Hot Cakes

After the big giveaway...

2010-01-08T09:46:00.000-08:00

... I can finally blog all the things that were given.

A rabbit named Lizzie with an unusually large head:

And a tie: (Why a tie? you ask. I don't know. Just because.)

Pattern: Lovable toys from LMKG (rav link)
Yarn: Knitpicks Crayon (100% pima cotton)

An incredibly cute sweater on an unbearably cute little girl:

Pattern: Improvised using EZ's percentage system as a guide (rav link)
Yarn: Recycled from a Gap sweater

Some mittens:

And some more mittens:

Pattern: Herringbone mittens from Elliphantom knits (rav links)
Yarn: Cascade 220 and Patons Classic Wool Merino

A long-promised sweater for Mr Hot Cakes' sister:

In supposedly superwash wool (which is apparently not superwash, according to many sources). Oh well.

Pattern: Central Park Hoodie (This is a great pattern!) (rav link)
Yarn: Knitpicks Swish (100% superwash wool.... um, not!)

And some birthday socks for my favorite sister:

Pattern: I used the toe-up sock formula from IK summer 2007 (rav link) and striped every 4 rows. The calf increases ended up looking a bit pouchy, but after you put them on, who can tell?
Yarn: Happy Feet from Plymouth Yarns (100% superwash wool--for real this time.)

Happy holidays everyone!

My new best friend

2009-10-07T17:39:00.000-07:00

I love this person with all of my heart.

Regretsy

Patchwork bag

2009-09-19T16:17:00.000-07:00

Wow, another bag, I can't believe it.

I used a combination of several patterns as a guide for making this, including the Hip Mama Diaper Bag from A Mingled Yarn and the Beach Bag from Filminthefridge.

The outside of the bag is primarily linen (love linen!) and a row of patchwork from scraps in the old stash.

The flower fabric is from Purl Soho that I bought on my trip to New York. The hedgehog/mushroom fabric is from Cool Cottons here in Portland. That place is awesome.

The lining is Amy Butler's Belle Coriander. Remember last post when I said how much I love this print?? Well, I wasn't lying, was I?

Pockets! You can never have enough.

Hot damn! Two blog posts in one week!

2009-09-10T15:51:00.000-07:00

Here are a few scarves I finished a couple of months ago.

Pattern: Chevron Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts
Yarn: Bare Essentials Merino Worsted from Knitpicks hand-dyed in rainbow stripes with Kool-Aid alternating with white
I totally unabashedly stole this idea from this person.

Second is a stashbusting scarf that is knit sideways in linen stitch. The color in these photos is totally off, so um, yeah, it doesn't really look like this but anyway....

Kitty thinks the deepest kitty thoughts

Pattern: Scrappy Scarf
Yarn: (As the name indicates...) scraps in fingering weight.

These are both great patterns. I gave the first scarf to my mom and will probably keep the second one. Winter's right around the corner here, so it won't be long before I need it.

Phoebe bag

2009-09-07T20:34:00.001-07:00

Just dropping in with some pictures of my new handbag.

Pattern: Phoebe bag from artsycraftsybabe
The outer fabric is Amy Butler's Coriander Belle in Clay (I love this print). This is a great pattern, which is easy to follow. I downsized to about 3/4 of the original, but I wouldn't recommend this. If you're going to make this pattern, just go whole hog and make it 100%.
I have been sewing a lot and knitting only a little. What I haven't been doing is taking pictures and thus not blogging either. Sometime soon, I may get better at this. Um... probably not though.

New York trip

2009-07-01T11:47:00.000-07:00

Some pictures from my trip to New York a couple of months ago.

More on my flickr page.

Worst. Blogger. Ever.

2009-06-15T17:27:00.001-07:00

Oh well.

Here's some sewing projects I finished ages ago and just haven't bothered to post about.

A crayon roll for my niece:

I used Skip to my Lou's tutorial, which was fabulous and easy to follow.

And also a baby quilt for some friends who've got a bun in the oven. It's my first time, so.... all of the mistakes one makes the first time they make a quilt? I made them. But still it's cute, and I think I learned a lot.

I went to and returned from New York quite a while ago. But... I don't know, I'm just lazy, so I haven't posted any pictures or anything. (Ashamed.) Next time (which at this rate, will be months...)

Stripey socks done and Swirly Mittens in progress

2009-02-24T11:43:00.000-08:00

Love love love these socks!

Pattern: Generic toe-up socks (I use IK's pattern as a guide)
Yarn: Kool-aid dyed sock yarn (the dyeing of which was described in this post)
I finished these a while ago but only got a chance this weekend to take some pictures.

In other knitting news, I have been interested in making a pair of stranded mittens for a while and been scanning Ravelry for a good pattern. Of course I love Bird in Hand, but I wasn't quite ready for the commitment of buying the pattern. What I was really looking for was something with relatively intricate colorwork and that cool hemmed cuff you see on many Norwegian style mittens. These are beautiful, the pattern is free, and I am in love.

FO: Hairy Sweater

2009-02-15T15:22:00.001-08:00

Hairy Sweater
Pattern: EZ's Seamless Raglan from Knitting Without Tears (the best knitting book ever)
Yarn: Bernat Alpaca Natural Blends
Needles: 10 1/2
While making Oscar's sweater, I realized how much I really like this yarn, despite its high acrylic content. It's super soft and warm. So I decided to make a sweater for myself, and finished this one lickity-split. I really like how it came out. The sleeves are a little shorter than I would like, but that's my only complaint. One thing I didn't anticipate was how hairy this thing would be. It sheds like crazy. But right now that's exactly what I need in this crazy Northwest weather. And should I encounter Bigfoot, he's likely to consider me a friend.

Final Christmas gift unveiling post

2009-01-25T21:33:00.000-08:00

It's about time, right?

First, a confession. I did it, I didn't mean to, but... I wrapped unfinished knit gifts and gifted them. It's a terrible thing to do. But not as terrible as waiting until a whole month after Christmas before finishing them and sending them off. Oops.
But they're done, so here they are. First, a cowl made for Erin.

Flora Cowl (rav)
Yarn: Knitpicks Gloss in Pumpkin and Kroy Sock Yarn in White
I used the (slightly modified) pattern from the Flora Hat and double knit a cowl instead. There were some serious issues in the end because the two yarns I used were slightly different gauges. So, after some snipping and measuring and reknitting, I managed to get it to stop looking stupid. I really like how this came out. But. I don't really like double knitting, it's a pain.

The second wrapped unfinished gift was Anna's Noro Stripe Scarf (rav):

Pattern: Noro Striped Scarf from brooklyntweed
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden in... I'm too lazy to go figure out the colorways right now. (Sorry.)
Like most people, I heart this pattern and I heart Noro Silk Garden. That's all there is to say.

So, after too long, both of these gifts are in the mail. Merry late Christmas, Anna and Erin.

I have many projects on the needles right now. I finished a sweater in about a week a while back that is blocking as we speak. Pictures when it's dry.

I spent Friday night dyeing some sock yarn with Kool-aid. (Ahem, yes, that is what the cool kids do on Friday night.)

And it came out beautiful.

I'm halfway through the first sock already. It's awesome.

And I have some Jaywalkers going in Kroy Kool Stripes. I'm not in love with this yarn, but oh well.

And that's my knitting world right now.

Christmas Gift Extravaganza. Part 2

2009-01-07T13:49:00.000-08:00

And now the second part of this series.

First up, the white hourglass sweater (rav) I made for Anna:

Pattern: Hourglass Sweater from LMKG
Yarn: Cascade 220 in Ecru
This is a fabulous pattern, and fairly easy to adapt to different gauges, sizes, etc. We had measured her about a year ago, so it ended up fitting her well.

And also for Anna, a pair of felted clogs (rav) in the colors she requested, grey and green:

Pattern: Felted Clogs by Bev Galeskas
Yarn: Patons Classic Merino Wool

You really can't go wrong with this pattern.

There was also another pair of clogs gifted this year:

These were for my stepdad, Rick, who is a big Steelers fan (you might remember the Steelers cozy?). Unfortunately the yellow got lost during felting, so they ended up being just black and white. And the black loves to pick up lint. So, oh well. I think he still liked them. They fit, at the very least...

Tired of blogging now. More next time.

Goodbye, 2008.

2009-01-05T13:00:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year, everyone. 2008 wasn't a particularly great year (although I did finish my degree--I guess that was great, if anticlimactic). Lots of knitting was done though. Here's an (incomplete) collection of 2008 knitting projects.

I will return to revealing handmade Christmas gifts next post.

Christmas Gift Extravaganza. Part 1

2009-01-03T14:03:00.001-08:00

Well, the holidays are over, folks. So it's back to the grind (ugh). But it does mean that I can finally reveal all of the handmade gifts I gave out this year. It's quite a list, so I am going to have to do it in several posts. Here we go, in no particular order.

Felted Bowls (raveled here) from One Skein using Patons Classic Merino Wool, which I will now declare is the best yarn for felting, hands down.
These were a quick project and turned out great. Gifted to my Dad and his wife. Immediately adopted by their cat.

Next up, felted iPhone cozies (also in Patons Merino):

Raveled here with details on the pattern.
These were also gifts to my dad and his wife. Immediately adopted by their iPhones. (PS That's my new iPhone modeling the second cozy that I got for Christmas from T. Hurray! Don't worry, I didn't break it already. That crack is just in the cover.)

I made a quick sweater (rav) for T's sister's dog using this pattern, modeled here by our cat. He was not happy with this arrangement and would not stand still (thus the blurry picture).

I must admit, I used to be one of those people who mocked sweaters for animals. Not anymore. Look out, everyone's pets. There are many more where this came from. (Yarn: Bernat Alpaca Natural Blends. Love.)

