I balled up my special alpaca yarn and started my Ishbel scarf. Let me tell you, though, I was threatening to confiscate the skeiner of the person who wound that hank. Messiest skein I personally have unwound. It doesn't help that the stuff is full of sticky grabby vegetable matter, either.
When I started knitting, my eyes started to water and get that "puffed up" feeling, so I'm a little afraid I may be allergic to something about it. I doubt it's the alpaca itself -- alpaca is considered hypoallergenic -- but it may be the VM is something I'm allergic to, or something used in the processing. Or it may be throwing off dust and fuzz as I'm working, and it's more an irritation than an allergy thing. It did seem to clear up as I work, so we'll see if it gets better or if I have to bail and pass this skein on to someone else.
Suddenly developing an alpaca allergy would be utter cruelty on the part of the universe. I hate to say it, but if that were to happen, I'd go back to wool and the cat's on her own. (Well, you know, with the meds to help.)
I started this thing with US5 needles, but that was way too loose, so I switched down to 3mm (European size, between a US2 and a US3.) If you're wondering the method to my madness, those happen to be the sizes of Addi Lace needles I own. Going up a size from the 3 mm would probably be better, but not enough to wait until Thursday when I get back to the yarn shop. The 3mm is giving a pretty nice fabric and should block out OK, but I think I will be a bit below gauge even blocked. (Yes, I'm a bad girl who didn't do a gauge swatch. It's a flippin' scarf.) I was already thinking of doing the larger stockinette section from the shawl but stay with the narrower border of the scarf to get a little more size out of it.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Saturday, January 23, 2010
I thought on it some more.
The lace + locally produced alpaca thing. What I've gone and done is bought myself a copy of the Ishbel shawl. It seems all the time someone in one of my Ravelry groups is sharing one they've done, and I click on their thumbnail going "ooh, pretty, what's that?" and it's the Ishbel. My 540 yards should be more than enough to make a nice triangular scarf. Because it starts with a good chunk of stockinette stitch, by the time the growth function gets intimidating I'll be well committed, and even on the big size the last row isn't that big. As an extra bonus 80% of the purchase price goes to Doctors Without Borders to help in Haiti. :)
Friday, January 22, 2010
I hate it when this happens.
Although I guess I hate when this doesn't happen even more.
This afternoon I was really jonesing to ball up some locally-produced alpaca laceweight I have and start a Swallowtail Shawl. So this evening I brought up the Ravelry page to see if there was an easy download location, since I'm not exactly sure where I stored my copy. And suddenly it hit me: I don't really like the Swallowtail Shawl.
Don't get me wrong, it's a lovely shawl. I just don't care for it. I'm not very fond of the leaf pattern that makes up the body, and the transitions from body to border and border to edging are a bit abrupt for my tastes.
I'm glad I realized this before knitting several tens of thousands of stitches into the thing. But, now what do I do with 540 yards of locally-produced alpaca laceweight?
Guess that'll live in the stash for a while.
I'm still kind of jonesing to knit some lace, though. But not the Alka shawl I've got started. I'm barely into it, and each row already takes 1/2 hour to do, and it's a top-down faroese so it's one of those shawls with a growth function that just gets worse and worse.
I'm thinking maybe a Frost Flowers and Leaves shawl or a Cap shawl (both Ravelry links; you'll only be able to see if you have an account, I'm afraid), but both are knit from the center out, and the Alka has me a little gun shy about those growth functions in laceweight.
I'll have to think on it some more.
This afternoon I was really jonesing to ball up some locally-produced alpaca laceweight I have and start a Swallowtail Shawl. So this evening I brought up the Ravelry page to see if there was an easy download location, since I'm not exactly sure where I stored my copy. And suddenly it hit me: I don't really like the Swallowtail Shawl.
Don't get me wrong, it's a lovely shawl. I just don't care for it. I'm not very fond of the leaf pattern that makes up the body, and the transitions from body to border and border to edging are a bit abrupt for my tastes.
I'm glad I realized this before knitting several tens of thousands of stitches into the thing. But, now what do I do with 540 yards of locally-produced alpaca laceweight?
Guess that'll live in the stash for a while.
I'm still kind of jonesing to knit some lace, though. But not the Alka shawl I've got started. I'm barely into it, and each row already takes 1/2 hour to do, and it's a top-down faroese so it's one of those shawls with a growth function that just gets worse and worse.
I'm thinking maybe a Frost Flowers and Leaves shawl or a Cap shawl (both Ravelry links; you'll only be able to see if you have an account, I'm afraid), but both are knit from the center out, and the Alka has me a little gun shy about those growth functions in laceweight.
I'll have to think on it some more.
Friday, December 25, 2009
For the people who claim Martha Stewart Isn't Sexist...
I present exhibit A. Notice her reaction to the backhoe design and its intended recipient at 1:35 in. Rather insulting, huh? Notice at about 3:25, the way she emphasizes the pink T-shirt is for a "cute little girl". Contrast the two.
I rest my case. :P
I rest my case. :P
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Attention Panic-Striken Christmas-Gifting Crafters
It is December 19th.
Stop for a minute. (No, I don't want to hear that you don't have time to stop; if you don't have time, you need to stop even more than most.) Take a deep breath. Now, take a look at all the knitting/crochetting/sewing/art of choice projects you are "supposed" to finish for Christmas.
Can you reasonably finish that in the next 5 days? Without risk injury yourself? Be honest. Aim low.
1) You still have time to buy something.
If you can't afford to buy something, you have time to make "gift certificates" for those projects, to be redeemed in a more reasonable timeframe. Christmas is a nice holiday, but it is not worth injuring yourself (or your sanity) over.
2) Look at all you've got finished, and all you have no chance of finishing. What you've got finished or can reasonably finish in the next few days ("reasonably" means without staying up to 3 AM one or more nights and pushing on through pain) is your crafting capacity for Christmas. I want you to remember this for next year. Next year, either start earlier or keep your projects below your crafting capacity. (I vote for number 2.)
Also, if you need permission, it really is OK to give people storebought gifts or giftcards instead of making something. Even if your gifts would be small. Be honest with yourself. The person you're injuring yourself for, if two items were on a table, would they chose your handmade creation or a gift card to their favorite place in the amount that the supplies cost you? If the answer is "gift card", for love of God, self, and recipient, just give them the gift card!
3) Remember, you do this for fun. In the future, do what it takes to keep it fun, even if it means someone gets a $5 Amazon gift cert.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled panic.
Stop for a minute. (No, I don't want to hear that you don't have time to stop; if you don't have time, you need to stop even more than most.) Take a deep breath. Now, take a look at all the knitting/crochetting/sewing/art of choice projects you are "supposed" to finish for Christmas.
Can you reasonably finish that in the next 5 days? Without risk injury yourself? Be honest. Aim low.
1) You still have time to buy something.
If you can't afford to buy something, you have time to make "gift certificates" for those projects, to be redeemed in a more reasonable timeframe. Christmas is a nice holiday, but it is not worth injuring yourself (or your sanity) over.
2) Look at all you've got finished, and all you have no chance of finishing. What you've got finished or can reasonably finish in the next few days ("reasonably" means without staying up to 3 AM one or more nights and pushing on through pain) is your crafting capacity for Christmas. I want you to remember this for next year. Next year, either start earlier or keep your projects below your crafting capacity. (I vote for number 2.)
Also, if you need permission, it really is OK to give people storebought gifts or giftcards instead of making something. Even if your gifts would be small. Be honest with yourself. The person you're injuring yourself for, if two items were on a table, would they chose your handmade creation or a gift card to their favorite place in the amount that the supplies cost you? If the answer is "gift card", for love of God, self, and recipient, just give them the gift card!
3) Remember, you do this for fun. In the future, do what it takes to keep it fun, even if it means someone gets a $5 Amazon gift cert.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled panic.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Willpower Recovery Rolls - I botch them
The vacation sewing is not going according to plan. At all.
About a week and a half ago, I bought a brand new super awesome sewing machine with buttloads of decorative stitches. Have you ever looked at a sewing machine and gone "who actually uses all those embroidery stitches?" It's me. I'm the one who uses them. I like crazy quilting. I don't like embroidering over the seamlines by hand, though. So I use the machine for the seamlines and then do hand (or in the future perhaps free motion) embroidery in the patches where it's fun.
