Tag: books

My path is clear

For weeks now I’ve been trying to decide what to do about Christmas–do I knit/crochet presents this year? Do I really want to make myself that crazy? And what about the company’s charity auction at the holiday party? What would I do for that this year? I’ve done the scarf and hat thing to death already.


The three boxes and the blue bin in the front are what I just pulled out. The white rolling drawer set and the two boxes in the back are filled with yarn I’ve already photographed and catalogued.

Well, I pulled out four boxes of yarn to photograph and catalogue for Ravelry, and now my path is clear–I have so!much! wool that obviously this is the season of felted purses! Most of the wool is secondhand, passed to me when my friend Kat decided to divest herself of most of her stash, and therefore the colors are not what I’m usually drawn to–lots of earth tones, to be honest. It’s doubtful I’d ever do anything with this wool for myself, so transforming it all to gifts is the only answer. And maybe I can get some space back in my bedroom in the process.

I’m a smidge undecided on patterns. I have several books with lots of neat felted bags that would teach and challenge me, but really, I just want to make as many purses as I possibly can before December 25 (and really, preferably before December 18th, to give myself some time off to focus on other stressful parts of the holidays, like baking and shopping). This will probably mean using the patterns I’m already familiar with–Booga Bags, Little Cocos, Balloon Bags, and the clutch purse from One Skein.

In other news, I’ve finally photographed the 12 granny squares I’ve finished in the past week and a half, but I’ll need something to post tomorrow, so I’m saving it for then. Hey, it’s something to look forward to, right? 🙂 Until then, here’s a picture of my brother-in-law playing “zombie” with his and my sister’s kitty, Greta:

Tags books, crochet, pics, ravelry, yarn

Red Sox! And hats.

I’m watching the Red Sox game–bottom of the 8th, the Sox are up by three, but it’s not over yet, and anything can happen. I’m very tense at the moment. I’ve got my candles lit (some Catholic habits die hard, even for the non-believers), my Varitek game shirt on, and my heart is hovering somewhere around my stomach. Gah!

While watching the game earlier, I was working on a hat from Vogue Knitting on the Go: Crocheted Hats, which I purchased yesterday at Barnes and Noble (along with Amigurumi! Super Happy Crochet Cute by Elisabeth A. Doherty). The had did not end well, since I don’t know anyone with a head the size of, say, Hagrid’s. Sad, really, as the colors (the orange/pink/yellow/red Red Heart I mentioned in an earlier post) work up so brilliantly beautiful. It was supposed to be the Aviator Helmet from page 75, but it looks more like an unfelted Market Basket from Knitty.com. (I might link all these things later, but I’m too distracted right now.) (Go Varitek!)

I’m very much into crocheted hats right now. They work up fast, and require no dpns or seaming, like knitted hats. I did two hats last week, completely off the cuff with no pattern, and they turned out fine–one’s a little on the bigger side, but not half-giant big. This meshy pattern from the book? Ugh. In my inexperienced (crochet-wise) opinion, it’s got errors (I couldn’t find an errata sheet on it anywhere), and I think my attempt to figure out the errors might’ve led to the supersizing. Ah well, at least now I have something to wash so I can decide if the yarn is even worth frogging for another use.

(Ouch. I hate it when the other team makes me feel sorry for them.)

I need pictures of these crocheted wonders, I know.

(Wow, they’re walking a rookie just to load the bases. Desperate.)

Hold on, lemme see what I can do about those pictures…

(Woooo! Pedroia!)

Pictures are downloading.

(Yooooooouuuuuuuk!)

Ok, now the pics are uploading to Flickr. Whew. Did you see that inning? Scary. In a good way, if you’re a Red Sox fan. Not so much for the Indians fans.

Oh, I also bought the magazine Knitting, from the UK. In my opinion, so not worth the nine bucks. If it were a book, I’d return it. It was a disappointment, as I love knitting magazines and always look forward to them, but they’ve gotten so expensive I have to be picky about what I buy–I won’t be buying that one again.

Wooooooooooooooooooooo! Red Sox! Wooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Aw, the poor Indians. I hate when they show all the devastated players.

Pictures. Must focus. Ok, here we go.
Hat the First:

A little big, but not too bad.

Hat the Second:

The crown is a little bigger than the first hat but the brim is snugger, so it fits better. Yes, it’s the same yarn, and the same general “pattern”–I was on a plane, and just made another when I finished the first.

Scary Aviation cap:

Tragic, really–I adore the colors so much! I didn’t even bother to finish it up with the braiding and the flap-ties. What’s the point?