And to wrap up this post, here's the February Lady Sweater I decided to make for my mom at the last minute. This pattern totally rocks.

I heart the buttons.

Used Cascade 220 in Burgundy. Raveled here.

That concludes the first part of this series. Stay tuned for more gift unveiling.

Peaches and Cream Dress

2008-11-26T11:26:00.001-08:00

Pattern: Rainbow Dress by Tikki (rav)
Needles: Size 5 circular
Yarn: Newton's Yarn Country .75 Softball Bulky
This dress is for my niece. I hope it fits....

Magazine holder

2008-11-25T10:08:00.000-08:00

I have been meaning to construct some sort of magazine holder for a while, since our bathroom was constantly riddled with loose magazines, and there is no room to place any kind of shelf in there. I had a few grand plans that ended up being dismissed for impracticality. Then I settled on the simplest idea, which was to just recover an old magazine holder that I found at work. Here it is before:

And after:

You might notice a shortage of knitting projects being posted about here on the old blog. That's because the majority of projects I have going right now are top secret. So, just hold your horses! You'll see them soon. (Maybe in a box addressed to you!)

This is a song about a super-turtle named Tony...

2008-11-24T13:34:00.001-08:00

...It's called Tony's theme!

Pattern: Sheldon from Knitty
Yarn: Peaches n' Cream in green and greener
This is a gift for my niece for Christmas. As you can see from the pictures, he loves wandering around in our Northwest backyard, but he will just have to adjust to the New Mexico climate. No baloney.

New laptop bag

2008-11-06T16:47:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting a better bag for schlepping my laptop (and other various crap--including knitting!) to and from work.
I found a fabulous tutorial for the Hip Mama Diaper Bag and... Viola!

This pattern was very well written and easy to follow. The only mod I made was to omit the addition of one of the pocket panels on the inside of the bag. I used some Amy Butler fabric I got on sale. One could easily omit a few more of the pockets to save on time/complication and fabric, if necessary. I definitely recommend this pattern.

And here is some yarn that I finished spinning a while back from some roving I stole from the ol' sister.

It's pretty, but as is usually the case with my handspun, there is not really enough to knit much of anything with. Plus, I don't really want to knit it. It's so pretty as a skein. Maybe someday.

Yes we did!

2008-11-05T13:56:00.000-08:00

We won!
Yes, America, that means that this handsome man will be your next president.

(whistle)

I heart Obama

2008-10-20T17:01:00.000-07:00

And so does my cat.

Hemlock Throw

2008-10-14T22:50:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Hemlock Ring Blanket from brooklyntweed
Needles: 10s
Yarn: Cascade 220 (about 3.5 skeins)
Notes: I used the pattern from the Rainey Sisters and I was a little apprehensive about the notorious mistake of row 35. But I never encountered said mistake, so I definitely recommend using that particular write-up of the pattern. This was a surprisingly easy throw to knit, and it comes out so beautiful.
Although I finished this a long time ago, I only recently gifted it to the new Mr. and Mrs. Smelson, so I held off posting about it here. I hope it keeps them warm during their many years of wedded bliss.

Icarus wedding veil/shawl

2008-10-10T17:07:00.001-07:00

Pattern: Icarus shawl (rav) from Interweave Knits Summer 2006
Yarn: Alpaca with a Twist Fino. Colorway: champagne
Notes: Since the final decision about making this veil was not made until about a month before the wedding, this project meant many nights of frantic knitting and anxiety dreams about it being two hours before the wedding and still having to do two more rows and the bind off.... But I ended up finishing it with plenty of time, and to be honest, without the wedding date looming in front of me, I might have put this project down many times. Because let's be honest, knitting lace kind of sucks. I know some of you ladies out there love it, but I am not a lace knitter. It's official. However, the final product was beautiful and many comments were made at the wedding, so I consider the entire idea a success. Besides nothing could have made me happier than being able to contribute to the incredible beauty that was my sister and brother-in-law's wedding day. (Although, oops... I guess I could have actually prepared a toast instead of just blindly winging it. Sorry, guys.)

Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival

2008-10-01T10:17:00.001-07:00

Ahoy, mateys!

2008-09-19T10:45:00.001-07:00

Aye! Avast!
Happy International Talk Like a Pirate Day. I really couldn't honestly think of anything better than such a day. Although... it's kind of hard to talk like a pirate all day, which was why I was glad for this glossary of pirate terms, complete with my favorite:

"Bung hole – Victuals on a ship were stored in wooden casks. The stopper in the barrel is called the bung, and the hole is called the bung hole. On TLAP Day – When dinner is served you’ll make quite an impression when you say, “Well, me hearties, let’s see what crawled out of the bung hole."

And what a blarney good day for me to show off my latest FO, the Arrr-gyle! socks made for my future BIL:

Pattern: Argyle Socks by Edie Eckman
Yarn: Patons Kroy Sock Yarn in navy, grey, white
Notes: As you might recall, I was bitching about the ends that needed to be woven in on the first sock, but having gone through the first one, I learned a lot about intarsia knitting, and the second sock went much smoother. I chose to use duplicate stitch to add in the white lines in order to reduce the complexity, and I think that was a good choice. Duplicate stitching is fun, and I am glad that I got a chance to practice. I would say this pattern taught me a lot about several techniques, for which I am grateful.
Um, I mean, yar! I am mightily obliged to ye, me beauty, Edie Eckman! (You always have to yell when talking like a pirate....)

I also finished up the hat for hat attack! 2 and sent it off. Feast ye eyes on this dangerous hat.

Shiver me timbers, Suki44, ye days are numbered...

Pattern:Fibonacci Frequency Hat for Hat Attack 2
Yarn: Therapi from SWTC
Needles: 2s

That's all for today. It's back to the wedding veil/shawl for me....

Yar!

Distractions...

2008-09-13T19:48:00.000-07:00

So.... I am supposed to be working on my sister's wedding shawl/veil... And I am, I swear. See?

And it's going pretty well. But, lace? Well, you know, it's kind of hard.

So I took a little time off to finish something I had put down a while back.

Pattern: Dolores Park Cowl (rav)
Yarn: Malabrigo merino worsted in sunset
Mods: I used the modifications for worsted weight, and it came out great. I have never been much of a cowl person, but I think I will be now. How can you not wear Malabrigo?

And then of course there was the Portland Knit and Crochet Show this weekend, and I couldn't miss that. I did manage to control myself (although you wouldn't be able to tell from all of the yarn I am about to show you.) I got some bulky, supersoft cotton for a dress for my niece. Regular price? $17. How much? $4!! Holy cow.

Then there was the piles of Happy Feet sock yarn marked down from $18 to $10. So I had to get some of that.

But the best part? I won a door prize! Check it out.

It's a huge skein of hand-dyed, handspun beautiful yarn from Abstract Fibers. It's fabulous!

So, if you live in Portland, make sure you go to the show tomorrow if you haven't already. You might even win a prize.

The final distraction is Hat Attack, which starts this week. It's going to be a blast, I am sure, especially considering that the yarn this year is Therapi from SWTC (It has Jade in it! It's so soft.)

But. I almost hope that I get killed right away because, you know, I better get back to that shawl.

Why the kitties love our new house

2008-09-10T11:52:00.001-07:00

Sunbathing

....and wildlife spotting

Some WIPs

2008-09-10T11:39:00.000-07:00

I am always full of them, after all.
Here's a pair of clogs that I finished knitting quite a while ago, but I still haven't felted. I am a little nervous about how well our new washing machine will felt....
Bananarama, baby

And some red and white striped socks (that I love already)

And a shawl in Shibui sock (colorway: Sand) that was originally intended to be my sister's wedding veil but that I have since decided will be too dark and so will probably just end up being a shawl (if not frogged). I love the colors.

(Don't worry, Anna. I've got a new and improved one on the needles.)

....wearing tennis shorts made of stripes

2008-09-08T12:21:00.000-07:00

I can only assume that the above line from "Turn A Square," by the Shins is the inspiration for naming this hat by Brooklyn Tweed. Although, really, I am just guessing.

Pattern: Turn A Square (rav) by Jared Flood
Yarn: Cascade Pastaza (Llama!) and Noro Kureyon 183
Notes: It came out a little big but only because I think that I tend to knit big in the round. It's the perfect size for T though (although I have yet to get him to admit he actually likes it....)

Oregon hat

2008-09-02T12:06:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Center Square Hat
Needles: 5s
Yarn: Cashmere Luxury Aran (that I bought from Tuesday morning, of all places...)
Notes: This is the first hat made in Oregon, and T proclaimed that it looks like an "Oregon hat". This pattern was fun and easy to follow. I love the final product.

Here's a couple of pics of some argyle socks I am making for my soon-to-be brother-in-law.

And the back....
(Argh!... yle is right. Look at all those ends!)

Market bag

2008-08-30T12:45:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Saturday Market Bag (ravelry)
Needles: 13s
Yarn: Cotton-ease in Terracotta
Notes: This pattern is kind of a pain because it is not easy to tell what is going on if you drop a stitch or have to stop in the middle of the row. Fortunately it's pretty forgiving. As many have commented on before, it looks pretty small empty, but it stretches out nicely and holds a lot of stuff. I was able to use it for the first time today to go to the Beaverton Saturday Market.

Stash! and home improvement

2008-08-29T10:25:00.000-07:00

As I was setting up the crafting room/office, I took some time to take pictures of my stash. Here's a mosaic of what I managed to get done before I lost interest:

Poking around at a few garage sales last weekend, I managed to find some fun fabric.

As well as contributed to my unhealthy addiction to fat quarters...

I also found some fabric for recovering one of our chairs. It went from this not-so-attractive piece of furniture (complete with cute fat kitten):

To this less-offending chair:

Sew crazy

2008-08-27T15:37:00.000-07:00

Another box bag...