So, I buy this awesome brand new machine a week before my vacation, and I bring it home, and... it doesn't zigzag properly. So then there's a big fiasco with a snotty and insulting salesperson at the store until I finally got around her and got the owner/technical person to look at it, and he agrees the machine isn't all it ought to be. Most people wouldn't notice, but most people don't use every single stitch their machine has to offer either, and I more or less do. So he's going to replace it, but because of the holiday, the new machines won't be in until next week.
I do have another machine to do the straight stitching with, so I've assembled the crazy quilt piece big enough to ultimately turn into a fat quarter project bag with full lining. It's all ready to be attached to the foundation fabric with decorative stitches -- but unfortunately, the machine with the decorative stitches is not here. (The owner did offer to let me borrow the one he'd worked on, which is now in "good enough that most people wouldn't notice but you do" territory, but I didn't really want to be schlepping a 30 lb machine back and forth.) So that's on hold -- although on the up side, when I do get the new machine, I've got the perfect project to run it through its paces with.
OK, no worries. A few weeks ago in a fit of passion I bought a ruffler which fits the old machine. I was planning to use it for doll clothes. I even have fabric to make a circle skirt with tiered ruffles for Rose that I never got around to because I wasn't up to ruffling so much fabric by hand. So I put it on my Old Trusty, and pull out the instructions from Youcanmakethis.com.
Now, typically when you're doing a not-insane ruffle, you want to original fabric to be 1.5 to 2 times longer than the finished ruffle turns out to be. The youcanmakethis.com instructions start you with the minimum your ruffler will reliably do, and then show you how to tweak your settings upward until you get to 2. So I get started, I find where it just starts to ruffle and DAMN. The things goes from nothing to insane immediately. I take the measurement, and with the minimum ruffle depth and a 2.5 stitch length, the ratio is 3.3 -- way above where I want to end up. Making the stitch as long as the machine can handle will just get me down to a skosh over 2.0.
From past experience I know that the circle skirts with tiers look better around a 1.5 to 1.75. When you're doing multiple tiers, that exponential growth catches up to you fast. But now I'm out of levers to pull. (Well, I can do a deeper pleat every 6 stitches, but that doesn't look the same as the gathered look you get with a very shallow pleat every 1 stitch).
I guess when you pay $15 for an accessory that usually starts at $40, you kind of expect this. So, if anyone was considering the Inspira ruffler because it's too cheap to resist, warning: you're getting what you pay for.
It works OK as a pleater. I could do some cute pleated sailor skirts if I wanted to. Or if I get really desperate, I can pull out the old Izek and use it, since it has a longer top stitch length. I don't really want to keep the Izek around indefinitely, though. I have a gathering foot around here somewhere, too, so maybe I'll give that a go.
This ruffler won't work on the new machine anyway, assuming the new new machine works out. If the assumption is correct, I may see if I can get that brand's ruffler for it before Christmas, and use it over my next vacation.
About a week and a half ago, I bought a brand new super awesome sewing machine with buttloads of decorative stitches. Have you ever looked at a sewing machine and gone "who actually uses all those embroidery stitches?" It's me. I'm the one who uses them. I like crazy quilting. I don't like embroidering over the seamlines by hand, though. So I use the machine for the seamlines and then do hand (or in the future perhaps free motion) embroidery in the patches where it's fun.
So, I buy this awesome brand new machine a week before my vacation, and I bring it home, and... it doesn't zigzag properly. So then there's a big fiasco with a snotty and insulting salesperson at the store until I finally got around her and got the owner/technical person to look at it, and he agrees the machine isn't all it ought to be. Most people wouldn't notice, but most people don't use every single stitch their machine has to offer either, and I more or less do. So he's going to replace it, but because of the holiday, the new machines won't be in until next week.
I do have another machine to do the straight stitching with, so I've assembled the crazy quilt piece big enough to ultimately turn into a fat quarter project bag with full lining. It's all ready to be attached to the foundation fabric with decorative stitches -- but unfortunately, the machine with the decorative stitches is not here. (The owner did offer to let me borrow the one he'd worked on, which is now in "good enough that most people wouldn't notice but you do" territory, but I didn't really want to be schlepping a 30 lb machine back and forth.) So that's on hold -- although on the up side, when I do get the new machine, I've got the perfect project to run it through its paces with.
OK, no worries. A few weeks ago in a fit of passion I bought a ruffler which fits the old machine. I was planning to use it for doll clothes. I even have fabric to make a circle skirt with tiered ruffles for Rose that I never got around to because I wasn't up to ruffling so much fabric by hand. So I put it on my Old Trusty, and pull out the instructions from Youcanmakethis.com.
Now, typically when you're doing a not-insane ruffle, you want to original fabric to be 1.5 to 2 times longer than the finished ruffle turns out to be. The youcanmakethis.com instructions start you with the minimum your ruffler will reliably do, and then show you how to tweak your settings upward until you get to 2. So I get started, I find where it just starts to ruffle and DAMN. The things goes from nothing to insane immediately. I take the measurement, and with the minimum ruffle depth and a 2.5 stitch length, the ratio is 3.3 -- way above where I want to end up. Making the stitch as long as the machine can handle will just get me down to a skosh over 2.0.
From past experience I know that the circle skirts with tiers look better around a 1.5 to 1.75. When you're doing multiple tiers, that exponential growth catches up to you fast. But now I'm out of levers to pull. (Well, I can do a deeper pleat every 6 stitches, but that doesn't look the same as the gathered look you get with a very shallow pleat every 1 stitch).
I guess when you pay $15 for an accessory that usually starts at $40, you kind of expect this. So, if anyone was considering the Inspira ruffler because it's too cheap to resist, warning: you're getting what you pay for.
It works OK as a pleater. I could do some cute pleated sailor skirts if I wanted to. Or if I get really desperate, I can pull out the old Izek and use it, since it has a longer top stitch length. I don't really want to keep the Izek around indefinitely, though. I have a gathering foot around here somewhere, too, so maybe I'll give that a go.
This ruffler won't work on the new machine anyway, assuming the new new machine works out. If the assumption is correct, I may see if I can get that brand's ruffler for it before Christmas, and use it over my next vacation.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
From the Department of "You've Got To Be Kidding Me."
Floss storage. There are dozens of ways to store embroidery floss out there, and for each one there's someone who claims it's the One True Way.
Myself, I've liked bobbins since the first time the local Big Box carried Anchor floss already wound onto a bobbin. Sure, winding can be a pain, but once you're done you've got your floss on this little easy to store, easy to sort piece of cardboard. The floss isn't going to tangle and it's easy to wind off the amount you need.
Some of the other methods look promising, but they all use some sort of plastic. I'm trying to reduce my consumption of plastic. I won't pretend I can eliminate all plastic, but you know, the less you use, the better.
So this is where we come to the "you've got to be kidding me" part: plastic floss bobbin. WTF?
Someone needs to explain this to me, because it makes no sense. They're more than twice as expensive. They take up more space than the cardboard ones. You can't write the numbers on them except with a Sharpie marker. And of course, most plastic never goes away. It can break down into a state that's no longer useful, but it doesn't break down into something that normal biological processes can use. You just get tinier and more useless particles of plastic.
Is it an archival thing? Because I'm thinking the cardboard ones could be made of acid-free lignin-free material and still be cheaper, and frankly, your basic "hi, I'm a cheap plastic" isn't archival either. Outgassing and breaking down and stuff.
Is it stiffness? Because using two of the cardboard bobbins is still cheaper than one of the plastic, and again, I'm thinking using a thicker cardboard would still be cheaper than the plastic.
These are the only reasons I can think of to use the plastic bobbins instead of cardboard. Yet of the three big craft stores in town, only one carries the cardboard. I was afraid I was going to have to special order some.
I do not get it.
Myself, I've liked bobbins since the first time the local Big Box carried Anchor floss already wound onto a bobbin. Sure, winding can be a pain, but once you're done you've got your floss on this little easy to store, easy to sort piece of cardboard. The floss isn't going to tangle and it's easy to wind off the amount you need.
Some of the other methods look promising, but they all use some sort of plastic. I'm trying to reduce my consumption of plastic. I won't pretend I can eliminate all plastic, but you know, the less you use, the better.
So this is where we come to the "you've got to be kidding me" part: plastic floss bobbin. WTF?
Someone needs to explain this to me, because it makes no sense. They're more than twice as expensive. They take up more space than the cardboard ones. You can't write the numbers on them except with a Sharpie marker. And of course, most plastic never goes away. It can break down into a state that's no longer useful, but it doesn't break down into something that normal biological processes can use. You just get tinier and more useless particles of plastic.
