31 Aug 2010

Coming up in the week!

This next week will be a mash-up of multiple different small projects as well as what I did not do last week... I am going to try and contain myself as I slowly work up the courage to do everything on my list! NEW to my blog is the layout and the "In the Queue" sections located to the right. I will be adding active in the queue projects there.

Around the Internet: Has been suspended for this week. I just don't have enough to make a full fledged episode since I am no longer using images. Sorry about that, but some blogs are a bit touchy on the subject, even though all I am doing is pointing out their blog in the first place.

Catch-up: I will be playing catch-up all this week since I have been overwhelmed with schooling things as of late. I love when you get less than 24 hours to be at a meeting that is mandatory... I have many goodies coming up in the week!

Catch-up List:
  1. WIP: Crochetted Bag
  2. New tools
  3. Fuzzy Amigurumi
  4. New Books (I got them 2 weeks ago but I haven't posted them :X)
  5. More spinning
  6. More dyeing
  7. Maybe some food stuffs... I am working on my own recipe book.
  8. WIP: Skeleton
  9. Introducing Lyell McSheep
  10. Limoncello
So here is the NEW list:
  1. Scrap Woven Block Afghan
  2. New products coming in: Scrap of Fabric and Wool
  3. Scrap Ugly's Hair
  4. New skein
  5. New dyeing experiment
  6. WIP: Needle holder
  7. WIP: Orange and Green skein projects
  8. Ravelry Updates

30 Aug 2010

Blog it.

There is nothing like a bagpipe alarm clock when you are taking a mid-afternoon nap. I got up and made myself a bit of dinner and a nice cup of tea which is bringing my headache down from the untimely awakening. Tonight I will take stock. I might even add my stock list to the side bar a bit later. I will be working on the Around the Internet episode and figuring out what I want to do next... That is much easier said then done. I am torn between spinning, crocheting, and organizing. I am a hyperactive organizer of all things crafts and books but an under-active cleaner of everything else. At my home in the USA sits tubs of crafts and two brilliant tackle boxes. I am feeling the tug of them, when I want a paintbrush for dyeing or my pen and ink set for some sketching. Sigh. I will have to sneak the contents over sometime... maybe make my parents accomplices but they are busy enough bringing me boxed meals and kool-aid packets. As well as my exciting new caliper. Yup, I am still a geek at heart. I choose a profession that allows me my creativity and imagination to coincide with my love of science and observation.

I am almost officially a Masters of Human Osteoarchaeology! I have been accepted officially as a PhD student in Archaeology. Three more years here in Scotland... Three more years of bag pipes... maybe I find those times to be out of Edinburgh. When it is quiet like now, with the sun gently setting, I really love this country. To be honest, I even liked the festival. I just didn't like it because I was I writing my paper. My flatmates leave this week and I get one week of no one then my new set will come in. These will be my third set since I have been here.

So I leave you with this hilarious picture of Phil:
It says Mr. Edinburgh University... and no I didn't do this to him.

Done: Freeform hat

OMG, first time ever, I have completed a knitting project!! I conquered my boredom, but it wasn't hard when I was admiring the yarn I was using and trying to keep up with the color changes. So this is what I did with all those colors in my freeform fashion! Oh btw there is some of the Manos del Uruguay green yarn in there.

The beginning moss stitch and starting stockinette stitch with the multiple colors.
Before I sewed it up!
Nice and sewn up. It is like a beanie when I put it on.
One side, you can see the lovely variations.
Other side, with seam showing. It is an invisible seam done with a mattress stitch. Really isn't invisible when you have different blocks of color on either side but you understand what I mean.

29 Aug 2010

Knitting Freeform

I went to a freeform knitting class at my local yarn shop (K1 yarns). Gillian McClintock was the teacher. What made this so special? Well to start off with, as you may have noticed, I do not particularly like knitting. I find it boring doing 102 of the same stitch and repeat 100 times. Sorry to all those knitters out there, I just do not see how you can do it. That being said, Gillian has a technique which has turned my feelings about knitting around. Following a basic hat pattern, instead of making one color or stripes you do blocks of color in random order and random coloring. (I will have a post about my hat later on today). This breaks up the monotony of 90 stitches done in knit or purl.

So that is pretty cool, now onto the second thing that is good. For the first time I was in a group of knitters. I have always shied away from such groups because I um... can't knit too well. But this group was fantastic and I felt an instant connection even though we all came from different backgrounds and careers. Even better they were a group of women, I have problems with large group of women... That is a story for another day.