...and a shoulder bag made from this tutorial.

First box bag

2008-08-25T10:08:00.000-07:00

I have been sewing a lot lately, and I thought I would post some pictures of my first box bag. I have already made another one and plan to make many more.

I used this tutorial, which was very easy to follow. Thanks, Drago[knit]fly!

Two feet of DNA

2008-08-20T13:54:00.001-07:00

Pattern: Two feet of DNA (combination of toe-up sock formula from IK Summer 2008 and DNA pattern by June Oshiro)
Needles: 2s
Yarn: Gloss by Knitpicks

I made these for my advisor as a thank you present and gifted them before we left New Mexico.

Incidentally, two feet of DNA is equal to about a third of the DNA within one cell (if it was pulled out straight). Thanks to histones, that DNA gets condensed and packaged into chromatin, which is so teeny-tiny-tiny, it fits into the nucleus of a cell. It sounds like crazy talk, but it's true. Histones are awesome.

Welcome to Oregon

2008-08-13T22:11:00.001-07:00

Well, we made it. Geez, it was a long trip.
How was it? you ask. Let me paint a picture for you.
First, take your cats and get them meowing real loud. Then stare at this picture for 30 hours.

For the full effect, eat about 5 pounds of sunflower seeds.

I listened to several books on tape to pass the time, which helped tremendously.
The first was Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. It was pretty good and kept me interested. But, seriously, Heathcliff, do you love her or hate her? Did you really have to be such an asshole?

Second was Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air, an account of a 1996 climb of Mount Everest that ended rather poorly. This was a really cool listen, but the timing was pretty bad, considering that the worst part was playing while we were driving through a crazy rainstorm in eastern Oregon. Yikes. I'll tell you what, I am never going to climb Mount Everest (as if that was ever really a possibility anyway...)

All in all, the trip went a lot better than I thought it would be. The cats were pissed but seem to be recovering fine. We got to see Anna and Mike (yay! we miss them!) and saw some awesome Idaho...

and Oregon....

...sunsets.

And when we got here, we were greeted by a very friendly squirrel running about in our backyard.

(At first, we thought this was really amazing, but it turns out that this neighborhood (state?) is completely overrun with them)

We are still in the process of setting up our house. I promise pictures soon.

Haircut!

2008-07-15T21:19:00.000-07:00

Feels a bit like Bernice Bobs Her Hair at the moment, but I imagine I will get used to it...

2008-07-11T17:08:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Portland. We arrived here Tuesday to look for a place to live.
On the plane I got lots of knitting done. One project is secret at the moment, so no pics. But here's a picture of the Chevron Scarf I am working on in Rio de Plata sock yarn. I feel sort of meh about the color combo.

We started driving around and checking things out on Wednesday. We wanted to find something relatively close to my work but not too far from the center of Portland. We looked and looked and looked but didn't feel so awesome about any of the places we saw. Come Wednesday night, we were feeling a bit low about the whole thing. So we went drinking. Here we are at an unidentified bar downtown. Yay for Portland beer!

On Thursday--ta-da!--we found an ad on Craigslist for a cute house with a rad kitchen. We called and went and looked at it. And just like that, we have a house! Hooray! Stupid me, I didn't take any pictures, but I will post some when we move in. Did I mention that the kitchen rocks??

Having accomplished our goal, we went out last night to the Tonic Lounge and saw Girl in a Coma, which is a pretty awesome girl band with some sick stage presence.

Today, we drove out to Multnomah Falls, the second highest waterfalls in North America--620 feet! It was really beautiful, if a bit crowded.

(Get a load of that hair because it is going to be gone come Monday.)

So. It has been a fun and productive trip. We are leaving early tomorrow morning, and then begins the mad dash to get packed and sell all of our furniture before the marathon drive. Phew. I think I will take a preemptive nap.

More handspun

2008-06-25T11:09:00.000-07:00

I have been spinning, spinning, spinning! Phew, I'm dizzy.

Here are my latest skeins. I'm getting better, I think.

FO: Felted Clogs

2008-06-23T22:35:00.000-07:00

Although these aren't technically finished, I am going to call them done because I photoed them already. I still need to add the no-slip soles a la All Buttoned Up. But I have been putting that off. So anyway... pictures!

Pattern: Fiber Trends Felted Clogs
Yarn: Patons Classic Merino Wool in Green and Brown, doubled throughout
Needles: 13s
Notes: At first this pattern seems daunting. You are doing all of these wrap-and-turns and knit-two-togethers and you don't really know why. But. If you follow it closely, it starts to make sense after a while. Or at the very least, you just keep remembering all of those awesome pictures you saw on Ravelry and continue on with blind faith. The soles seemed awfully narrow to me when I was finished knitting (pre-felting). But again. Blind faith. And it worked out well. They felted fabulously (one more fabulously than the other....) And I am happy with the result. These are for my mom for her birthday. I see many more of these being made in the future.

I think I deserve to put my feet up and relax, don't you?

Handspinning

2008-06-18T08:30:00.001-07:00

Look! Look what I got!

I got it from Maine Woods Yarn and Fiber on Etsy for my birthday. It's rad!

And I made my first handspun. They give you some undyed for practice--which is a very good idea. It's not great, but I love it. I can't wait to make more.

FOs up the yin-yang

2008-06-11T16:36:00.000-07:00

Isn't it funny how you might type something in a blog that you would never, ever say in real life? Wouldn't you think it would be the opposite? Like that title, for example. If I heard someone say that, I might punch them. Anyhow, on to the knits.

I actually finished this scarf quite a while back, but I haven't had a chance to photograph it.

Good thing I waited, huh? Because those are such great photographs (bleh).

Pattern: My so-called scarf
Needles: 10s
Yarn: Malabrigo in Stonchat (1 skein)
Notes: I knew that I had to make this scarf because I loved My So-Called Life. (Did you know you can watch some old episodes on YouTube? Hop on over there and see. Remember? Remember the pain?) That show was everything I needed at the angst-ridden age of 15 years old. Claire Danes and her scrunchy-up pre-crying face? Seriously, girl, I feel your pain. As for the pattern, it's fun. I liked it. The scarf didn't come out as long as I would like, but I am not going to lengthen it, so there. The yarn is super-soft and awesome, although perhaps not best suited for this particular pattern.

I finished these up too.

Pattern: Snickets (I can't seem to find a link for these, but if you are on Ravelry, it's easy enough to get. If you are not on Ravelry, then what's wrong with you??)
Needles: 1s
Yarn: Knitpicks Risata in Burgundy
Notes: Remember when I was bitching about the holey heels before? Well, I won't repeat myself. This pattern is pretty fun. At first, I thought, who could possibly maintain such a complicated pattern for as long as two whole socks?? But I got used to it and they came out pretty good. I think a lighter color would have highlighted the pattern better. So, maybe next time.

I finished these Matrix mittens a while back too. Love them, but they need a little more work still. One is longer than the other (not sure how that happened...) and I want to change the thumbs to a solid color. Here's the semi-finished products though.

Rawr!

And, last but not least, I finished knitting up the felted clogs for my mom's birthday.

The cats think, Are these kitty houses?

The obligatory wow-look-at-how-big-these-are-before-you-felt-them picture.

I will try to felt them tonight. (Fingers crossed).

Negligence...

2008-05-29T10:41:00.000-07:00

I'm a bad blogger (noticed??). But I have a good excuse. I was writing and preparing to defend my dissertation. Which I did. And it's done. And, phew!

But. Although I have not been blogging, I have been knitting. Let's see what we have.
First up, I finished the obligatory Noro Striped Scarf. Everyone must make one of these. The changing colors and clean look of the stitches are just too good to pass up. So, go! Make one! But first, look at the many many pictures I took of mine:

Pattern: Noro Striped Scarf by Brooklyn Tweed
Yarn: 2 skeins Noro Kureyon 164; 1 skein Noro Kureyon 183
Needle: Size 10 1/2
Notes: I had been hesitant to try this pattern for a while because the 1x1 rib sounded tedious to me. But once I started, I realized that this could be the type of mindless knitting that you can do while watching a movie, etc, and next thing you know, you have knit 10 inches. Plus, the color changes are always a great incentive to keep knitting. I actually finished this a long time ago, and after blocking, it's soft and beautiful. It might possibly be my favorite knitted thing yet.

For Mother's Day, I made my mom some socks. I had wanted to try my hand at Jaywalkers for a while. These were a quick fun knit and re-ignited my love of sock knitting.

Pattern: Jaywalkers by Grumperina
Yarn: Knitpicks Essential Tucson Multi
Needles: Size 1 dpn's
Notes: This is an easy and satisfying pattern. It keeps you interested enough to keep going, and to even make the second sock (gasp! man, if you could see how many single socks I have lying around, pining for their mates....). MAKE SURE that you get the gauge because the patterned leg portion will not stretch very much. I admit, I don't really like the colorway, but my mom said she did, and I am choosing to believe her. I see many more Jaywalkers in my future.

Speaking of sock knitting love, I cast on for some Snickets immediately after finishing the Jaywalkers. One down, about half of the second to go.

I like them a lot. A note about this pattern. Because maybe I am not so good at it or maybe it's just a weird way to turn the heel, but mine came out a bit holey. I would suggest using a different heel-turning technique if you think you can handle the changing up of it.

Finally finished up the Russet Brioche scarf for the sister. It's pretty and warm. Plus, it's summer, so that's awesome. (Not so good with the timing.)

Pattern: Brioche Stitch Scarf
Yarn: Patons Shetland Chunky in Russet
Needle: Size 9
Notes: Once you can pick up the pattern, this is a really fun stitch to do. The product is very thick and warm and reversible (the best thing that a scarf pattern can be!). This yarn is super-soft and warm, with little itchiness.