Is it an archival thing? Because I'm thinking the cardboard ones could be made of acid-free lignin-free material and still be cheaper, and frankly, your basic "hi, I'm a cheap plastic" isn't archival either. Outgassing and breaking down and stuff.
Is it stiffness? Because using two of the cardboard bobbins is still cheaper than one of the plastic, and again, I'm thinking using a thicker cardboard would still be cheaper than the plastic.
These are the only reasons I can think of to use the plastic bobbins instead of cardboard. Yet of the three big craft stores in town, only one carries the cardboard. I was afraid I was going to have to special order some.
I do not get it.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Cross Stitch: Is the Laying Tool Worth It?
That's what I'm trying to decide right now. I've been working on the Evil Tiger Cross Stitch of Doom. It's one of those projects that I pull out whenever I get into cross stitch, and I work on it for a few weeks until I get so frustrated that I shove it back in the bag until the next cross stitch phase. (The chart isn't well designed, in my opinion.)
I got myself a stand for help with the big projects. Now, I'm short overall (and thus have short arms), and I'm extremely short-waisted proportion-wise on top of that, and I stitch sitting back on the couch. Each of these makes a frame a bit of a difficult decision, so finding a stand that suits me with all of them is a tricky proposal. Add to it that I don't have a local needlework shop, means I basically have to buy to try, and most needlework frames aren't cheap.
That said, I think I got about 80% positive on my first try, and I don't expect that I could get much better.
So, I'm working on the Evil Tiger Cross Stitch of Doom with a stand. This piece is 3 strands on 14-count Aida cloth, so the stitching is pretty dense. Three strands mean it isn't really suitable for railroading. To be honest, I'm somewhat dubious about railroading in general, although I do use it on pieces when I'm doing 2 strands and working in-hand. It seems to affect the amount of twist in the individual plies, though, and that's not easy to correct.
So, I've been using a laying tool (OK, a hair stick) with the Evil Tiger Cross Stitch of Doom, and I will absolutely admit that it makes the individual stitches look better. It also makes the work progress at a speed usually only seen in tectonic plate movements. If I'm getting even a hundred stitches an hour I'd be shocked, and when you're doing a piece with more than 30,000 stitches... That isn't pretty math.
I got kind of fed up this evening, put the laying tool down and started doing the work two-handed since I am working in a stand. Whoo! Much faster! We're at least up to glacial speed here. Of course, the individual stitches don't always look as nice. But it occurs to me, there's this thing called "gallery distance". Gallery distance is the distance from which an object is meant to be viewed, and in fine arts should at least theoretically be kept in mind when working details. Details that are too coarse for their gallery distance appear rough, and details that are too fine can't be seen.
This thing I'm working on is a 10" by 28" picture. It is intended to go on a wall. Its "gallery distance" is between 2 and 15 feet. Individual stitches are most assuredly in the "too fine to be seen" category; hell, I'm still thinking I should get a magnifier to be making them. Now, there will be a difference in how light reflects off stitches depending on whether they are laid or not, and that may cause a difference at the gallery distance. But if I'm observant and careful to untwist my floss when the stitches start to twist, I'm thinking that's not enough difference to be worth my sanity.
I would feel differently if I were entering competitions, but I'm not. I do this for fun, and I can't have fun while being the level of anal required to win a dedicated cross stitch competition. (Besides, competitions require that there be no pet hair, and that ain't happening in this house. I do my best, but cat hairs are sneaky.)
In any event, I've got a trolley needle and a Best Laying Tool coming to me, so when they arrive I'll give them a try and see what I like. The trolley needle in particular may get a "best of both worlds" going where I can do two-handed stitching without as much slow-down. If not, gallery distance. And the fact that I do this for fun, not for other people.
I got myself a stand for help with the big projects. Now, I'm short overall (and thus have short arms), and I'm extremely short-waisted proportion-wise on top of that, and I stitch sitting back on the couch. Each of these makes a frame a bit of a difficult decision, so finding a stand that suits me with all of them is a tricky proposal. Add to it that I don't have a local needlework shop, means I basically have to buy to try, and most needlework frames aren't cheap.
That said, I think I got about 80% positive on my first try, and I don't expect that I could get much better.
So, I'm working on the Evil Tiger Cross Stitch of Doom with a stand. This piece is 3 strands on 14-count Aida cloth, so the stitching is pretty dense. Three strands mean it isn't really suitable for railroading. To be honest, I'm somewhat dubious about railroading in general, although I do use it on pieces when I'm doing 2 strands and working in-hand. It seems to affect the amount of twist in the individual plies, though, and that's not easy to correct.
So, I've been using a laying tool (OK, a hair stick) with the Evil Tiger Cross Stitch of Doom, and I will absolutely admit that it makes the individual stitches look better. It also makes the work progress at a speed usually only seen in tectonic plate movements. If I'm getting even a hundred stitches an hour I'd be shocked, and when you're doing a piece with more than 30,000 stitches... That isn't pretty math.
I got kind of fed up this evening, put the laying tool down and started doing the work two-handed since I am working in a stand. Whoo! Much faster! We're at least up to glacial speed here. Of course, the individual stitches don't always look as nice. But it occurs to me, there's this thing called "gallery distance". Gallery distance is the distance from which an object is meant to be viewed, and in fine arts should at least theoretically be kept in mind when working details. Details that are too coarse for their gallery distance appear rough, and details that are too fine can't be seen.
This thing I'm working on is a 10" by 28" picture. It is intended to go on a wall. Its "gallery distance" is between 2 and 15 feet. Individual stitches are most assuredly in the "too fine to be seen" category; hell, I'm still thinking I should get a magnifier to be making them. Now, there will be a difference in how light reflects off stitches depending on whether they are laid or not, and that may cause a difference at the gallery distance. But if I'm observant and careful to untwist my floss when the stitches start to twist, I'm thinking that's not enough difference to be worth my sanity.
I would feel differently if I were entering competitions, but I'm not. I do this for fun, and I can't have fun while being the level of anal required to win a dedicated cross stitch competition. (Besides, competitions require that there be no pet hair, and that ain't happening in this house. I do my best, but cat hairs are sneaky.)
In any event, I've got a trolley needle and a Best Laying Tool coming to me, so when they arrive I'll give them a try and see what I like. The trolley needle in particular may get a "best of both worlds" going where I can do two-handed stitching without as much slow-down. If not, gallery distance. And the fact that I do this for fun, not for other people.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
OMG Squee!
Hansi Singh has a book!
Hansi Singh is the mastermind behind Hansigurumi and hands down the best pattern writer in modern knitting. I've done her squid and started her octopus, and you absolutely can not beat her for creativity or for completeness. She documents the hell out of how to make her stuff. I really can't say enough good things about the way she writes her patterns.
And she's got a book out! Amigurumi Knits! Brand new. The knitting store just got it in today, and they don't have it anymore, because I bought it. (Well, hopefully they have more copies.)
I'm super glad I stayed late, because I hadn't seen it on the table earlier. I'm not sure if Lynn or someone brought it over to look at or if Deb had set it out for perusing, but I look down and I see a book with Hansigurumi's octopus on the cover. Oh hey, she must have contributed to a book. Wait, that's her praying mantis. And her hermit crab. Oh, she's the author; it's all her stuff. *snatch*
There's tons of stuff in here I've wanted to do, but couldn't really justify buying the individual patterns for until I was ready to make them. The mantis, the hermit crab, the Loch Ness monster, the jackalope, and several more. But to have a whole book of them right there in front of my face and in my hot little hand... Yarn stores are dangerous. It HAD to come home with me.
Now, flipping through the book I can see that not all of the photos in the stand-alone patterns were put into the book, but it looks to me like the most crucial are. The mantis especially has tons. So if you're a knitter and you like awesome toys, go buy this. I'm sure you will not be disappointed. And she's got even more in her Etsy store.
Hansi Singh is the mastermind behind Hansigurumi and hands down the best pattern writer in modern knitting. I've done her squid and started her octopus, and you absolutely can not beat her for creativity or for completeness. She documents the hell out of how to make her stuff. I really can't say enough good things about the way she writes her patterns.
And she's got a book out! Amigurumi Knits! Brand new. The knitting store just got it in today, and they don't have it anymore, because I bought it. (Well, hopefully they have more copies.)
