Not Crafty

Sunrise Circle Jacket Done!

2006-04-06T17:25:00.000-07:00

The stash pictures are sad, I know. But as an excuse of sorts, I've been busily making sure my spring jacket was ready. Despite distractions like this one:

But here's the finished jacket, highlighting the way a white jacket adds 60 pounds - whoohoo! The yarn was all salvaged from a horrible old gift sweater, and was close enough to the gauge that the pattern works all right.

Even better, though, are the buttons. Tiny green lemurs from the local Monkey Supply Emporium. Sure, I was mocked for acquiring more monkey loot, but a few drill holes later and hooray! Toggles!

Flash Your Stash!

2006-04-01T17:18:00.000-08:00

Stash!

The pitifully small pile of yarn for Flash Your Stash Day. That spindle of natural grey Corriedale I'm pretty proud of though. And I cannot stop petting the fuzzy, fuzzy brushed baby alpaca in the front.

Sunrise Circle Jacket

2006-03-13T02:26:00.000-08:00

Sunrise Circle Jacket

I've been busily knitting away on this jacket. The yarn is boring white wool salvaged from some horrible cabled gift sweater that was much unloved. What with me not knowing anyone who is a North Atlantic Fisherman by trade.

TubbyCat is working on her guilt-trip skills (oh! the antibiotics are Just. So. Terrible.) and conveniently propping up the instructions for easy reading.

How much progress is it? The back and left side are all done and mostly de-furred.

Kittenpants Minipurse

2006-03-07T22:52:00.000-08:00

Kittenpants Minipurse

I thought maybe I could use my lumpy and weird first skein of handspun yarn for Kate, but there was no way I had enough.

So Kate's cute little kitten pants are now a very small drawstring pouch.

Non-folded brim Coronet

2006-03-03T11:06:00.000-08:00

Coronet

An uninspired photo of coronet in horrible lime green, but oh-so-indestructable in the washer. Testing of the immense, not-even-photo-worthy matching everyday scarf and mittens in washer indicate a complete lack of feltability. Which is good, seeing as how I've spilled coffee on the set within 48 hours of washing it. Every. Single. Time.

Awww - look at the pretty braided cables:

Manly Scarf

2006-02-24T10:29:00.000-08:00

Manly Scarf

Version Two of Celia Ng's Manly Scarf.

Two skeins of grey and one skein of black brushed baby alpaca yarn. Using the same grey for colors B and C makes a nice pattern of varying stripes.

Hateful Shawl Edging Progress

2006-02-20T21:43:00.000-08:00

Accursed Print O' the Wave Edging

The edging of doom. Which better behave. Because it owes me for venturing into the snooty and distant yarn store for this:

Hateful, hateful shawl

2006-02-18T17:51:00.000-08:00

Hateful, hateful shawl

I loved the pattern for this shawl when I saw it. And putting it all together went swimmingly, even after changing the number of repeats to use a different gauge, and having to work out how to recalculate all the pieces.

Even kitchnering the two halves together so its symmetrical was fun.

The edging however, is a despicable and horrible thing. Which has been frogged easily a dozen times. First, because my invisible cast on is bad. And then a few times because I can't count. Or can't get the k3tog to work without accidentally dropping the preceding yarn over. And then there are errors in the second half of the edging pattern, which the designer graciously and quickly helped me out with. And then not being able to count again. And then finishing an edging repeat and realizing I'd attached it wrong, so the right side was just lovely next to the wrong side of the shawl body. And now, now with the first short side edged, I think I'm going to run out of *&^$%&#^$%^ yarn.

I hate you right now, shawl edging. You better be worth it. And look really, really gorgeous to make it up to me when you're done. Assuming I can find more of your dye lot.

Cunning Hat

2006-02-16T08:28:00.000-08:00

There are tons of quick, easy patterns to make Jayne's cunning hat. But progress was very, very slow. Why? The help kept getting in the way:

First its naptime.

Then the supervisor turns up:

Me? I'm not in the way at all.

Branching out

2006-02-15T07:06:00.000-08:00

Branching out

I love, love, love this scarf. This is one skein of Fusion (64% Mohair/27% Acrylic/9% Wool) in color 76, desert.

It came out much shorter than it should have, but is a good length for wearing tucked into a coat.

And the window shot to show off the pattern:

Munich hat, blocking

2006-02-14T07:44:00.000-08:00

Grey winter hat

A very, very old finished project, but needed to be washed and become a test case for a new hat blocking form (also known as the lid of the ice cream maker - verdict: waaaaay too big so I get to block again, hooray, since the top row of dots should be part of the vertical sides).

The swirls were pulled from an old Dover book of celtic deigns for embroidery projects. I'm still really happy with the colorwork I added to the decreases.

I've considered recharting the pattern and making this hat again in some more different colors, but can't decide if I should bother.

Corriedale handspun

2006-02-13T21:01:00.000-08:00

Corriedale handspun

Second attempt, about 2 ounces. Much nicer, and a really nice soft texture. Could actually be made into an object. If only I had even the slightest desire to own something turquoise.

Rambouillet handspun

2006-02-13T20:57:00.000-08:00

Rambouillet handspun

First handspun yarn, from the lovely Spinning Bunny starter kit. First attempt. Very uneven. Very much too tightly wound. Hilariously awful.