That's all for now. I have been working on some other projects, and I will post about them soon.

Back from Portland

2008-04-11T12:19:00.000-07:00

I'm back from Portland, where I met lots of cool people, ate lots of great food, and... oh yeah! got a job (hooray!)

But the best thing about my Portland trip was checking out the yarn store right down the street from my hotel, Knit/Purl. It was awesome, with so many beautiful yarns. I managed to control myself and only buy four skeins--3 of malabrigo (oh, you soft, sweet yarn, you make me swoon) and some Cascade 220:

I also made some sick progress on the ribby cardi on the plane and waiting for flights and such. Here's the body blocking.

I'm about halfway through the second sleeve now, and it's brutal. Maybe a ribbi vest?

Finished hourglass

2008-03-31T12:54:00.000-07:00

Hourglass sweater done!

I am very happy with how it came out, although it is a bit small. That's okay, I was planning on losing some weight soon anyway (right?? aren't we all?). Here's the specs:

Pattern: Hourglass sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts
Yarn: Red Heart Soft Yarn in brown; about 5 balls
Needles: Circular size 6 and double pointed size 6

My guage was only a little off, but it ended up affecting the sizing quite a bit in the end. I like this yarn okay, at least it's machine washable. It is soft, but you know... acrylic. This pattern is very easy to follow and makes a beautiful sweater.

Another FO. The Kung Fu Pillow:

"....those kids were fast as lightning" (I LOVE that song)

I was inspired by the Punchout Scarf to make my own Nintendo themed object. I used this tutorial to make the pattern. The knitting was fun, but sewing the back on and stuffing it was not as easy as I had anticipated.

Current WIPs are the ribbi cardi (I have no in progress pictures, unfortunately) and a noro striped scarf:

I am addicted to knitting this scarf, and unfortunately all other projects are suffering. I should be done soon and will be able to resume other knitting activities. Sorry, everyone who has been promised knitted objects by me. You didn't really think you would be getting them soon, did you?

In un-knitting related news, I am leaving this week for two interviews in Portland. It's exciting but very very scary. Wish me luck.

Hats and elephants

2008-03-06T15:09:00.000-08:00

Some updated FOs:

Pattern: Elefante
Yarn: Random hand-me-down wool
Needles: 10 1/2

This is for a coworker's new baby, Lucia. Too bad for Kitty though, since the two of them made fast friends.

I finished up the skull hat for our friend, Brian, who is moving to Seattle. Good luck Brian! I hope this hat keeps your head warm in the rain and wards off any attackers.

Pattern: Skull Hat
Yarn: Patons Classic Merino Wool in Black and White
Needles: 5s and 6s
It came out a little large, but I really like the skulls and the way you can do the colorwork and then cover up all of those pesky ends and hanging threads with the earband.

So, a while back, my sister posted some old family photos, and I ran across this one of our dad:

(Note: he is younger in this picture than I am right now)

Isn't his hat awesome? So for his birthday... ta-dum!

Everybody try on the hat.
There is a picture of my dad wearing it that I need a copy of. Stay tuned for that.

Death by Knitting

2008-02-26T10:11:00.000-08:00

Whether it be from lack of sleep, staying up too late working on this hat..

Or from those little tiny skulls peering out at me, beckoning me to the other side (go on, stick that needle in your eye! join us!
bwah ha ha!)

I finished up my booga bag. I like it, except for all of the fuzz left over from felting.

And found some great sweaters for pulling out at Goodwill.

I now have 3 sweaters (of various colors) from the same yarn. The multicolored one all the way on the left, the red one on the right, and the blue/white one I pulled out a while back. This will surely be enough to make a blanket. Yay!
Here's the yarn from the multicolored sweater. Isn't it pretty?

Mememememe!

2008-02-18T15:24:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I am not much of a meme-er, but this one is cool. It's for your very own album cover.

First, go here. The title is your band name.

Then go here. The last 4 words of the last quote is your album title.

Then here. The third picture on the page is your album cover.

Here's mine:

(Photo courtesy of schnetler75)

What do you think? Want to hear it? I do.

Busy busy bee

2008-02-13T12:55:00.001-08:00

Ok. I have been very busy at work, so I haven't really had time to post. But I have lots of things to show you, so let's dive right in.

I'm in the middle of two brioche scarves, one for my coworker:

And one for my sister:

Unfortunately at the rate these are going (...or more accurately, the rate at which I am starting new projects without finishing the old ones), they might not be ready before winter's over.

Speaking of winter ending, it's sunny and warm here lately, just in time for me to make this bulky cable hat:

Alas.

I started on a booga bag

(LOVE it)

and made some serious progress on my hourglass sweater

And last but not least, I made a needle case from an old book following this tutorial

Thanks to Anna, Megan, and Monica for their tips, encouragement, and glue during the making of this needle case.

An ode to the icosahedral virus

2008-02-05T16:48:00.001-08:00

....because that's what it is ladies. It's an icosahedral virion (like, say, human papillomavirus, if I must pick just one).
Wha?? (you say).
From wikipedia: "Viral structures are built of repeated identical protein subunits and the icosahedron is the easiest shape to assemble using these subunits." It's quite beautiful actually, the simplicity of it.

Twenty fine faces
Twelve vivacious vertices
Stunning symmetry

(worst haiku ever written)

Anyway, here it is:

And then I made another one:

And now for a confession. I have been invited to RAVELRY! Oh my god, it's so awesome. But I want you to know, dear readers (all 4 of you) that I will not abandon this blog. And if you are a knitter and are not on ravelry, get your ass over there and sign up. You do not know what you are missing out on, honey.

Okay, I've got some more WIPs, but they will have to wait for next time.

How's your plutonium? Fine, thank you.

2008-01-25T09:26:00.000-08:00

Mystery WIP!

Levi the kitten doesn't know what it is either.

Can you guess what it will be? Nerd points* if you can.

*nerd points redeemable at all major retailers towards your next purchase of bunsen burners, pocket protectors, and graduated cylinders

And also, the moon. It was huge (you can't tell, I know).

Placket... jacket... HaCaT... Bob Saget

2008-01-23T10:10:00.000-08:00

These are the words that were going through my head the whole time that I was knitting this sweater. I guess just because it's such a strange word, placket.
I started this sweater for my nephew around christmas time but put it down. So I picked it up again this weekend and finished it. It's actually quite a quick knit and those raglan shoulders are just so damn satisfying.

Close-up of the placket (...stack it ....pack it...):

Pattern: Child's placket neck sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts
Yarn: CottonEase in Stone (about a ball and 1/4)
Notes: As usual, I didn't use the yarn called for or something even close in gauge. So it took some thinking to figure out the measurements. Because of this, the sweater came out a little longer than it probably should have. But I think it's fine and possibly my best experience in all of my changing yarn/gauge adventures.

I also finished the grey and white brioche scarf:

Pattern: Two color brioche scarf
Yarn: Bernat Alpaca
Pattern notes: As I said before, I don't like the edges. I am sure there is some way to make them look neater, but it's way too late for this scarf. I really like the brioche stitch because it makes a very warm scarf, but the pattern is super confusing and it took quite a while for me to figure it out. Some advice: keep trying, it's worth it. Knit at least 6 rows before giving up. It looks weird at first, and I kept quitting before I realized that I was actually doing it right. The most confusing part is what a yarnover really means in the context of this pattern. I always thought that yo meant, if it's a knit stitch, start with the yarn in front; if it's a purl stitch, start with the yarn in back. However, for this pattern, yo before a knit stitch still means start with yarn in front, but yo before a purl stitch (your yarn will be in front) actually means to wrap the yarn around your right needle once going over the top and then back through the two needles. Are you confused? Yeah. I was too. Anyway, once you pick it up, it's quite easy to do. Next time I don't think that I will use colors that contrast so much and... try to figure something out about the edges.

And finally, since I am incapable of finishing anything and must instead always cast on for something new, here's the beginning of the Hourglass Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.

RIP Ugly Sweater

2008-01-16T09:28:00.000-08:00

The first (normal-sized person) sweater I ever made. It was a disaster--too wide, too short, funky shoulders, bad seams, you name it. My first mistake, modifying the pattern. As if I was some sort of sweater-making expert and had any business changing the pattern. The second mistake was trying to salvage the whole thing when I started to run out of yarn. I did finally break down and order the yarn I needed, but the damage was already done. This sweater sat in the closet for about a year until I decided to finally frog it.

And what better to motivate the frogging than...?

Isn't it awesome? I just got it yesterday. Can't talk, winding. (T came home last night and accused me of ignoring him while playing with my winder. I honestly can't remember if that is true or not....)

Hooray for the ball winder. It can turn this ugly ugly sweater...

...into this beautiful yarn:

594 grams of pure love.

Noro scarf done!

2008-01-14T09:46:00.000-08:00

As usual, I was grateful for the weekend to come so that I could spend some time knitting.
I finally finished the Noro Mistake Rib scarf, which I am quite proud of.

Pattern: Child's Rainbow Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts
Needles: 10s
Yarn: Noro Kureyon in 195 and 172
Pattern notes: I think next time I do this pattern, I will use needles a couple sizes smaller and more stitches (I used 23) so that the stitch definition is a bit more defined and the scarf is thicker. But in general, I love love LOVE this scarf! I also think that the colors I used were a little too dark (although this is not very well reflected in the picture).

After finishing this scarf, I was feeling a bit scarf happy, so I cast on for the Two Color Brioche Scarf. I must admit that I had a lot of trouble with this pattern, but I finally figured out. When I am finished, I will discuss my issues and what I did to resolve them. So far, I like it although I wish that the edges were cleaner.

And finally, I made some slow but sure progress on the diamond lace stole. You thought I would have quit by now, didn't you? Well, I'm not quitter.... yet.