I'm super glad I stayed late, because I hadn't seen it on the table earlier. I'm not sure if Lynn or someone brought it over to look at or if Deb had set it out for perusing, but I look down and I see a book with Hansigurumi's octopus on the cover. Oh hey, she must have contributed to a book. Wait, that's her praying mantis. And her hermit crab. Oh, she's the author; it's all her stuff. *snatch*
There's tons of stuff in here I've wanted to do, but couldn't really justify buying the individual patterns for until I was ready to make them. The mantis, the hermit crab, the Loch Ness monster, the jackalope, and several more. But to have a whole book of them right there in front of my face and in my hot little hand... Yarn stores are dangerous. It HAD to come home with me.
Now, flipping through the book I can see that not all of the photos in the stand-alone patterns were put into the book, but it looks to me like the most crucial are. The mantis especially has tons. So if you're a knitter and you like awesome toys, go buy this. I'm sure you will not be disappointed. And she's got even more in her Etsy store.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Hee, how fun!
I ordered The Best of Teresa Wentzler Fantasy Collection, Vol. 2 and it arrived today. I'm so excited. I want to do The Storyteller. Or maybe The Guardian. Or maybe start a little smaller with Above the Clouds, which is sort of a smaller and easier-to-acquire version of The Castle to my eyes.
Are y'all seeing a theme here?
I don't plan to start a new big project for a couple/three months yet. November's NaNoWriMo, and I intend to take a go at it (with a "can bail without shame" disclaimer), which may not leave much project time or energy. Also, I've never worked cross stitch on even weave, so I'm thinking of starting small. My plan is to get some next time I'm out shopping (I know Hobby Lobby carries it if Michael's doesn't) and do a few Christmas ornaments for practice. And I do need more Christmas ornaments; I still don't have very many.
But, one of these would be great to start the New Year with. I can buy/order the supplies as a Christmas present to myself.
Are y'all seeing a theme here?
I don't plan to start a new big project for a couple/three months yet. November's NaNoWriMo, and I intend to take a go at it (with a "can bail without shame" disclaimer), which may not leave much project time or energy. Also, I've never worked cross stitch on even weave, so I'm thinking of starting small. My plan is to get some next time I'm out shopping (I know Hobby Lobby carries it if Michael's doesn't) and do a few Christmas ornaments for practice. And I do need more Christmas ornaments; I still don't have very many.
But, one of these would be great to start the New Year with. I can buy/order the supplies as a Christmas present to myself.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Blog Division
Some of you may have noticed that some entries have disappeared. I've decided to break this blog up into three seperate ones, based on topic.
This one here will be dedicated to my hobbies, mostly various forms of handicraft (although occassional collections may slip in as well). Hopefully I can think of a better name for it. :)
A Fine Line is dedicated to fiction. This is where I will have my movie and book reviews, and also talk about my own writing and events like Nanowrimo.
And finally, Fire and Spice will be for my socio-political writings.
Hope I haven't messed your bookmarks up too much.
This one here will be dedicated to my hobbies, mostly various forms of handicraft (although occassional collections may slip in as well). Hopefully I can think of a better name for it. :)
A Fine Line is dedicated to fiction. This is where I will have my movie and book reviews, and also talk about my own writing and events like Nanowrimo.
And finally, Fire and Spice will be for my socio-political writings.
Hope I haven't messed your bookmarks up too much.
This Week In WIPs.
I thought it would be fun to show the projects I've worked on this week. So, in no particular order...
First up, a ginormous cross stitch of a mama tiger and a few cubs. Ultimately it will by 10" by 28" and look like this:
You can see I've got a long way to go. I didn't do all that this week, either. I started this thing way back maybe even in college, and I usually work on it for a few weeks, get fed up with it and shove it away somewhere for a few years before going at it again. It's been excruciately slow. I hope it speeds up a bit once I'm not having to sort through floss and add several new colors a row, but I think it's always going to be slow.
This time around I'm using the parking method. I was so excited when I found out about this method. "Oh wow, you mean the cross stitch police won't come after me if I do this?! Yay!" When I was taught to cross stitch, that way was verboten, but it's very logical to me. I think it's come about because computer use in cross stitch design has resulted in a large number of modern patterns that are beautiful, but not what I would call well-designed. I'll go into what I consider a well-designed pattern in a later entry. For now, though, this one is not terribly well designed IMHO.
Also cross-stitching is this little kimono card.
Also started long ago and picked up again. This little guy is living in my bed to work on while waiting for appointments and what not. Since I have a kimono hanging on my wall, I am regularly laughing my ass off at how completely not accurate that silouhette is. But at the same time, the actually outline of a kimono hanging with the side panels spread wouldn't translate well to cross stitch, so I can maybe forgive it. Although they could have been a little less extreme in the wrongness.
Also worked on a piece of crazy quilting:
I need to put the cross stitch down and work on this a bit more. The size of the tracing paper transfer isn't much smaller than the hoop, so I can't really take the hoop off between stitching. I don't want to leave it on indefinitely, though, because it can distort the fabric.
This is part of a piece that's going to be made into a duffle bag. The white basting you can see is lining out approximate cutting lines and where the straps will be. This are blocks that were originally intended for a coverlet back before I had a queen-sized bed, and now I'm trying to use them in other ways. Another week maybe I'll think to lay it out on the floor and take a picture of the whole thing.
And of course, there is the infamous Spiderman blanket:
Growth functions suck. You can see I'm really far along on this. I only have to do two more wide stripes, one in blue and one in red. The problem? Thanks to the growth function, on a stitch-count basis this is only about halfway done. I still have 46% of this bastard to finish. :P
It's TV and social knitting. Luckily it's a super-simple pattern; I hardly have to look at it.
First up, a ginormous cross stitch of a mama tiger and a few cubs. Ultimately it will by 10" by 28" and look like this:
This time around I'm using the parking method. I was so excited when I found out about this method. "Oh wow, you mean the cross stitch police won't come after me if I do this?! Yay!" When I was taught to cross stitch, that way was verboten, but it's very logical to me. I think it's come about because computer use in cross stitch design has resulted in a large number of modern patterns that are beautiful, but not what I would call well-designed. I'll go into what I consider a well-designed pattern in a later entry. For now, though, this one is not terribly well designed IMHO.
Also cross-stitching is this little kimono card.
Also started long ago and picked up again. This little guy is living in my bed to work on while waiting for appointments and what not. Since I have a kimono hanging on my wall, I am regularly laughing my ass off at how completely not accurate that silouhette is. But at the same time, the actually outline of a kimono hanging with the side panels spread wouldn't translate well to cross stitch, so I can maybe forgive it. Although they could have been a little less extreme in the wrongness.
Also worked on a piece of crazy quilting:
I need to put the cross stitch down and work on this a bit more. The size of the tracing paper transfer isn't much smaller than the hoop, so I can't really take the hoop off between stitching. I don't want to leave it on indefinitely, though, because it can distort the fabric.
This is part of a piece that's going to be made into a duffle bag. The white basting you can see is lining out approximate cutting lines and where the straps will be. This are blocks that were originally intended for a coverlet back before I had a queen-sized bed, and now I'm trying to use them in other ways. Another week maybe I'll think to lay it out on the floor and take a picture of the whole thing.
And of course, there is the infamous Spiderman blanket:
Growth functions suck. You can see I'm really far along on this. I only have to do two more wide stripes, one in blue and one in red. The problem? Thanks to the growth function, on a stitch-count basis this is only about halfway done. I still have 46% of this bastard to finish. :P
It's TV and social knitting. Luckily it's a super-simple pattern; I hardly have to look at it.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Ack, I'm going blind!
I am in the midst of a Hobby Hop.
I have a tendency to dedicate myself to a craft almost exclusively for a period of time ranging from a couple of months to a couple of years, and then switch with almost no warning. The "no warning" bit is actually rather annoying, because I have a bad habit of buying the materials for the next 5 projects or so, and then they don't happen. They usually don't happen on the next round, either, because they no longer interest me.
Well, it appears that knitting is swiftly being relegated to a social and movie-watching activity while crazy-quilting and cross stitch duke it out for new art-of-choice. Cross stitching appears to be winning. This is actually kind of unfortunate, because I have a plethora of crazy quilting materials and a use for the finished objects, whereas cross stitching just sorts of sits there being a picture.
Then again, I have wall space. Pictures are nice.
So anyway, I pull out this little cross stitch kit intended to be made into a greeting card (like I'm going to send that many hours of work to someone as a throw-away card. Pfph.) that I'd started during the last cross stitch round years ago and not gotten far on, and OMG! The stitches are so small! Were they always this small? Gosh, I'm getting old!