So could it get any better?? Why yes it could. The yarn we were given to use (2.5 skeins in 7 50g balls) was hand-spun and hand dyed by Gillian!!! You know my excitement on hand spinning and hand dyeing. She uses many different wheels and guess what? She teaches spinning!! I almost died with excitement! So in late September to early October I may take a class with her (as a birthday present).
I got all of this for £32 and 1.5 hours with Gillian. All things considered it was a deal!!

28 Aug 2010

OINK! VEGETARIANS LOOK AWAY!

This is a lovely restaurant near the my local yarn shop. They show you where your meat is coming from!


That is in the window display!

Done: Tea Cup Pincushion

Here it is done, scroll down to the bottom of the post to see it with pins and stitch markers in it!

The different views of the tea cup!


It normally doesn't lean like that I was trying to get it to show off the things on it.

WIP: Owled

This is my own take on an owl. It is all crocheted up but not embellished yet.
I love this owl with its ruffles in the front and smart wings. I will show
better views once it is done.

WIP: Squares Scarf

This is the assembly and squares of the poor new wall hanging scarf.

WIP: Tea Cup Pincushion

This pattern was taken from Ravelry. I changed the way the tea bag was made, I scalloped the edge so I could put my stitch markers on the edges, and I put paper beads in the bottom instead of polyfill pellets. Remember that tea dyed hand-spun yarn? Lookie it is making its debut in this project as... you guessed it: Tea! Thought that only appropriate. I found this pattern after I dyed the yarn (I swear).

You can see the different parts all made up.
The only problem I have now is I go so fast it is hard to show WIP pictures.
The tea bag.
Trying to sew in the tea to the cup, that sucker is jammed
packed full of stuffing that it makes it hard to sew it.

26 Aug 2010

WIP: Squares Scarf

A bit of sad news... I know when one tries to do things that it is exciting until it all goes wrong!!! My yarn is acrylic (since I threw away the label for it long ago I had forgotten). All dyers out there now have that cringe of pain on their faces as they know what happens... The dye doesn't stick on the yarn and to my dismay they washed away white after 2 hours of soaking... Thankfully I only did that to 1. Always the optimist I just squeezed them out to dry in their less then potent color arrangement... My scarf will now be a wall ornament. Since I am afraid that even after they dry they will still go white when they get wet. Well... They do look really pretty in their current state and strangely enough the crocheted experiments for the fuzzy dyeing did actually take up color.

On a positive note, my hand spun yarn did exactly what it was suppose to, turned a lovely lightish-medium brown. Once dry I will take a picture of it all.

Goes to show sometimes panicking doesn't help and staying level headed can save a project! Good luck all with your designs.

WIP: Squares Scarf

So... This new project was inspired by Do you mind if I knit?'s pattern for her little square scarf. You make simple crocheted squares of all kinds of colors. Well I don't have that much yarn nor that many colors, so I am using the white yarn I used in the Scarf of Doom and Pink Owl. Well a white scarf of 240 squares is quite boring don't you think? Well... it is until you try and dye it!!! So I have made up 75 squares and placed them into different dye baths.


In there, the second square container from the top right, there is a fuzzy dyeing experiment. I fuzzed up one piece and left another alone. Then I will take them out of the dye and let them dry. Then I will fuzz up the unfuzzed piece and see the difference. Since I know that my orange crocheted piece had white lines where the stitches are I am hoping for the tips of the fuzz to be white.... AND in the big square container on the bottom right there is my hand spun skeins!! They are being dyed in three times brewed tea, to get most of the tannic acid out them and the caffeine. 

25 Aug 2010

WIP: Bag

This bag has taken on a life of its own... I am now doing circular sides. Yea, I am crazy. Thankfully I wrote down what I did so I can make the other piece...


It is like doing a sewing pattern where I have to make the fabric myself.

Done: Plarn Shopping Bag

And, here it is in its glory! There is an olive oil bottle sitting in the bottom of it to allow it to "remember" the shape since I don't want to try to see what happens if I was to block this the normal way. It has a nice closure that is a bit fun.


This is the front and top views. 



Side and bottom views.

WIP: Plarn Shopping bag

The next post will have it done but I have been slow on adding the WIP photos. So here it is still not done!

You see, I didn't go across the rows at the bottom. At this point I was like uh oh. But I folded the piece in half and managed to salvage the project! This is why I do WIP photos, for those who get discouraged with a little hiccup.

Coming up in the week!