And some great news! I was a winner on the Holiday KAL-CAL! I get a signed copy of Cheryl Oberle's Folk Shawls. It's perfect because I have been thinking a lot about shawls lately and this will give me inspiration. Thanks again to the Holiday KAL organizers!

2008-01-10T11:52:00.001-08:00

Just checking in to post about recent WIPs and FOs. I finished the Habibti scarf, although I have yet to gift it:

(Please pay no attention to the wide hips and dirty mirror...)

I have also made some progress on the Log Cabin Bathmat:

...although it is starting to drag.

Um... boring post. Sorry.

Noro + mistake rib = yum!

2008-01-07T09:54:00.000-08:00

Inspired by feather and fan's obsession with stripey scarves, I started a mistake rib with Noro this weekend (Child's Rainbow Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts). Using two different colors, I striped every two rows and I love the effect.

As you can see, I got a little carried away and am almost already done. I have to say that if I was forced to only knit one pattern on one type of yarn my whole life, I think that I would choose mistake rib with noro. Get used to these, because there will be many more to come.

The recycled yarn finally dried (3 days!--I bet you people who live in humid places think I must be crazy bitching about that...), so I started a couple of projects with that. Using the pink/purple/white stuff (50%wool, 50% acrylic; super bulky), I made a hat. It's about adolescent girl size (oops, don't know any of those) and very soft and bulky. Love it, but who knows who I will give it to.

I also pulled apart one of the balls of the purple yarn (three strands together) to make it one stranded. That was not easy. Then I started a lace stole. I wanted something easy enough that I wouldn't mangle it too terribly but complicated enough to keep me interested. So I read a bunch of patterns and designed this:

I am certain I can't be the first person to come up with this pattern, but I couldn't find one exactly like what I wanted so I just winged it. I think it is coming out quite nice. As usual, the color is not reflected very well in the picture (damn you, winter, and your short, short days). It's actually quite a deep purple, almost brown. Shall we take bets on how long I can keep knitting on this without giving up?

I also got a pic from my sister of the steelers cozy that I made for my stepdad. I think it came out great. Obviously I didn't bother with the text, but you get the picture.

Do you think the NFL will sue me?

So this is the New Year....

2008-01-02T13:40:00.000-08:00

.... and I don't feel any different. (This song will remain in my head for at least another week.)

I spent New Year's Day doing some knitterly New Year-ish activities.
Several weeks, little sis and I hit up the thrift stores. I found three sweaters for frogging--all wool blends but very pretty and soft. Pulling them out was a breeze (either I am getting better at this or I just got particularly lucky this time). Yesterday I finally had the time to wash the yarn. Here it is hanging to dry. The purple stuff was actually three strands held together. I am looking forward to using some of it for socks and/or lace. I also really love the white/pink/purple stuff. It's super bulky and soft. Recycle-licious, baby.

Are you looking at my dirty shower? Ahem, excuse me, ladies, eyes on the yarn, please. Thank you.
During the washing and drying process, I learned a valuable lesson. A lesson that life tries to teach me almost every day. But I never ever listen.... Don't try to do too much at once (dumbass). Do I wash tens of skeins of yarns regularly? Do I have a specific system for hanging it all to dry, complete with soup cans, in a place where the cats can't pull the whole thing crashing down? Answer: no. So, learn from my mistake. Batches. It's all about the batches.

I also spent some time going through the hand-me-down yarn received from my dad's wife. Some of it is identified with labels, although most isn't. Since the identified yarn was almost all wool, I assumed everything was. Not true, I discovered when I tried to felt some of it.
So I opened the window, sat down, and proceeded to piss T off by doing a burn test on about 30 balls of yarn.
Having segregated all of the wool, I cut little pieces, organized them by color (kind of), and catalogued them all for easy reference.

That was fun, but its utility has yet to be established.....

I also knit those fingerless mitts I have been promising to knit myself.
Here's one:

..and two:

A coworker said, 'Those are so you'. I guess that means that 'me' = 'hobo'...

Post christmas frenzy (second installment)

2007-12-31T10:29:00.000-08:00

Okay, where was I? You know, it had been so long since I last blogged that I think I got a cramp or something on that last post. So anyway, I was talking about all of the gifts I finished.
My most distinguished accomplishment of the year was the mancala board I made for my dad. It ended up being a lot more work than I had anticipated and really came down to the last minute.

Pattern: Mancala Mia from Knitty
Yarn: Patons classic merino wool in brown and dark green
Needles: 9s for cups, 10s for board
Pattern notes: Since I was using a different yarn, I first checked the pattern for the cups and found them to be way too deep (the dark color might also have contributed to this phenomenon). So I changed the decreases for the cups quite a bit until I got ones that I thought were an appropriate depth. My suggestion for this pattern if you do it is to make one cup and make sure that you are happy with how it looks after felting. I decided to do the large cups differently from the pattern as well. I like how they came out. For the base of the board, I used doubled strands throughout and alternated double brown, brown/green, double green to give the striping a more gradual look. Although the felted board was semi-stiff, I wanted it to be more stable and so T helped me make a balsa wood base support. I just used a staple gun to attach it. The felted yarn pretty much covers the staples, so it still looks good. In the end, I am happy with how it came out but.... I don't think I would knit it again.

I finished my mom's cabled fingerless mitts just in time as well:

Pattern: My own
Yarn: WoolEase
Needles: 6s
Pattern notes: Had I known what the cabling would do to the edge, I would have started cabling a little later than 4 rows in. Having already finished, I decided to add a crochet edge to the cuff to make it a little more even and add a little color.

I decided to gift some marine stuffed animals I made quite a while ago to my niece. She loved them!

Pattern: My own
Yarn: Knitpicks crayon (cotton) in red, yellow, orange, green

I finally sewed the linings into the cable purse and DNA bag.

I chose a stretchy fabric, since I didn't want to change the stretchy properties of the bags. I was super nervous about putting these linings in (which is probably why I procrastinated doing it for so long), but it actually went pretty well. My sewing machine threw a little fit in the middle, but I managed to maintain my composure and soldier through. After they were done, I was stunned by how great it looked. Yeehaw!

Christmas was fun, although a bit hectic and I got lots of great knitting stuff. T's mom (with his help) got me the Knitpicks sock kit in Warm and T got me one in Neutral. Hooray! Socks for everyone!

I was so excited that I started a pair right away. I love how the striping is sort of random, it makes it so fun.

Little sis got me some Patons SWS (so super soft and pretty) and some alpaca blend yarn:

I'm already halfway through a pair of fingerless mitts for myself with the alpaca yarn. Yummy warmness.

My mom gave me a cool knitting book, my sister gave me another cool knitting book, and I received a second batch of leftover yarn from my dad's wife's stash (see previous post).

So it's official. I am declaring it. I am going on a yarn diet. So if you see me out buying yarn, stop me! I really really don't need any more yarn. Really.

Right now I am working on a scarf for my friend. She is Jordanian and always calls me 'habibti', which means sweetie or darling or something. So this scarf is called the habibti scarf. It's just plain garter stitch in black boucle but has gone amazingly fast during long drives and visiting and such.

Phew. I'm exhausted. I'm gonna go take a nap.

Post christmas frenzy

2007-12-30T21:56:00.000-08:00

Well, ladies (can I call you 'ladies'?), I haven't been able to post in a while because I was lost in the holiday hulabaloo. Between finishing all my gifts (it was a close one....) and then having christmas every other day for 6 days with various family combinations, I have been driving all over New Mexico with no time to blog.
So let's catch up, shall we?
First some gifts that I left off of here for surprise's sake. A cabled blanket for my sister:

Pattern: Cable throw from Lion Brand
Yarn: Knitpicks crayon cotton in white (doubled throughout)
Needles: 10s
Pattern notes: This is a great pattern because it goes pretty quick, remains portable through most of the knitting, and the cabling is easy to do. I wouldn't suggest using a cable needle to do the cables (is this obvious?) but instead I used a double pointed size 10 when cabling.

I think that my sister really liked it, so hooray! I am glad that I kept it a secret and didn't post about it on here, so that it was a complete surprise.

Also some coaster sets:

Pattern: Adapted from pattern in One Skein Wonders
Yarn: Patons classic wool and knitpicks merino wool
Pattern notes: For the set that I used needle felting, I have to say it was a complete pain in the ass. I am not sure that needle felting is for me. The second set was knitted log cabin style--super fast and fun. Great for gifts!

Ok, what else? I finished T's double knit hat. This thing was a behemoth to knit, using almost two whole balls of yarn because it's not only knitted with a doubled strand throughout but also double knit. It came out kind of big....

Pattern: Since I find "traditional" double knitting to be incredibly difficult (am I missing something here???), I instead just cast on 8 stitches, increased every other row until I had the number of stitches I wanted for the head circumference, knit in a tube for about 12 inches, then decreased every other row (identical to my earlier increases) until I had eight stitches left and then ran the yarn through these stitches and the original cast on stitches. Also at the brim, I did a turn row (purl all stitches) and worked in 2x2 rib for about an inch and a half. It actually came out pretty well, I think although of course.... kind of big.
Yarn: Wool Ease doubled throughout
Needles: 10s (can you tell I like to knit with 10s?)

Okay, this post is getting a bit tiresome. Stay tuned for more christmas magic....

Cozies and cables and christmas

2007-12-16T10:32:00.000-08:00

I've been a busy little bee. I felted the VT beer cozy, and voila! it was just the right size (just as T predicted. I guess he is the world's expert on felting. Unfortunately my camera refuses to take an unfuzzy picture of it, but here it is. I gifted it on Friday and the recipient loved it. Yay!

I also finished (the knitting of) the cable purse.

The pattern calls for knitting a lining, but I just don't have the time to do it. So I will have to sew one in (it needs a lining because it's kind of holey).