Actually, perceptually they weren't always that small. When I first started the project, I was wearing glasses with a weaker prescription. I love my contact lenses, but the convenience and improved distance vision comes at the price of near objects appearing smaller. Not blurry, just smaller. When I could only wear them for 10-to-12 hours a day I just gave up trying to estimate sizes of anything ever, because size perception between my glasses and contacts was just too different. Now that I can wear contacts all the time, I'm getting better at guesstimating sizes again, but yes, the this project does appear smaller, and it has little to do with me getting old.
So, that feeling that you're old when you're actually not? When you've got more than half your expected lifespan left, it's just that for the first time in your life, music you listened to when it was released is now on the oldies stations and childhood toys are now collector's items and clothing styles you've worn before are back in fashion? When does that feeling stop? When does it actually get into the deep part of your brain that this is normal adulthood and not "old", and the 'everything is new' was actually part of being really terribly young?
Because academically I know I'm not old; I've hardly started. But the deep down part doesn't always listen. I'd like it to get on the bandwagon and stop the whining, please.
Barring that, you kids get off my lawn. ^_~
I have a tendency to dedicate myself to a craft almost exclusively for a period of time ranging from a couple of months to a couple of years, and then switch with almost no warning. The "no warning" bit is actually rather annoying, because I have a bad habit of buying the materials for the next 5 projects or so, and then they don't happen. They usually don't happen on the next round, either, because they no longer interest me.
Well, it appears that knitting is swiftly being relegated to a social and movie-watching activity while crazy-quilting and cross stitch duke it out for new art-of-choice. Cross stitching appears to be winning. This is actually kind of unfortunate, because I have a plethora of crazy quilting materials and a use for the finished objects, whereas cross stitching just sorts of sits there being a picture.
Then again, I have wall space. Pictures are nice.
So anyway, I pull out this little cross stitch kit intended to be made into a greeting card (like I'm going to send that many hours of work to someone as a throw-away card. Pfph.) that I'd started during the last cross stitch round years ago and not gotten far on, and OMG! The stitches are so small! Were they always this small? Gosh, I'm getting old!
Actually, perceptually they weren't always that small. When I first started the project, I was wearing glasses with a weaker prescription. I love my contact lenses, but the convenience and improved distance vision comes at the price of near objects appearing smaller. Not blurry, just smaller. When I could only wear them for 10-to-12 hours a day I just gave up trying to estimate sizes of anything ever, because size perception between my glasses and contacts was just too different. Now that I can wear contacts all the time, I'm getting better at guesstimating sizes again, but yes, the this project does appear smaller, and it has little to do with me getting old.
So, that feeling that you're old when you're actually not? When you've got more than half your expected lifespan left, it's just that for the first time in your life, music you listened to when it was released is now on the oldies stations and childhood toys are now collector's items and clothing styles you've worn before are back in fashion? When does that feeling stop? When does it actually get into the deep part of your brain that this is normal adulthood and not "old", and the 'everything is new' was actually part of being really terribly young?
Because academically I know I'm not old; I've hardly started. But the deep down part doesn't always listen. I'd like it to get on the bandwagon and stop the whining, please.
Barring that, you kids get off my lawn. ^_~
Monday, September 28, 2009
If you didn't know better...
I am culling my library pretty hard and getting rid of the books that no longer delight me. As I go through I'm realizing that if you didn't know me and you looked at my shelves, you might think that I am a quilter.
More accurately, you might look at my discard box and think I was a quilter. That would be closer to the truth, but only slightly.
I did dabble with quilting briefly in and shortly after college. I even got so far as to finish one quilt top, get it basted (using three different techniques in a vain effort to find one that didn't make me want to hang myself with a spool of quilting thread) and started tying it as I had no room for a quilting frame. The kitties thought that its presence in my wicker project basket transformed both into a marvelous cat bed, and so it has remained ever since, half the safety pins and basting still in place. Binding was right out.
I don't mind a bit, because they love it more than any human ever would. It is still the sleeping spot; Bunny's in it right now this second.
That was the closest I ever came to completing a traditional patchwork quilt project.
The truth of the matter is, I love the look of a well-executed quilt. Particularly the tessellating ones like Snail's Trail or Milky Way. Absolutely beautiful. I admire the people who make them, because they require a great deal of planning and precision, and I do not have the aptitude to do that.
Actually, I suppose I do have aptitude for planning and precision, but the 40+ hours a week I get paid for it pretty much empties the storehouse. A quilt like that isn't fun for me to make. The truth is, part of the reason I have so many quilting books is that on some level I was convinced if I just looked enough, I would find a method that would make quilt-making not painful.
Didn't work so good.
I need to find a quilter who wants some large handknits done, so we can trade. They can make me a Snail's Trail and the paper-pieced Pegasus quilt I have a pattern for, and I'll knit them a couple of sweaters. We'll each pay for the materials for the projects we're getting back, and the labor will even out. And we each get to do a hobby we love on someone else's dime, kinda.
So anyway, most of the quilting books are going. Not all, though. I do crazy quilting, and some techniques, especially applique, still work. (And some of the stuff like in Fantastic Fabric Folding I will make work, because it's just too cool not to.)
More accurately, you might look at my discard box and think I was a quilter. That would be closer to the truth, but only slightly.
I did dabble with quilting briefly in and shortly after college. I even got so far as to finish one quilt top, get it basted (using three different techniques in a vain effort to find one that didn't make me want to hang myself with a spool of quilting thread) and started tying it as I had no room for a quilting frame. The kitties thought that its presence in my wicker project basket transformed both into a marvelous cat bed, and so it has remained ever since, half the safety pins and basting still in place. Binding was right out.
I don't mind a bit, because they love it more than any human ever would. It is still the sleeping spot; Bunny's in it right now this second.
That was the closest I ever came to completing a traditional patchwork quilt project.
The truth of the matter is, I love the look of a well-executed quilt. Particularly the tessellating ones like Snail's Trail or Milky Way. Absolutely beautiful. I admire the people who make them, because they require a great deal of planning and precision, and I do not have the aptitude to do that.
Actually, I suppose I do have aptitude for planning and precision, but the 40+ hours a week I get paid for it pretty much empties the storehouse. A quilt like that isn't fun for me to make. The truth is, part of the reason I have so many quilting books is that on some level I was convinced if I just looked enough, I would find a method that would make quilt-making not painful.
Didn't work so good.
I need to find a quilter who wants some large handknits done, so we can trade. They can make me a Snail's Trail and the paper-pieced Pegasus quilt I have a pattern for, and I'll knit them a couple of sweaters. We'll each pay for the materials for the projects we're getting back, and the labor will even out. And we each get to do a hobby we love on someone else's dime, kinda.
So anyway, most of the quilting books are going. Not all, though. I do crazy quilting, and some techniques, especially applique, still work. (And some of the stuff like in Fantastic Fabric Folding I will make work, because it's just too cool not to.)
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Just a random thought
I wonder: how well would beadwoven bookmark made of seed beads work? Would it be too thick, or would it be OK? I'm almost sure Delicas would work fine if the normal Czech beads don't. I know they're supposed to be the same size (11/0), but they're not. They're so not.
I'm going through my craft magazines and culling pretty hard, and the beadwork magazines are getting hit the hardest. Some of them have patterns for loom woven or peyote stitch bracelets. I don't wear bracelets, but I do use bookmarks. I'm just wondering how they'd port over.
I'm going through my craft magazines and culling pretty hard, and the beadwork magazines are getting hit the hardest. Some of them have patterns for loom woven or peyote stitch bracelets. I don't wear bracelets, but I do use bookmarks. I'm just wondering how they'd port over.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
That is some successful marketing
Just recently (i.e. in the last week), I thought I might try my hand at scrapbooking. I know, I know, that was the hot thing like 5 years ago. There's a story there, but it's a sad story (actually, it's the sad story), so I'd rather not go into it. However, I've always been a photo person and a diary person, so it seems like a logical thing for me to get in to.
I've decided to do most of the work digitally and have it printed, and then maybe occasionally adding some physical embellishments later. There are a number of reasons for this: I've done quite a bit of computer graphics hobby work before, I've got the equipment I need already, cost is lower, and so on. However, I think a lot of the advantage can be summed up by two words: "undo button."
So basically all I needed was an album or two, and as it turned out the local craft stores were having big sales on scrapbooking items this week. (I have had several such incidents of synchronicity in the last year, especially when I most need one. It's been very cool, and very appreciated.)
What amazes me is just how much stuff there is for physical scrapbooking. There's albums and papers and cardstock and punches and letters and quotes and geegaws and... stuff. Lots and lots of stuff.