Ok, that’s all I got for today. Now I need to do a celebratory “Yay! Pennant!” dance in my living room. 😀

Tags books, crochet, finished, magazines, off-topic, pics

Miscellaneous

The week, according to me

aerial view of green grass field — Photo by Anil Sharma on Pexels.com

I had two readers yesterday–two! Woot! And, uh oh, one of them clicked on the link to my main website. Ouch. That sucker hasn’t been updated in forever! I’m terribly sorry, mystery reader! I’ll go post a picture or something right away!

I haven’t done anything yarn-y this week, I’m afraid. Ever since finishing the shell shawl (picture still to come), I haven’t been inspired to start anything new. Well, that’s not entirely true–there’s one project I’ve been thinking of, as a present for a friend, but first I have to obtain some Cascade 220 in the desired colors. I’ve been carrying around a couple of balls of nubbly red yarn and some needles, in case I feel like starting a scarf for the Red Scarf Project, but after three days, the needles are still bare and the yarn is still balled. Also, my evenings have been spent visiting my friends’ daughter at the hospital, where I stand by her bed and sing to her while she sleeps, so when I get home, my back and neck are cranky from the odd standing position, and my head just doesn’t want to think. Just too tired, I guess. So, no knitting or crochet news this week.

Instead, I’ve been busy at work, integrating two exhibitions at once (not the first time). When I take a break, I play with Twitter, or I find new widgets to futz with. (Didja see the new iTunes widget in the sidebar? Scroll down, it’s neat!) I’ve signed up with Scrabbulous, but have yet to actually play a game–everyone there seems way more advanced than I, it’s very intimidating! And sometimes, I search the internets far and wide for the cheapest Brown Sheep Burley Spun in variegated colors (one hank is the perfect size for a bubble bag!).

Last night, I helped my friend Allyson Beatrice assemble gift bags. She will be doing a reading from her first book, Will the Vampire People Please Leave the Lobby?, and a Q&A this weekend (Saturday, 9/1, 4pm) at Vroman’s in Pasadena. (You should come! There will be the aforementioned goody bags, and cake! And, she’s way funnier than me, so it’ll be entertaining, too!)

That has been my week so far. Not exciting, I know (although the near-death of my not-backed-up external harddrive was certainly a pulse-raiser!), but I hate to see this blog go without frequent updates. Perhaps for my next post, I’ll describe my awesome new business cards! 😀

And now, for something completely different–my darlin’, Trouble:

Tags books, off-topic, pics, yarn

WIP: Shell Shawl

I got started on my latest project this week–the shell shawl from Debbie Stoller’s The Happy Hooker. (The picture is from early Sunday–I spent most of yesterday on it, so it’s grown quite a bit already.) It was a little hard to get started–shells and treble stitches are new to me–but once I got into the swing of it, it became easy-peasy (except for the blisters forming on my fingers). I can even work on it while watching dvds, without losing count. Woot! I’m using purple Red Heart, which was a Christmas gift from my friend Tricia last year. I thought it’d be enough, but as it turns out, I was wrong–looks like I’ll need at least another skein. I’ve long since thrown the wrapper away, so hopefully dye lot won’t be an issue.

I really like the pattern, particularly how each row gets quicker, since you’re going top down and therefore decreasing a shell on each pass. I suspect I’ll be making this shawl again, perhaps with the blue discontinued alpaca from Cascade that I’ve been saving for a special occasion; we’ll see how this one turns out first, though.

Tags books, crochet, pics, wip, yarn

Knitting and Crochet

tap tap tap

[Note: HP7 is mentioned in this post, but there are absolutely no spoilers of any kind.]

Is this thing on? Whew! I tried posting yesteday, and I kept getting javascript errors that wouldn’t let me into the post field. Yikes! Scary!

So, as I was going to post yesterday, here is a picture of the log cabin blanket I’ve been making with “scrap” yarn, except that it stopped being scrap yarn when I started buying skeins just for this blanket. I was working on it yesterday during my “day of processing”–that is, the day after I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Some of the blanket’s strips will be getting narrower as I reach the ends of skeins, as happened last night when I reached the end of a blue skein. Hopefully it’ll all even out in the end.

I haven’t really been working on anything else lately. I realized yesterday that I miss knitting Booga Bags. I’d also like to make more of the squares for the Larger than Life bag, but it requires quiet and concentration, which makes it hard to find time to do it.

*sigh* It’s pathetic, I really should have more to talk about, but really, my head is still trapped in The Deathly Hallows. So much to contemplate, and revisit, and sort out. Excellent book, but I’m having a hard time thinking of anything else.

Tags books, crochet, pics