You make my day

          

         

         

Angela, Ashley, Cami, Christina and Lesa were kind enough to give me the ‘you make my day’ award.  Thank you for the award and to all my readers everywhere!  I’m just excited that a few people find my craft world interesting enough to follow.  

The rules of the award read: “Give the award to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blogland. Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times.” 

I’m passing this award on to the following ten blogs:

Melissa on A Mess Put Together Nicely 

Umme on ummeYusuf

Angela on My Tangled Threads 

Ashley on Crafty Ashley

Andrea on Knits and Knots

Christina on Crafty Christina

Paula on Hookandyarn

Niki on Knockout Niki Crochets.

Cami on Crochet Cami

Lesa on Lesalicious Style and Life

 

While we’re on the topic of blog fun, I saw this on Mary’s Little Craft Corner:

Anyone seen the BAND MEME going around? Basically, you go to three sites to randomly select your band name, album title, and cover art.

1. Go here for the band name: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
No matter what the title of the article is, that’s the name of your band.

2. Go here for the album title: http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four words from the very last quote on the page makes up the title of your band’s album.

3. Go here for the cover art: http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/
Whatever the third picture is, that’s the cover to your band’s album.

~here’s my results~

Name of my Band:
ITM2C

Title of my first Album:
“To Be a Hundred”

Cover Art:

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Neither rain nor sleet

I finished the knit boucle scarf for my mom.  Even though the pattern was very simple it took a lot longer to make than I’m used to.  There are more stitches to the inch compared to crochet and being a slow knitter doesn’t exactly speed things along. 

When I did finally finish the knitting I still wanted to embroider something simple in the corner.  After deciding on a treble clef, I put an image through knitPro to get one of those nifty graphs.  Originally, I intended to try out the duplicate stitch technique but the Caron SS yarn was fatally hidden by the boucle.  Those little tufts of yarn buried my best attempts. 

Since the duplicate stitch didn’t look right, I tried the back stitch.  Even with two strands together all that fuzzy boucle still got in the way, so I finally came to the conclusion that the crochet slip stitch was my only option.   

The slip stitches turned out to be just what I was looking for.  The only downfall is you have to free hand a bit more than the embroidery (exactly the reason I put it off).  The extra effort was worth it, though.  The slip stitch made the curves look much nicer than the embroidery and the raised effect makes the insignia really pop. 

My favorite part of the slip stitch technique is the opposite side.  Since I wove the ends in back through the treble clef, the backside doesn’t look that much different from the front.  See the gray yarn outline through the back?   

This scarf was made just in time, too.  We got four inches of snow yesterday and then a few more today.  What’s weird is that it snows during the night and early morning and then it’s really warm and sunny during the day.

During the day, on account of the warm weather, the snow trapped on tree branches melt off randomly in clumps.  It sounds like it’s raining all around in short, heavy bursts – defintely an auditory experience.  Plus, every once in a while when I was under a tree (hard not to do around here) I got smacked in the head with an ‘organic’ snowball courtesy of Mother Nature.  

*That’s cool* a random fact

The treble clef is also known as the G clef because one end circles around the ‘G line’.

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Raw potential

I visited Lopez Island and all I got was this lousy picture. 

Seriously, Lopez was so frigid and overcast I didn’t get any nice photos.  The clouds were dark and the rain made everything damp.  I just remember trying to stay warm and endlessly drying the camera. 

I’m so tired from shivering today!  Please excuse the rushed blog and the lack of essential details.  If you’re curious you can see a slideshow of the day’s trip over at Photobucket.  (Bonus points if you can spot a glass house hidden in the landscape.)  Otherwise, enjoy the plastic finger puppet picture from my dash.  I swear the blurry greenery is a genuine Lopez Island backdrop!

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By any other name

This is a small sample of the Progressive Pattern Stitch Afghan with Bernat Baby Coordinates Sweet Stripes.  I had some yarn left over from the Chromium Star Blanket and ended up using one full skein before the warping upper left hand corner got to me. 

Maybe a heavy border would help the misshapen corner and plump the size a little.  I guess I could also try blocking it, but I’ll most likely put it in snooze mode and try to find a charity that would take it.  I really don’t feel any drive to improve or finish this particular blanket.   

I do like the way the blanket is worked though, similar to a mitered square.  You crochet a bunch of chain loops on two sides of the square and turn.  The second row uses granny-style shell groups in each chain loop.  Because there are only two different rows the pattern is easily memorized. 