Which makes me glad that all I needed was an album or two (OK, I got two, different sizes), because this could very ea$ily turn very dangerou$ very fa$t.
It amazes me that there's still such a market for the physical supplies, because I would expect a lot more people to be doing layouts digitally. After all, I think most people have digital cameras these days, and the more photos you take, the more likely you are be digital because film and developing are expensive. I look 93 photos at the zoo on Monday -- small local zoo and I don't have kids (but one of the giraffes was positively playful that day, so I got buttloads of him running around and goofing off). That would have been 4 rolls of film (24 exposure) at $2 a pop, plus developing and prints at $3 a roll (if I mail them off). That would have been at least $20. Or, more accurately, that would have been 69 photos that wouldn't have been taken.
So, most people are digital these days, especially if they are non-professionals who take a lot of photos, like scrapbookers. You're already on the computer. Why not do it all there? You've got all sorts of tools, you've got an undo button, there are tons of free papers and embellishments out there or you can even scan the ones you already have. (Ignoring the intellectual property issues, because I don't even know where that lies in scrapbooking. If EVER there was a fuzzy line around "fair use", scrapbooking has got to have it.) You never run out of supplies, and you never have to worry about a toddler glueing herself to what would have been your latest project. If you want to share with another family member, you just print out an extra copy.
Of course, I suppose I am looking at it like an engineer, aren't I? After all, scrapbooking get-togethers wouldn't be so much fun if everyone just brought a laptop. Also, a lot of people are very tactile. They just don't connect through a computer the way they do to physical paper and photos. I admire their abilities to be precise and flexible with their supplies, because I'll admit I get balled up trying to scrapbook physically.
And, there are a lot of people who think they can't "do" computers. Some of them will even tell you that they can't do computer while they are in the midst of correct photo red-eye, cropping out the messed up bits of a photo, and then correcting the exposure. *shrugs*
Still, I think there must have been some good marketing behind all the scrapbooking stuff out there. And maybe an "ooh, shiny" factor, too. :)
I've decided to do most of the work digitally and have it printed, and then maybe occasionally adding some physical embellishments later. There are a number of reasons for this: I've done quite a bit of computer graphics hobby work before, I've got the equipment I need already, cost is lower, and so on. However, I think a lot of the advantage can be summed up by two words: "undo button."
So basically all I needed was an album or two, and as it turned out the local craft stores were having big sales on scrapbooking items this week. (I have had several such incidents of synchronicity in the last year, especially when I most need one. It's been very cool, and very appreciated.)
What amazes me is just how much stuff there is for physical scrapbooking. There's albums and papers and cardstock and punches and letters and quotes and geegaws and... stuff. Lots and lots of stuff.
Which makes me glad that all I needed was an album or two (OK, I got two, different sizes), because this could very ea$ily turn very dangerou$ very fa$t.
It amazes me that there's still such a market for the physical supplies, because I would expect a lot more people to be doing layouts digitally. After all, I think most people have digital cameras these days, and the more photos you take, the more likely you are be digital because film and developing are expensive. I look 93 photos at the zoo on Monday -- small local zoo and I don't have kids (but one of the giraffes was positively playful that day, so I got buttloads of him running around and goofing off). That would have been 4 rolls of film (24 exposure) at $2 a pop, plus developing and prints at $3 a roll (if I mail them off). That would have been at least $20. Or, more accurately, that would have been 69 photos that wouldn't have been taken.
So, most people are digital these days, especially if they are non-professionals who take a lot of photos, like scrapbookers. You're already on the computer. Why not do it all there? You've got all sorts of tools, you've got an undo button, there are tons of free papers and embellishments out there or you can even scan the ones you already have. (Ignoring the intellectual property issues, because I don't even know where that lies in scrapbooking. If EVER there was a fuzzy line around "fair use", scrapbooking has got to have it.) You never run out of supplies, and you never have to worry about a toddler glueing herself to what would have been your latest project. If you want to share with another family member, you just print out an extra copy.
Of course, I suppose I am looking at it like an engineer, aren't I? After all, scrapbooking get-togethers wouldn't be so much fun if everyone just brought a laptop. Also, a lot of people are very tactile. They just don't connect through a computer the way they do to physical paper and photos. I admire their abilities to be precise and flexible with their supplies, because I'll admit I get balled up trying to scrapbook physically.
And, there are a lot of people who think they can't "do" computers. Some of them will even tell you that they can't do computer while they are in the midst of correct photo red-eye, cropping out the messed up bits of a photo, and then correcting the exposure. *shrugs*
Still, I think there must have been some good marketing behind all the scrapbooking stuff out there. And maybe an "ooh, shiny" factor, too. :)
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Official Knitting Fail
So, as I talked about a few posts ago, I started a 1/3 scale shawl with the, as it turns out, massive amount of laceweight I have that wasn't suitable for the intended project. (I thought I had three skeins. Turns out I had 10.)
This is not the knitting fail, but I very quickly discovered that triangular shawls have the same problem that circular shawls have and then some. They, of course, have a significant growth function, starting with just a few stitches per row and ending with a few hundred per row. This makes them prone to project slog. But on top of that, half of those rows are (dun dun dun) purling. I don't have an epic hatred of purling, but it is a little slower, and takes about twice the finger movement for me, so I rather avoid it.
That's not the knitting fail.
This is the knitting fail. My cat Malcolm (the tuxedo, and only boy) was on my lap while I was knitting, being surprisingly well behaved. He got bored. So JUST as I was about to finish the first motif on this shawl, in the middle of the final row of it, he stands up and jumps off my lap with tail held proudly in the air -- directly behind the knitting, in perfectly alignment with the small gap between the needles while I was working. Hits right where there is no needle to resist, and pulls the project half off them. Of course, I'm working with alpaca, so those stitches immediately make a run for the cast-on with no way to pick them up, and there's nothing I can do except rip out the whole shawl beginning.
Ouch.
At least I learned that when there were 9 and a 1/2 rows, not several hundred and just short of putting in a lifeline.
He doesn't get to sit on my lap while I'm doing lace any more.
This is not the knitting fail, but I very quickly discovered that triangular shawls have the same problem that circular shawls have and then some. They, of course, have a significant growth function, starting with just a few stitches per row and ending with a few hundred per row. This makes them prone to project slog. But on top of that, half of those rows are (dun dun dun) purling. I don't have an epic hatred of purling, but it is a little slower, and takes about twice the finger movement for me, so I rather avoid it.
That's not the knitting fail.
This is the knitting fail. My cat Malcolm (the tuxedo, and only boy) was on my lap while I was knitting, being surprisingly well behaved. He got bored. So JUST as I was about to finish the first motif on this shawl, in the middle of the final row of it, he stands up and jumps off my lap with tail held proudly in the air -- directly behind the knitting, in perfectly alignment with the small gap between the needles while I was working. Hits right where there is no needle to resist, and pulls the project half off them. Of course, I'm working with alpaca, so those stitches immediately make a run for the cast-on with no way to pick them up, and there's nothing I can do except rip out the whole shawl beginning.
Ouch.
At least I learned that when there were 9 and a 1/2 rows, not several hundred and just short of putting in a lifeline.
He doesn't get to sit on my lap while I'm doing lace any more.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Cue the Dammit Chorus
Middle of last month, I ordered 21 skeins of cotton yarn: 20 to make myself a Wonderful Wallaby Sweater, and 1 for swatching.
Got a ship notice.
Shipping company never updated that they'd gotten the package.
Waited a reasonable time, then contacted them asking for a status update.
Package is MIA. They will start a trace, but in the meantime, they'll put together a replacement.
Problem: They only have 19 skeins of that yarn left. Discontinued colorway, not getting any more.
I told them to go ahead and send it. It's a very good price and I'm sure I can find something to use it with. But I just don't think there's enough for the Wallaby. Maybe if it were wool, but cotton I have to wash a swatch to see how much it shrinks, and once it's shrunk I can't frog the yarn and use it to finish the project made of otherwise not-already-shrunk cotton. Even if I had enough, I'd be just squeaking in, and I wouldn't be sure until I was done. I wouldn't be happy with leaving off the hood, and pouch is knit in and can't really be removed later to unravel for the hoodie.
Nope, I just don't think it'll work.
I wonder how well it cables. There might be enough there for a Corona.
And now I'm back to square one on the Wallaby. :P
Got a ship notice.
Shipping company never updated that they'd gotten the package.
Waited a reasonable time, then contacted them asking for a status update.