Pattern: Cable purse from Last Minute Knitted Gifts
Yarn: Unidentified (probably wool) hand-me-down in maroon
Needles: 2s

I also made a bunch of christmas cards with potato stamps. I heart potato stamps! (You should too.)

It looks like I might actually finish all my gifts for christmas. Three more to go. Phew.

So f-ing adorable!

2007-12-11T15:12:00.000-08:00

Omg. This thing is so cute. I HAVE TO HAVE IT.

Kit found here

This weekend I.....

2007-12-11T09:22:00.000-08:00

...made another calorimetry

Specs
Pattern: Calorimetry
Yarn: Shetland Chunky in Russet
Needles: 6s

....worked on T's incredibly thick double knit hat

....made (what seems to me) a ridiculously large virginia tech beer cozy for my coworker

Specs
Pattern: Made up
Yarn: Patons classic wool merino in maroon, white, orange
Needles: 10s
Verdict: Ummmm, yeah.... maybe if you want a cozy for your 36 ounce beer.

This is it before felting. It seems really big to me but T (apparently the world's expert on felting) says it will be just the right size when it's done. I will felt tonight. Wish me luck.

...continued slogging away on the cable purse

...made christmas cards (pics tomorrow).

There's really not enough time in the day. I can't wait for the holiday season to be over so I can make something for myself.

Did you miss me?

2007-12-05T16:29:00.000-08:00

Well.... my computer is finally fixed. And let me just say, if you ever get a mac, buy applecare. It's just the smart thing to do. And if you ever have problems with your mac, go to your nearest apple store. They helped me so much and didn't even act like rude computer tech guys. Thanks David!

Ok, so I have been knitting a lot and I have a lot of FOs to show you. Ready?

First we have several Koolhaas hats. I started the orange one for my friend, Sarah. The pattern says 16" head circumference for a woman. It seemed a bit small, but I figured she's a cute little button, it'll be cool.... Well, it's really small, like child-small. Who's head is 16" in circumference??? Not anyone I know (who is more than 10 years old...) Anyway, I will give this one to the little girl that our department at work chose for the giving tree. The green one is for Sarah. It's normal-sized.

Pattern: Koolhaas hat from IK Holiday Issue 2007

Yarn: Patons Shetland Chunky in Sage Green and Russet
Needles: Double pointed 7s and cable needle
Notes: The pattern seems complicated but gets easier as you go. Make sure to add a couple of repeats of the pattern make your hat at least 20" in circumference (unless of course you are making the hat for an elf)

Next we have some fingerless mittens I made for T's mom. She's a postal carrier, and it sure is cold outside. I hope she likes them.

Pattern: Maine Morning Mitts
Yarn: WoolEase in Pines Print (doubled)
Notes: A super-quick knit. I actually just looked at the pattern for the k2, p1 rib and then just winged it based on what I know about knitting mittens. I really like them and will probably knit a pair for myself after the holiday rush is over.

Speaking of cold, here's a hat I made for our friend, Sean. Funny thing about this hat is that 2 years ago when I started knitting, I asked Sean if he wanted me to knit him a scarf. He said he has lots of scarves, how about a hat? And I said, sure. Two years later....

That's T modeling it for us. (Ok, now look melancholy.....)

On Thanksgiving, we spent some time at my dad and his wife's house. I mentioned something about some yarn she had alluded to having a while back that she wasn't using. And she came out with this!

And gave it to me! All of it! Yay!
So naturally I started making her something with some of it. Here's my progress on the Cable Purse from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. It's hard....

I also finished some other gifts, but they will remain secret until after gifting.

Shall we close with a cute kitty picture?

Meow.

2007-11-27T08:25:00.001-08:00

Computer broken. Can't blog. So sad.

Mad knitting, baby

2007-11-16T08:54:00.000-08:00

Well, I've been knitting like mad ever since I realized how close christmas is. I joined the Holiday KAL (see button on the right) to motivate myself and get organized about what I really plan to make for gifts. I finished a set of ball band washcloths last night. These were an easy knit and look so pretty as you go along, definitely worth it.

When I finished, T asked me, 'Why would you spend so much time on something that you plan to wear out?'
Who is this person? Does he not understand that his main job when responding to knitting related things is to say, 'That looks awesome, baby. I see no problem with you spending all that time/money on this particular knitted project.' Men....

Last night I started (again) on the snowball hat from the fall 07 IK. I'm using Andean Treasure baby alpaca in sunset. It's so beautiful and soft! This will be for my friend, Sarah, who lives in California.

I also wanted to post some pictures of the DNA bag that I finished knitting a while back. Unfortunately I have not found the time to dig out the sewing machine and put in the lining yet. I really like how it came out, although I wish it was a bit larger.

You might be thinking, Wow, you really like orange. Actually I don't like orange, I like rust color red-orange. My camera really likes orange and makes all pretty red-orange colors look like ugly neon orange. Stupid camera.

Yesterday I came home to an awesome surprise!

This is a birthday present from my sister. She's awesome. I like this book a lot. It has tons of great patterns and a lot of cool knitting tips.

Okay, hmm. I really should be working.

So you want to see the junk in my trunk.....

2007-11-15T10:05:00.000-08:00

This week's blogstalker topic is: Your Junk Drawer (dunh dunh dunh)

So what do we have here? A hammer, another hammer, a screwdriver, some scissors, a wrench, a staple gun, some string, flower seeds, birthday candles, batteries, tape measure, random pieces of metal. How incredibly uninteresting.

And now, gratuitous cute cat picture.

This is the little alcove (right by the heater) under our linen closet, where they spend most of the winter all cuddled up together and cute.

In knitting news, I knit a whole hat last night, then realized it was too small, so I frogged it. I'm a little mad at knitting right now.

Oh man, my pants are so on fire

2007-11-12T08:44:00.000-08:00

So I lied to you. Straight to your face. Can you believe that?
I said, no more yarn for the month. And then almost immediately after I said that, I went out and bought some more yarn. I can't help it. It's an addiction.

But I needed some cotton. I only had white (boring). And last night, I started (and finished) my first ball band washcloth. Yeehaw! Many more of these to come.

Also, inspired by Feather and Fan, I started a couple of bias scarves.

Yay for weekends.

Yarn whore

2007-11-10T18:40:00.000-08:00

So, I finished the welcome mat. It ended up being longer than I wanted it to be, but I'm not frogging it. So there.

Levi the cat always seems to show up when you want to take a picture of something. Hm. Well I guess he's good for scale.

I also finally felted the cabin coasters. Here they are before felting:

And after:

I like them a lot and will probably make at least one more set.

And now to address my yarn addiction... I received several packages in the mail yesterday. Yarn! Aaaa! I love it!

This is from a sale on Webs. It's classic elite Alaska (50% alpaca,50% wool) in the most beautiful deep brown. It's so incredibly soft, I was oohing and aahing the whole time I was winding it. T was a little confused, I think.

I won this yarn on ebay for $20 (including shipping) for 7 hanks. It's mostly wool, some cotton, I love the natural colors. Go ebay!
That's it for yarn this month for me. Maybe until after Christmas.... (gasp!)

Elephant butt

2007-11-09T12:18:00.000-08:00

So I suck so very much at blogstalking lately. But this is week 7's topic, I think. (I think.... I may be doing them out of order. Oops.) The topic is the oldest picture of me I can find. And although this is definitely not the oldest picture of me, it's one of my favorites.

This is my sister and I (I'm on the left) visiting my grandparents at Elephant Butte. I remember my dad always calling it 'elephant butt,' hence the blog title.
My grandma is a photography genius, as you can see from this picture. It doesn't hurt that my sister was the most adorable little girl ever and that I am so incredibly amused (maybe my dad just said elephant butt).

Update on knitting. I am almost done with the welcome mat and I finished the cabin coasters, just have to felt them. I will post some pictures tomorrow.

Welcome, Matt

2007-11-07T15:38:00.000-08:00

I am a multi-tasker, as you might have gathered from the ever-growing WIP list on the right. This is more out of boredom than for efficiency's sake. Here's my latest new project, a mitered square welcome mat.

I am making it out of unidentified twine. I found this huge spool of it at the thrift store for two dollars. Go Thrift Town!

Coffee and a smoke

2007-11-07T09:08:00.000-08:00

I have been pretty bad with the blogstalker lately--I missed two weeks! Well. I am just going to skip them and do this week's theme, which is:
'What's for breakfast?'

Sad but true.

Christmas is coming....

2007-11-05T08:32:00.000-08:00

This weekend, I started getting serious about christmas presents. I am hoping to give everyone a set of felted coasters. I decided to try log cabin knitting for a few of the sets. Here's a prototype. I love it!

I am also working on a pair of mittens for.... someone..... hmmm, they might just be for me actually. That's not much in the spirit of christmas, is it? Oops.

I got a book in from a knitting book swap I did on swapbot . I am not sure why I don't already have this book because I think it's awesome. Thanks Beth!

Finally it's getting cold here. So you know what that means? Another calorimetry!

Everybody wang-chung tonight

2007-10-30T13:03:00.000-07:00

This weekend we had the annual pumpkin carving party at my house. To make it a little more fun, we made it 80s-themed to encourage people to dress up. Here's a picture of everyone who did.
My sister is in the working girl turquoise dress. She's also responsible for the construction of the awesome rubiks cube costume seen on her boyfriend.
Oh yeah, and we also carved pumpkins. Here's a picture of all of the pumpkins together:

Mine is the DNA one (geekfest). I think first prize is a tie between the tree (second from the left--done freehand, no pattern!) by Ryan and the trick-or-treat by Joann. She was really regretting picking that pattern once she got started....
I will close with a picture of the cuteness that abounded all night between my niece, Sydnee, and Joann's daughter, Mikayla. Yay for cute little girls!