Plus, I personally am partial to exponential blanket construction.  It’s relaxing to watch a blanket grow, knowing that you can use the maximum amount of a skein without worrying that you’ll run out.  Using this pattern in the round would probably hold the shape better, like Robyn‘s  Baby Blanket on Flickr.  I like how her color changes compliment the pattern. 

*That’s cool* a random fact

Yellow roses symbolize friendship and sociability. 

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On a roll

Since I’ve only been working on my boucle knit scarf, and any updates on that would bore you to tears, I thought I’d show you my Baby Hat on a Roll.  You can read the original post about it on Crochetville. 

I didn’t really bother with the gauge and it turned out too small for a my cousin’s baby so now it’s sitting on my FO pile nearly a year later.  I’m not too sad about that, since I got to rephotograph it.  Plus it’s one more project I can put in my Ravelry notebook (but who’s counting?) 

The hat has the roll or bullion stitch for the border.  This stitch is tricky and I was using a Boyle.  In hind sight a Bates hook probably would have been a better option.     

 

In other news, I’ve just disovered RSS feeds.  I had some trouble in the beginning because the automatic setting scans for updates every 24 hours but, once I located the options menu, everything fell into place.  Now I have a pleasantly tidy list that bolds any blog listing with an update in the past thirty minutes.  I have even added more blogs to my mental ‘read every post’ list since I’m flooded with a few more blog minutes everyday.

Speaking of blogs, I did a sweep of all the blogs on my blogroll today.  Some blogs that have not been updated in a long while were deleted.  It’s not a matter of like or dislike, so please don’t be upset if your blog suddenly disapeared; I just want to keep the blogroll solely for regularly updated craft reads. 

I’m aiming to add some new blogs for the newly pruned list soon.  I’d love it if you readers would comment with your own craft/crochet blog or one that you like to read if it’s not listed already.  I’m always on the prowl for new and interesting craft reads. 

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Swap swap gals

 

I’m joining Lesalicious‘ Swap Swap Gals blog and these are the required survey questions.  Enjoy!

hobbies : digital photography, guitar hero, reading (esp. non-fiction science, trivia and ‘book club’)

crafts : crochet, knit, bead, cross stitch, paper crafts, book binding (learning), latch hook rugs, paint-by-number, origami

favorite colors: deep blue, aqua, turquoise, lime, heathers, the cottonease colorway or anything bright and cheery

favorite animals: penguins, frogs, jack russells, goldfish, octopi, koalas, hamsters, orca whales

all dislikes: not a fan of royal purple, denim, dusty pinks, lemon yellow, caramel candy, lots of fun fur

favorite candies: peach, gummies, cinnamon and dark chocolate, coconut, hazelnuts, basically any nuts. 

favorite smells: linen, lavendar, cinnamon, pumpkin, butter-cream, honeydew, watermelon, lilac, anything that doesn’t smell like a disinfectant

other: have a jack russell terrier, The Office fan, thread work is beautiful, always on the lookout for good recipes, enjoy trivia/flash cards, ribbons and buttons, listen to music in the car, like playing video games, puzzles/card/board games are fun, handmade is the best 

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Word of the day

The word of the day is blustery.  It’s very windy here in the tip top corner of the Northwest.  I was holding the door ajar for the dog this morning and I actually had to use force to keep it from swinging.  It felt like this massive vacuum was pulling the door closed. 

You would think with all this stormy weather it would be miserable outside, but apart from the hurricane force winds it’s actually a beautiful winter day.  There’s sun coming in through the windows and the sky is mostly blue.  I’m happy if I see a patch of blue in between the clouds this time of year. 

Craftwise, I’m knitting a scarf from Bernat Soft Boucle in natural.  I wanted badly to crochet this stuff, but I was going nuts.  Unless I used a large hook the yarn caught every bulge and and was a nightmare to frog.  I just didn’t feel like fighting with the yarn.  Knitting with ‘fun’ yarn is easier than crocheting, in my opinion, and that also goes for this border-line difficult boucle. 

 

The pattern is Melissa’s All About The Yarn scarf, using a k5 vertical border.  Mine’s not alpaca, but I think it’s turning out well.  There are problems with the border curling inward so I guess I’ll try blocking it.   Acrylic doesn’t have a superb reputation for yielding to pins and water though.  Still, the boucle is hiding my uneven stitches and it feels light but warm.  I am considering putting an edging or embroidery to spruce it up. 