So after that jammed pack Around the Internet, what do I have planned for the coming week. I am still on vacation from my schooling until the 13th of September. (I kind of miss being in school). I am loading up my week with fun filled goodies! I hope to tackle some projects that are still in the WIP phase and not begun categories.
  1. WIP: Plarn small shopping bag
  2. WIP: Crochetted Bag
  3. WIP: Knitted hat
  4. New tools...
  5. Fuzzy Amigurumi
  6. New Books (I got them last week but I haven't posted them :X)
  7. More spinning
  8. More dyeing
  9. "In the queue"
  10. Blog it.
  11. Maybe some food stuffs... I am working on my own recipe book.
  12. WIP: Skeleton
  13. Introducing Lyell McSheep
  14. Limoncello
  15. This weekend's event at K1yarns!!
  16. To be added onto...
Yea, I do PLAN to do those things listed above. I am awake from 11am to 3am every day, making my days 16ish hours long. Since I don't go out due to the festival making it hard to maneuver I spend roughly 105ish hours in my flat every week (yes I know 16*7 is 112 I took off for when I do go out shopping and to the farmer's market). Hmm... leaves alot of time to do either nothing, watch TV, or do crafts... I choose TV and crafts at the same time.

Around the Internet: Episode 3 - Part 3

This is the 3rd installment of Around the Internet. This one is going to be in 3 parts definitely.  This is only because there has been a lot of crafty artists going on and LOADS of internet sites I have come across. Remember all images I put up here are from these people's websites and are copyright to them.


First Up: Berrysprite
What caught my eye? Making a second appearance in this Around the Internet Episode. However, I couldn't pass up the chance to show you a new art she is interested in: Tsumami Kanzashi.


Second Up: Craftzine.com -- How-To: Dyed Turkey Tail Fungus
What caught my eye? Again a second appearance, but this dyeing of fungus is just too interesting to pass over.





Third Up: SockPixie
What caught my eye? The stunningly dyed roving.



Fourth Up: Carina's Craftblog
What caught my eye? Her new book: Simply Stitching.


Around the Internet: Episode 3 - Part 2

This is the 3rd installment of Around the Internet. This one is going to be in 3 parts definitely.  This is only because there has been a lot of crafty artists going on and LOADS of internet sites I have come across. Remember all images I put up here are from these people's websites and are copyright to them.

What caught my eye? Her lovely designs both on her blog and Ravelry site. Again, found this one through a knitting magazine!





Second Up: Berrysprite
What caught my eye? Her pattern for the Ume pin tutorial!

Third up: Thread Bear's Picnic
What caught my eye? The naturally dyeing tutorial!

Fourth Up: Blue Buddha BoutiqueWhat caught my eye? The chainmaille! I am also a chainmaille artist but since it is really heavy I could not have it shipped over here to the UK. *sad*
Fifth Up: Craftzine.com
What caught my eye? Glowing mushroom lamp! So beautiful.





Around the Internet: Episode 3 - Part 1

This is the 3rd installment of Around the Internet. This one is going to be in 3 parts definitely.  This is only because there has been a lot of crafty artists going on and LOADS of internet sites I have come across. Remember all images I put up here are from these people's websites and are copyright to them.

First Up: Futuregirl.com aka Alice
What caught my eye? Her beautiful posts! Normally I just will note one thing from a blog, since you will see repeated blogs here from time to time. But I just love all her posts!



Second up: Frank Herring & Sons
What caught my eye? Well, I was looking for a good deal on a spinning wheel. For later... Anyways they have their own brand and pretty reasonable prices on well known brands like Ashford. This company is UK based.




Third up: Barbara Prime
What caught my eye? She puts clothes on stuffed animals! Taking Amigurumi to a whole new level!! BTW this is knitted Amigurumi! She was also in a knitting magazine!



Fourth Up: DAVID TAYLAR DANIELS
What caught my eye? He was in a knitting magazine and his blog is full of tons of different crafting options! It is well designed and unique for sure!



Fifth up: Vanessa Cabban @ Do you mind if I knit?
What caught my eye? Again another artist from a knitting magazine! She has the most ingenious way of showing tutorials in short and long form! For those of us who need pictures step by step *cough*


Scarf-5



22 Aug 2010

And then there was ... Food!

These are some of my food creations from the past few months! Vegetarians look away. I am a meat eater.

Very proud of the presentation of this one!
Nice and spring feeling!
Those are HOMEMADE spinach noodles.
WHo doesn't love stuffed bell peppers? (well besides my mom)

21 Aug 2010

WIP: Plarn Shopping bag

A shopping bag made of... shopping bags!

The different stages of the plarn process!
The start of the shopping bag.
Detail view.
Colorways Spun in 2012: A colorway = Every 2oz



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