Blogstalker week 5

2007-10-25T10:21:00.000-07:00

So, this week's (last week's?) blogstalker topic is a statue. Because I can't seem to get out during the daylight hours and take a picture of a statue around here, I am just going to post some pics of statues that we saw in Italy.

This one was in Venice, outside of one of the hundred million churches.

T really like this one in Trieste. He seemed to have unusually large hands to me...

Another one from Trieste. The cool thing about Trieste was that it had such a rich history of many different cultures because of its location right on the border of Italy and Slovenia. The influences of many different societies was evidenced in the architecture and statues.

In conclusion, Italy is pretty cool. You should go.

I would like to include here a plug for my sister's blog. Although not a knitter, she is quite crafty. So check it out.

Bad blogger

2007-10-24T09:57:00.000-07:00

I have been a bad blogger lately....
Things have been hectic, so I have not been knitting very much. Mostly I have been trying to get ready for my annual pumpkin carving party. At last year's party I carved a viro-lantern (nerd-o-lantern?).

This year's party is 80s themed, so look forward to some pics of awesome 80s outfits.

DNA bag (almost) done

2007-10-18T09:28:00.000-07:00

I finished knitting the DNA bag. Here it is blocking:

I'm a little nervous about sewing it up (I have seaming issues) and putting in the lining. We'll see, I guess.

DNA scarf bag

2007-10-16T12:37:00.000-07:00

So... after much debate, I decided to frog the DNA scarf and instead make a bag. I am going to give this to my boss, as I think she might be the only person in my life who will actually appreciate it. (Maybe she will give me my degree in return...) Here's progress:

For anyone contemplating knitting this design, I highly recommend it. It looks hard but is actually easy to follow and very satisfying.
My plan is to knit one long rectangle, sew up the sides, add an i-cord edge at the top and then sew in a lining. Hope it works...

Deoxyribonucleic acid (scarf)

2007-10-14T19:38:00.000-07:00

So I started on the DNA scarf, the pattern for which can be found here (should you wish to be regarded as nerdy as me...)
This is by far the most complicated cabling I have ever attempted, but it's going well.
It started going all Tubey McTuberson on me, so I decided to block it. In the middle of knitting it?? Are you crazy? No, crazy would be knitting all 6 feet of it and then realizing that the tubey-ness will not block out. Here it is mid-block. I think I love it!

Other knitting news? Still working on the secret mystery blanket whose progress unfortunately cannot be documented here because of certain someones who read this blog. I promise to post after gifting.

I heart calorimetryies

2007-10-11T09:50:00.000-07:00

I have made four now. Don't think I will stop there.
Pattern: Calorimetry from Knitty Winter 2006
Yarn: Various
Needles: I used 2s for 3 of them and 6s for the last one. I knit swatches first to determine how many stitches per 4", then cast on 6X that to give me 24"

Blogstalker week 4

2007-10-10T10:41:00.000-07:00

This week's blogstalker theme is 3 things I love and 3 things I hate.

Better start with the 3 things I hate, just to get it out of the way. First of all, this was not an easy task, just picking three. Remember when your mom used to say, 'You shouldn't say hate. Hate is a very strong word'? Well, yes, it is. Does that stop me from hating many things? No. But you only asked for three. So here they are:

1. Fruit in not-fruit form
I include this because it is strange. People are always appalled when I tell them that I hate things like smoothies and apple pie. But it's true. Give me the fruit in its original form, and I love it. But cook it, mash it, blend it, dry it out, and all I have to say to you is... gag.
There are exceptions of course. Like juice, as long as there is no pulp. And blackberry cobbler (but only blackberry....)

2. Waking up in the morning

Oh yeah, that's real original. Everybody else loves waking up in the morning.... Well, I bet I hate it more than you do. And don't take that tone with me.

T knows to leave me alone in the morning until I have had my coffee and cigarette. The people at work (mostly) know to steer clear until about noon. And if they forget? They are reminded.

3. Liars

So I'm going to cheat here and break this up into subcategories.

a) The type of liars who make up stories and play on people's fears for their own personal monetary/power-hungry gain

An example of this type of liar? This guy and all of his sniveling, greedy little minions.

b) The type of liar who misrepresents his/herself to be qualified to do a certain job and instead sucks and makes my life hell

Obviously I am thinking of one certain person, but really we all know one or two of these people. And we hate them, don't we?
I am smart enough to not put a picture of this evil person on my blog. But, a close approximation.
(image made with http://illustmaker.abi-station.com/index_en.shtml)
Ok, so she doesn't really look like this. Actually I am not all that sure what she looks like. I try not to look her straight in the face....

c) The kind of liar who has no ethics and steals my identity and ruins my credit
You know those damn internet ads that ask you 'Do you know your credit score?' Why, yes, yes I do. My credit score is: crap. Because stupid, mean person from Texas stole my credit and ruined it. Hmph.

Ok, do you see why we started with what I hate? Now, for happy things. Three things I love:

1. My family

Really. How could you not love these people?

2. Science

This is a real crapshoot actually. Had you asked me on a different day, I might have put this is in the hate category. But it's what I spend the majority of my time doing and thinking about. So, yes science. Oh. And also that song, 'She blinded me with science'.

3. And finally, of course (this is a knitting blog after all): KNITTING!

Here's where you wonder whether it's the knitting that I love or just the yarn itself. The jury's still out on that one.

Big bottom pants

2007-10-08T10:18:00.000-07:00

I finished the baby drawstring pants from Last Minute Knitted Gifts (I love this book).

Pattern: Baby Drawstring Pants, Last Minute Knitted Gifts
Yarn: (Less than) 1 ball CottonEase in Lake

Oh my god, they're so cute! You have to make the butt big for the diaper, a fact that I find adorable.
Unfortunately, the baby these were intended for is way too big for these. No problem, though. Virtually everyone I know is pregnant, so they will find a good home.

And the log cabin knitting continues....

Log cabin knitting, where have you been all my life?

2007-10-05T08:28:00.000-07:00

I have recently discovered log cabin knitting. Ok, ok, it's old news, I know.
Finally a way to use all of those single skeins of different color yarn.

There is a great tutorial here with the basics.
And so it begins:

Blogstalker 3: How I get from here to there

2007-10-03T19:56:00.001-07:00

First of all, a sad truth. I don't do much of getting from here to there. It's either the lab or home, sadly enough.
But when going between these two places, it's usually on these two bad boys:

Don't you love these socks (I feel like a wicked witch when I wear them)? Don't you hate the color of our carpet?
If I'm lucky, I can go days (weeks!) without even riding in a car. But if I do ride in a car, it's in this one:

The story of this car is a happy one. We had set out looking for a Toyota but came across this one at a used car lot. It's perfect for us, reliable, comfortable, super-cool.... And we got it for a great deal because of its salvage title. I ended up paying for it all with savings. No car payment! Now, a year later, we have yet to have any problems with it.
Yay, car!
And no. I will not show you the inside.

Italia Due

2007-10-03T09:37:00.000-07:00

Finally, the much anticipated second-day-in-Venice post.
Our second day, we headed into Venice on the train with much more confidence in our train-riding abilities.

A word of caution to anyone has never been to Italy (or Europe?) and ridden the train. No one will check your ticket as you board the train, nor will anyone explain the logistics of riding the train. However.... make sure you have tickets and validate them. It may be that no one ever checks your ticket, which was what happened for us most of the times we took the train. Or it may be as we experienced it, that on the last train out of Venice for the night, someone will come around checking tickets. If you don't have a validated ticket, they will fine you (40 euros!) and they will kick you off the train. No exceptions. Luckily we had ours validated, but almost everyone else on our car was booted off. There was no other train coming that night! Scary.

Anyway, we headed in and started shopping for souvenirs. As we walked around, we noticed that a very popular item for sale was the boxer shorts with the David penis on them. Seriously. Every stand had these for sale. We did not buy any. I was also dismayed to see a McDonald's.... with many people inside. Bleh.

So that was the classy side of Venice.
We also took some time to check out the cool architecture, statues, laundry....

As the day wore on, we became increasingly lost. My advice when this happens? Just go with it. Blaming eachother for being lost did us no good, and my teeny-tiny knowledge of Italian didn't help either. Eventually, we came upon this restaurant and decided to just accept our fate.

It was the best decision we could have made. The food was great (and the beers tall), and the atmosphere was stellar, complete with a group of walking musicians and gondoliers rowing by, serenading us. Note: this place was not listed in our guidebooks. If you're ever in Venice, go to the Trattoria da Ivano. P.S. don't ask me how to find it.

Dinner over, we headed back to the train. Sleep, then off to Trieste for the conference.
We love Venice.

Chaco Taco

2007-10-01T10:34:00.000-07:00

This weekend we went camping at Chaco Canyon. Although I have lived in NM most of my life, I had never been. If you are ever anywhere near it, I highly recommend checking it out.
It's believed that the Anasazi (the "ancient ones") lived there between 800 and 1200 AD, where they had a very advanced culture that included a well-developed road system, farming, and trading with groups as far away as the Santa Fe area. Within Chaco Canyon, there are at least 9 excavated sites that you can walk through.

After checking out the ruins, we went back to our campsite. The whole time we were there, it was crazy windy, and for a while we had to hide under a big rock. Here's my sister, her boyfriend, and I hiding. My sister's boyfriend shows off the felted OU beer cozy I made for him. My dad (coolest man ever. sorry ladies, he's married) opening some wine. My sister exploring by our campsite.

It was a fun trip. And I was able to knit up the legs of the Baby Drawstring Pants from Last Minute Knitted Gifts:

Next up, blogstalker 3. And Italy.... I swear I will finish posting about Italy. And yarn!

Blogstalker week 2: what's in your purse?