Package is MIA. They will start a trace, but in the meantime, they'll put together a replacement.
Problem: They only have 19 skeins of that yarn left. Discontinued colorway, not getting any more.
I told them to go ahead and send it. It's a very good price and I'm sure I can find something to use it with. But I just don't think there's enough for the Wallaby. Maybe if it were wool, but cotton I have to wash a swatch to see how much it shrinks, and once it's shrunk I can't frog the yarn and use it to finish the project made of otherwise not-already-shrunk cotton. Even if I had enough, I'd be just squeaking in, and I wouldn't be sure until I was done. I wouldn't be happy with leaving off the hood, and pouch is knit in and can't really be removed later to unravel for the hoodie.
Nope, I just don't think it'll work.
I wonder how well it cables. There might be enough there for a Corona.
And now I'm back to square one on the Wallaby. :P
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Let's Talk Lace Knitting
1. I'm glad to say I did a little more on my Juno Regina weekend before last. This is a good sign, because it means for at least a few days my stress level had lightened enough that I felt up to lace knitting rather than nearly-brainless blankets in the round.
The thing is, I'm just not feeling it any more. I know it's a odd. When I started it, I was so excited about it, and so eager to start, and it was going to be so awesome. Now I look at pictures of the finished stole, and they just kind of look boring to me.
For my own project, I've reached the widest point of the diamond and it's not as wide as I wanted the stole to be. And honestly, I look at the vast expanse of flat stockinette with the occasional YO K2tog, and part of me just cringes in anticipation of the boredom.
I think I'm going to put it on waste yarn, take the needles out, and pack it up completely for a few months. I don't have any projects I want the yarn for right now. Although honestly, even if the love comes back, I think I'll want to start over with a somewhat heavier yarn, more of a heavy lace or light fingering than the thin Alpaca with a Twist Fino. It's beautiful stuff; I'm just wanting a larger piece.
2) Me, and my thing with mystery shawl knit-a-longs. If I'm really honest, the shawls that come out of them usually strike my tastes somewhere between "Meh" and "eww!" That's not to say anything bad about the designs or the designers, not at all. It's just that mystery shawl designs tend to have certain design elements that I don't care for, such as pictorial motifs done in yarn-overs on a stockinette background, or a visible periodic nature -- not necessarily a hard break between clues, but shifts were you can tell where each clue was.
And yet when I find one while it's still open, I feel compelled to sign up for it. I've at least gotten to the point where I don't feel obligated to knit it until enough clues have come out that I can tell if I like the design. (One bad burn took care of that, methinks.) But I'm still there. I think it's that fear of missing out. What if this is the one that turns out awesome and just perfect for me and I missed it? That part of my brain doesn't want to listen to the answer "Then you plunk down $8 at the end when the pattern goes on sale." After all, if it was that awesome and perfect for me, odds are I'd buy the pattern at the end of the knit-along anyway to thank/reward the designer for making it.
Oh well, at least adding another group onto my Yahoo account is harmless.
3) I am dubious about triangular shawls.
But, before I get into that, let me get into a needlessly technical discussion about the nature and function of shawls with far more thought than anyone sane has ever put into the topic. Why? Because I'm an engineer, and as scary as this is, my brain actually works this way.
Now, there are two schools of thought on what a shawl is for. One school is that it is to warm your arms, much like a light sweater, while another is that it is to keep your shoulders warm, like a vest. To complicate matters, it's not unreasonable, and yet not a given, to argue that keeping your shoulders warm keeps your arms warm in the same way that fingerless gloves really do keep your fingers warm by warming the pulse point. (I was dubious about that, too, but experiment has shown me that it does indeed work. I wouldn't have a snowball fight with only fingerless gloves, but they're quite nice in a cold office or on a brisk fall day.) However, as the shoulders are much larger than wrists, and not wrapped by a shawl as completely as a wrist is by fingerless gloves, I am unconvinced.
So personally, I'm in the shawl-to-warm-arms camp, and a triangular shawl doesn't seem like a good way to do this. The most common shape is a right-angle triangle with the hypotenous at the top edge and the right-angle point hanging down towards your butt.
Actually, I'm going to take an aside here. A lot of women don't like triangular shawls because they feel the point forms an arrow pointing to their hinder. However, that's not my experience. At least the way I perceive things, the point is more of a container that holds the eye and keeps it away from the butt. The eye follows the point down, hits the bottom, and then is drawn outwards by the border or pattern.
But that's just me.
Anyway, we've got a right triangle, with the right angle pointing at your butt, and then the narrower points are brought around to the front. This usually means that the part of the shawl covering your arms is roughly half as long the distance from hypotenuse to point (varying on the size of the lady and the shawl). This is not enough cover on my arms for me, especially since triangular shawls are often made so that the hypotenuse length matches wingspan. Make it large enough for adequate arm coverage, and there's tons of material in the back that serves little purpose except to get sat upon. Extra unused material = wasted work.
And yet some of the patterns are so pretty.
A popular construction for triangular shawls right now is this: Still imagine your right triangle with the hypotenuse at the top. Now, draw a straight line from the bottom point to the middle of the hypotenuse, so that you have two right triangles next to each other, with the right angles at the middle and top. The shawls are laid out like that, start at the center top with a few stitches to start the right angles, and then increase outwards to build the two adjoining right triangles.
So, I'm thinking of ways to alter the patterns to get more arm coverage. An obvious one is to just double it and make a square shawl with 4 component triangles. And that's certainly valid. Ironically there, though, a solid square shawl is usually folded in half and worn as a triangle.
However, you can put a split in it so it is worn like a cape. Put it between two triangles, and you'll get something shaped like a poncho, only with an opening in the front -- so consider yourself forewarned. ;) Or, I have some patterns in my queue that are build like this, but have the slit from the center to the middle of one of the square sides. It takes a little (just a little) more work to locate that, but avoids the poncho look.
The other idea I've considered is three component triangles instead of the usual two, which forms a shape like a square with one side removed. It almost looks like a sailor collar laid flat, or a faroese shawl on steroids (or maybe just LSD ^_~ ). I don't know how this would lay when worn, though.
Then another possibility is to put a wedge of material between the two triangles to form a sort of mock Faroese shaping. This is probably the most design work, and isn't suitable for all patterns. But, on some you could do some very nifty things with the back panel. For instance, putting a dragon silhouette in yarn-overs on a panel added to a Dragon Wings shawl.
Now, I've got some lace yarn laying around that I ordered for a project, but found when it arrived that it was unsuitable. I'm thinking of balling up a hank of that, and doing some doll-sized shawls to study the trade-offs of the various shapes that can be done with a triangular shawl pattern. That may seem excessively anal (and I don't think I'm prepared to deny that), but at the same time, when you consider all the nice triangular patterns out there and all the time that goes into a human-sized shawl. Well, it'd be nice to open up my possibilities and yet know beforehand how much work I need to add. Two-foot shawls are a lot faster than 5-foot ones.
The thing is, I'm just not feeling it any more. I know it's a odd. When I started it, I was so excited about it, and so eager to start, and it was going to be so awesome. Now I look at pictures of the finished stole, and they just kind of look boring to me.
For my own project, I've reached the widest point of the diamond and it's not as wide as I wanted the stole to be. And honestly, I look at the vast expanse of flat stockinette with the occasional YO K2tog, and part of me just cringes in anticipation of the boredom.
I think I'm going to put it on waste yarn, take the needles out, and pack it up completely for a few months. I don't have any projects I want the yarn for right now. Although honestly, even if the love comes back, I think I'll want to start over with a somewhat heavier yarn, more of a heavy lace or light fingering than the thin Alpaca with a Twist Fino. It's beautiful stuff; I'm just wanting a larger piece.
2) Me, and my thing with mystery shawl knit-a-longs. If I'm really honest, the shawls that come out of them usually strike my tastes somewhere between "Meh" and "eww!" That's not to say anything bad about the designs or the designers, not at all. It's just that mystery shawl designs tend to have certain design elements that I don't care for, such as pictorial motifs done in yarn-overs on a stockinette background, or a visible periodic nature -- not necessarily a hard break between clues, but shifts were you can tell where each clue was.
And yet when I find one while it's still open, I feel compelled to sign up for it. I've at least gotten to the point where I don't feel obligated to knit it until enough clues have come out that I can tell if I like the design. (One bad burn took care of that, methinks.) But I'm still there. I think it's that fear of missing out. What if this is the one that turns out awesome and just perfect for me and I missed it? That part of my brain doesn't want to listen to the answer "Then you plunk down $8 at the end when the pattern goes on sale." After all, if it was that awesome and perfect for me, odds are I'd buy the pattern at the end of the knit-along anyway to thank/reward the designer for making it.
