merchandise. Gaaahhh! Is it Halloween time yet??? No, no... I can be patient... I can wait... Really...

The other thing that Fall brings is the Renaissance Festival. Oh yes. Can't wait to go! It's open, but this is me not braving the heat to go to the RenFest. I'll go, yes, but not yet. Also an opportunity for Gothic fun, by the way. Just a slightly different kind of Gothic. Whee!

I also need to order some superwash wool in navy blue and in gold. Football season is starting soon, there's a lot of gear I need to make for tailgates!

Gaaahhh, so much to do, so little time! EEEEP!!!