2007-09-28T12:59:00.000-07:00

This is my entry for the blogstalking mania going on over at the knitty board. This week's theme: empty your purse. Well, I don't have a purse, but I do have a bag that I carry to and from work every day.
First, the bag. It's from Ross, I got it before we went to Italy. I like it because it's classy looking, and.... well, I'm not very classy, but let's pretend, shall we?

Next, the stuff.

So, we have:
-laptop and various cords/connectors for said laptop. I love this computer. I got it for free from my job. Hopefully when I leave, they will let me take it with me...
-cigarettes and lighters. Yes, I smoke. Yes, I know it's bad for me.
-Odwalla bar. Yum.
-wallet. My dad gave me this wallet. It's made out of a recycled bicycle tire. Only my dad would know that I would love such a thing.
-cell phone. why do I carry this around? Why do I even have a cell phone? Whenever it rings, I think, ugh, who is calling me? I hardly ever answer it.
-iPod. A friend gave me this for free because she got a newer one. awesome!
-wierd giraffe little baggie thing. My mom, bless her heart, thinks I love giraffes because I once expressed the smallest amount of affection for the animal. Now, every trinket she sees that is even slightly giraffe-related is bought for me. Anyway, the intention is good. This particular giraffe-themed bag is full of advil, for treating the numerous headaches brought on by dealing with the idiotic people I have to deal with every day (aka coworkers)
-badge/keys
-cat. just kidding. there is no cat in my bag, for letting out or otherwise.

So there you have it. Hm. Yawn.

Yarn shipment!

2007-09-26T12:03:00.001-07:00

Yay! Yarn! Nothing could make me happier.
Here's a knitpicks shipment I just got in. Some pima cotton in cream, some handpainted wool and tweed. I am not sure why I always buy tweed. I think I just like the name.

Levi the baby says: This is not for you, lady. It is for me. And this is not for knitting, it is for chewing.

And also some needles. By some, I mean many. 60, to be exact. I got these on ebay for $12, including shipping. It's 12 sets (0-11) of 5 double pointed bamboo.

They are a teeny bit rough, but I think all around a great deal. Or a 'gonga', as my mom would say. I read somewhere that that is spanish for 'bargain'. I seriously always thought she just made it up....

And last, a recently FO. The retro throw from the knitpicks pattern. It's essentially the same as the pattern, except I made the squares a little bit smaller (30 stitches per side instead of 40) for my sanity.

Pattern: Knitpicks Retro Throw
Yarn: Knitpicks Crayon (red, yellow, orange)
Prognosis: Love it!
Music that should be played while under it: The BeeGees

Ok, so what was I talking about? Oh yeah, Italy. Well, blogger hates Italy right now and won't upload any Italy-related pictures (racist), so it will have to wait.

Ciao Bella!

2007-09-25T11:09:00.000-07:00

This summer, the BF and I went to Italy. We started out in Venice and then went on to Trieste, where I attended a conference.

The flight over was hellish (24 hours travelling!), but we arrived intact and, after some confusion, found the guy to drive us to the hotel:

Wait, is that....?

Yes, that's right. We flew all the way to Italy and stayed at the Holiday Inn.... But. It was the nicest Holiday Inn I have ever been to. And it was relatively cheap. And it was right next to the train station, which took us straight into... Venice!

Now, if you have never been to Venice, I suggest you go. Now. Because it's sinking, they say. And it's really cool.
It's hard to explain how amazing it is that the whole place is on water. And there are no cars. Zero. None. That is something that is hard to get used to when coming from the US.
I was enamored with the narrow alleyways and colorful houses, which is obvious by how many pictures I took of them:

All transportation is by boat, and of course the classic gondola was a common sight.

Although we never were able to ride in one ($100???), we did manage to spend gobs of money on food. Here I am at one of the awesome restaurants we ate at (Trattoria al brindisi), wondering how we are going to afford all this extravagance (plasma donation? sell the car? send T to get a second job as an exotic dancer?)

But those were the best damn clams I've ever had.

Next up, day 2 in Venice.

Wool socks.... because it's 80° outside

2007-09-19T10:06:00.000-07:00

I saw these socks in the IK Fall '07 issue and had to have them. I closed the shades, pretended it was winter and knit them up. They are only loosely based on the Tyrolean pattern because I prefer to knit socks from the toe up. I also modified the pattern to make it a bit simpler.

Pattern: Tyrolean Socks (sort of) from IK Fall '07
Yarn: Patons Classic Wool Merino (white?)

To blog or not to blog

2007-09-18T18:12:00.000-07:00

Well... I have been contemplating taking over this blog and using it as my own for some time. I set it up for a knitting/crafting group that had exactly one meeting and then fizzled out.
I have been doing so much knitting lately and lurking on other people's knitting blogs that I think I might want my own.
So hear! hear! I am officially commandeering this blog!
And as my first order of business, some recent FOs.

Grow With Me from the Summer '07 Knitty in Cotton Ease:

And some socks, loosely based on the IK Fall '07 Tyrolean Stockings, except knitted from the toe up.... that for some reason, blogger refuses to upload a picture of. Well, next time then.

ATC Fever

2007-03-19T15:38:00.000-07:00

Hi All!
I have found a new obsession, ATC's. What the hell is an ATC? (I hear this a lot). An ATC is an Artist Trading Card that measures exactly 2.5" by 3.5". Other than the size requirement an ATC can be anything, heck you could probably even knit one (wink, wink). A lot of the ATC's I have been making, as well as admiring other artists', are collage but like I said anything goes. I got hooked because I participated in a swap (my other new obsession) through Swapbot, www.swap-bot.com
I've amassed about 20 and am anxious to do some trading so keep that in mind and maybe we can strike a deal.

Here are some examples I made for that swap:

I am dyeing for some Kool-Aid....

2007-03-07T09:25:00.000-08:00

So, I had been reading a lot about dyeing your own yarn with kool-aid and I thought I would try it out. Here's a little documentary of my attempt.... and an explanation of why it didn't really work.

First, I bought some yarn at Village Wools (whoo! almost broke my bank).

But I really liked this stuff, which was a silk/wool (40/60%) blend. I had read that you should use 100% animal fiber, but I thought that this might give it a cool mottled effect. I was wrong. But more about that later.
I started out by winding it around two chairs across a room, so that I could use two colors and it would be self-striping. Then I tied off at opposite ends to mark where the two colors would be.
Next, I dissolved the Kool-Aid in water (no sugar) in old jars. It is recommended that you use one packet per 50g of yarn. I used two packets of lemonade (yellow; because I thought it would not dye very well) and one packet of cherry (red). Before dyeing, I soaked the yarn in clean water. Then I put the yarn in the jars and the jars in a pot of water and the pot on the stove. A note about felting: although you may be tempted to stir the yarn while it is heating, don't! This will cause felting.

The you just heat it until all of the dye goes out of solution and into the yarn. The water gets cloudy, but has no color.

Then I removed it from the heat and let it cool. Don't rinse until it has completely cooled as the shock between hot and cold could also lead to felting. Rinse gently in room temperature water.

Here's where I started to realize that I should have used 100% wool. No matter how many times I rinsed, it kept losing color. In the end, I got more pink and white than red and yellow. Oops.
Then hang her up to dry (this takes a long time).

So, I learned something--use wool. I gave this skein to Erin for her birthday. The best thing about making something and giving it to someone (especially if that someone is also a crafter) is that they have to like it--you made it.

Hats!

2007-03-07T09:23:00.000-08:00

I have been making hats, lots of them....

Homemade Valentines

2007-02-05T17:45:00.000-08:00

Here are the valentines I made for my swap partners (i heart www.swap-bot.com).

Super Valentine Sunday

2007-02-04T22:13:00.000-08:00

Hello ladies. With Valentine's day approaching, some of us hot cakers got together to make valentines while the boys watched the super bowl this sunday. It was great fun. Here's the collection we ended up with in the end:

I tried something different, for the first time making stamps out of potatoes (hearts and flower), and also made a football valentine (caption: 'you've intercepted my heart') in honor of the screaming boys in the next room...

Erin, on the other hand, stayed with the more traditional approach of using soft-core porn images from 1970s playboy magazines:

Anna made a lot of valentines too and took pictures, so she should post some of them on here (hint, hint).

While I'm on the subject, I have to admit that I am feeling mighty lonely and a little bit the fool doing all of the posting on here. The reason that I made all you girls authors was so that you could post things too and write comments. So come on, how about a little excitement about crafting? What do you say?

First meeting

2007-02-01T20:02:00.000-08:00

As promised, here are some pictures of our first meeting (sorry, Erica, we didn't think to break out the camera until after you left...) I am sure that all of you who didn't make it will be sad when you see what a fabulous time we had. Here we are knitting away, as Erin demonstrates that beer and knitting do indeed mix.

Here are Erin and Juliana showing off their wonderful projects:

And here is a block of the blanket I worked on.

Hope to see everyone else next time.

Ta-dum!

2007-02-01T16:08:00.000-08:00

Hey girls! This is the inaugural post of the Hot Cakes Crafting Club.
I am new to the blogging world, so I don't know what has to be done for everyone to post on here, but when I figure it out, I will let you know. I also can't seem to figure out how to get this (awesome) picture at the top of the page. If anyone is more blog-savvy than me, please give me some advice.
Oh yeah, and believe it or not, hotcakes.blogspot.com was already taken as was thehotcakes.blogspot.com, so we are stuck with the difficult to type, cakesthatarehot.blogspot.com (grumble...grumble....stupid girl who stole our awesome name....)
I have some pictures from the last Hot Cakes meeting that I will post soon, and I think that we need to schedule our next meeting. Last time, everyone seemed ok with changing to Saturday evenings, so any takers on the 10th? the 17th?
Allright, stay tuned.....