Here’s my first knit swatch from way back in 2001, when I was a seinor in high school.   I spent a saturday afternoon watching an Omen marathon and trying out different purl/knit combinations from my stitch dictionary.  If you look closely you can spot attempts at ribbing and cables.  

You may remember this yarn from a series of scrap yarn squares I made earlier this month.  This swatch would be perfect for the kind of knit graffiti Knitta started.  You know, where they fasten knit UFOs to random stop signs and car antennas.  Maybe next time I’m in Seattle… 

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Crafts ‘n things

There’s a magazine out there called Crafts ‘n Things. Could you believe that they’ve got a collection of crochet patterns tucked between craft sections? This mosaic is just a sampling of the crochet projects included in the February 2008 issue.

The amigurumi doll is titled “Princess Peony”.  What a cute name for a doll!  As far as I’ve read the arms don’t have wires so they’re probably not poseable as the picture suggests.  Even without poseable arms she’s a promising project and comes out at 16″, which is a sizable little crochet creation.

The baby blanket with the delicate shell border would look nice all in one color.  The two tone is pretty too, though.  As for the quilt, the pattern calls for a vintage doily for each square.  I like the idea, but I don’t know if I would tack handmade doilies to a quilt.

The applique bird has nothing to do with crochet, but I liked project with the rick-a-rack edging.  Looks like a fairly simple way to spruce up the kitchen towels. 

There are tons of projects crammed into the Crafts ‘n Things magazine.  Along with eleven crochet patterns and one knitting pattern, (can you believe those odds?) there is a mish mash of Martha Stewart-ish crafts.  The sections read like this: heartfelt gifts, hooked on crochet, the jewelry box, crafting green, cards*stamps*style, simply quilts, product showcase. 

You get cross stitch, wall hangings, photo album bindings, gift basket ideas and much, much more so, even if you aren’t a rubber stamp person, there are plenty of other crafts covered.  It was actually nice to see a selection of popular crafts all in one magazine.  One downfall of the magazine is there are so many different craft projects there aren’t many articles focused on technique.  However, if you’re looking to expand your crafty mind and score a few crochet patterns in the process it’s worth the $5.99 U.S./ $6.99 CAN INT’L, or at least a proper skim in line at the grocery store. 

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Get lost

I got lost walking around in Seattle today.  I’m very good at getting lost but luckily my brother was with me.  We were on our way to visit our cousin Erika in South Seattle, but made a pit stop around Pike and 6th to have a look around. 

Isn’t this manhole cover pretty?  I wanted to take a clear picture but felt kind of silly on my toes, holding a camera at arms length, so I took the stealth way out and settled with a blurry version.

After sightseeing and stopping to play a few games at the Gameworks Video Arcade we got a little turned around.  We were able to back track with the help of a few friendly Seattleites, but by my estimate I would say we walked around for three hours, one-third of that in a confused state.  If I have learned one thing today, it’s that Seattle is not a flat city!

*That’s cool* a random fact

Seattleites buy more sunglasses per capita than any other city in the United States.

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The time warp

This is the product of my first thread crochet stint way back in February 2007.  My Grandma graciously gave me her thread crochet hook collection when I told her I had a project in mind, but no supplies.  Not only did she donate her steel crochet hooks to my craft cause, she gave me some of her stashed crochet thread to get started. 

I made a bunch of bookmarks from that thread and as a thank you I sent her one of the them.  This is how my Grandma keeps the bookmark today, hung over her lamp.  I snapped a pic when I visited her in December.   

I don’t think I’m the thread crochet type.  The tiny string makes it hard to keep the right tension, especially the shiny kinds.  Even if I personally don’t absolutely love thread,  I still ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ at the multitude of doiles harbored on Flickr.  I guess I’m a prime canidate for those doily baby blankets.

The pattern for the Columbine bookmark above is currently unavailable as far as I can tell.  Every link I try has a “Oops!  Error” slogan.  Lucky me, I have a copy from those luxurious days when my printer still worked.  There was another bookmark I made at the same time called the Star Flower.  The pattern for that is available at Craft Bits (thank you Ravelry pattern search!)

I got curious and searched Crochetville for my orignal post.  This was way before I ever thought about keeping a crochet blog and I had just joined the ‘Ville.  You can still see my Crochetville post from way back when, complete with original fuzzy bookmark pictures.  I got a kick out of revisiting the post and believe it or not, Riohnna was the first comment!

*That’s cool* a random fact

Mick Jagger wanted the part of Dr. Frank N. Furter in the film verion of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

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