Oh well, at least adding another group onto my Yahoo account is harmless.
3) I am dubious about triangular shawls.
But, before I get into that, let me get into a needlessly technical discussion about the nature and function of shawls with far more thought than anyone sane has ever put into the topic. Why? Because I'm an engineer, and as scary as this is, my brain actually works this way.
Now, there are two schools of thought on what a shawl is for. One school is that it is to warm your arms, much like a light sweater, while another is that it is to keep your shoulders warm, like a vest. To complicate matters, it's not unreasonable, and yet not a given, to argue that keeping your shoulders warm keeps your arms warm in the same way that fingerless gloves really do keep your fingers warm by warming the pulse point. (I was dubious about that, too, but experiment has shown me that it does indeed work. I wouldn't have a snowball fight with only fingerless gloves, but they're quite nice in a cold office or on a brisk fall day.) However, as the shoulders are much larger than wrists, and not wrapped by a shawl as completely as a wrist is by fingerless gloves, I am unconvinced.
So personally, I'm in the shawl-to-warm-arms camp, and a triangular shawl doesn't seem like a good way to do this. The most common shape is a right-angle triangle with the hypotenous at the top edge and the right-angle point hanging down towards your butt.
Actually, I'm going to take an aside here. A lot of women don't like triangular shawls because they feel the point forms an arrow pointing to their hinder. However, that's not my experience. At least the way I perceive things, the point is more of a container that holds the eye and keeps it away from the butt. The eye follows the point down, hits the bottom, and then is drawn outwards by the border or pattern.
But that's just me.
Anyway, we've got a right triangle, with the right angle pointing at your butt, and then the narrower points are brought around to the front. This usually means that the part of the shawl covering your arms is roughly half as long the distance from hypotenuse to point (varying on the size of the lady and the shawl). This is not enough cover on my arms for me, especially since triangular shawls are often made so that the hypotenuse length matches wingspan. Make it large enough for adequate arm coverage, and there's tons of material in the back that serves little purpose except to get sat upon. Extra unused material = wasted work.
And yet some of the patterns are so pretty.
A popular construction for triangular shawls right now is this: Still imagine your right triangle with the hypotenuse at the top. Now, draw a straight line from the bottom point to the middle of the hypotenuse, so that you have two right triangles next to each other, with the right angles at the middle and top. The shawls are laid out like that, start at the center top with a few stitches to start the right angles, and then increase outwards to build the two adjoining right triangles.
So, I'm thinking of ways to alter the patterns to get more arm coverage. An obvious one is to just double it and make a square shawl with 4 component triangles. And that's certainly valid. Ironically there, though, a solid square shawl is usually folded in half and worn as a triangle.
However, you can put a split in it so it is worn like a cape. Put it between two triangles, and you'll get something shaped like a poncho, only with an opening in the front -- so consider yourself forewarned. ;) Or, I have some patterns in my queue that are build like this, but have the slit from the center to the middle of one of the square sides. It takes a little (just a little) more work to locate that, but avoids the poncho look.
The other idea I've considered is three component triangles instead of the usual two, which forms a shape like a square with one side removed. It almost looks like a sailor collar laid flat, or a faroese shawl on steroids (or maybe just LSD ^_~ ). I don't know how this would lay when worn, though.
Then another possibility is to put a wedge of material between the two triangles to form a sort of mock Faroese shaping. This is probably the most design work, and isn't suitable for all patterns. But, on some you could do some very nifty things with the back panel. For instance, putting a dragon silhouette in yarn-overs on a panel added to a Dragon Wings shawl.
Now, I've got some lace yarn laying around that I ordered for a project, but found when it arrived that it was unsuitable. I'm thinking of balling up a hank of that, and doing some doll-sized shawls to study the trade-offs of the various shapes that can be done with a triangular shawl pattern. That may seem excessively anal (and I don't think I'm prepared to deny that), but at the same time, when you consider all the nice triangular patterns out there and all the time that goes into a human-sized shawl. Well, it'd be nice to open up my possibilities and yet know beforehand how much work I need to add. Two-foot shawls are a lot faster than 5-foot ones.
Adventures in Katidom
I went on a little road trip today. Today was the Illinois Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association's annual Alpacafest.
First, feel free to sit in surprise with me that there are enough alpaca owners and breeders in Illinois for there to be an association.
OK, anyway. The Alpacafest was held in East Peoria in previous years, but lost their venue, so this year they were an hour+ north in Princeton.
I'm not a "small town" kind of person, but I have to give some respect to any place that has a tattoo parlor named "Torrid Tattoos."
I've never been to the Alpacafest, but the fibery people in my life spoke rather gleefully about it, and I need to get out of the basement more, so I went up with not much idea of what to expect. It's a fairly small show: two buildings of I'd guess 1000 sq ft each of animals waiting to be judged, and another building with half a dozen or so vendors.
Alpacas are smaller than I realized. Most of them were about waist/ribcage high on me at the shoulders and as tall as me at the head -- and I'm right at 5', and short waisted. So about 3 feet at the shoulders and 5' at head. The nice lady who sold me toys told me they usually weigh around 160 lbs. I'll confess to jokingly thinking "a girl could just about hide one of those in her basement."
Seriously, it's one of those shows that makes you go "I wanna be an alpaca farmer!" Until you see someone sweeping alpaca poop, and then you think "On second thought, you be the alpaca farmer. I'll just pet your critters and buy some fleece."
No one told me that alpacas make the cutest noise! It's this squeaky whiney cooing thing. It's cute, especially coming from a critter this size.
And of course, I bought things.
That's 500 yds of laceweight alpaca yarn (enough for a basic shawl), 4 oz of cria roving (baby alpaca. It's soooo soft!), and a teddy bear made from alpaca. The bear isn't squishable, but it is really terribly pettable. The fur is so soft, you'll pick it up and not want to put it back down.
I got a chuckle out of the vendor with the roving and bear with one of my usual mannerisms. Said I wanted 4 oz of roving, and "one of the bears wants to come home with me".
I also do enjoy a show where when you walk up to one vendor carrying bags from another, they go "ooh, where'd you get that?" in a yummy voice.
If the Alpacafest is back around Peoria next year, I'll definitely go again, but I'll probably skip it if its in Princeton again. It was fun, but as I said, small. I only spent about an hour there, and spent more than twice that on the driving.
On the way back, I went through Chillicothe, and along the road saw a sign for an antique store that said "Big sale today". I'm not the type who stops in every antique store along the way, but I do enjoy them. They sell me fountain pens cheap. So I found somewhere in town to get lunch, then went back to it.
It was one of those places that isn't really so much an antique store, as the stash of a packrat who justifies their collecting by claiming it's a store. Very packed with everything to really old unopened soda bottles/cans (seriously, Coke in the old bottles, some M.A.S.H. Beer), to a Gameboy that was running around there. No prices on anything, and the owner absolutely talked my ear off. No fountain pens, either, but I did find some pirns with yarn on them, and a miniature spinning wheel.
Everything spins that's supposed to on the wheel. Just add a little driveband, and it'll actually work. Well, technically; you don't have a whole lot of capacity on the spindle there.
And, all of that there was $5. If I'd known he only wanted $1 each for the pirns, I might have cleaned him out. Not that I have any idea what to do with the things, but they're kind of cool.
Oh, it just hit me that most people don't know what the hell a pirn is. It's used in weaving to hold the thread in the shuttle that makes the weft (cross threads). Handweavers often use them, but I understand a lot of modern weaving mills no longer do (although they're still common in less developed countries). They end up in antique shops or eBay when mills close shop or upgrade, and often they still have the yarn on them.
So, that was my day. :)
First, feel free to sit in surprise with me that there are enough alpaca owners and breeders in Illinois for there to be an association.
OK, anyway. The Alpacafest was held in East Peoria in previous years, but lost their venue, so this year they were an hour+ north in Princeton.
I'm not a "small town" kind of person, but I have to give some respect to any place that has a tattoo parlor named "Torrid Tattoos."
I've never been to the Alpacafest, but the fibery people in my life spoke rather gleefully about it, and I need to get out of the basement more, so I went up with not much idea of what to expect. It's a fairly small show: two buildings of I'd guess 1000 sq ft each of animals waiting to be judged, and another building with half a dozen or so vendors.
Alpacas are smaller than I realized. Most of them were about waist/ribcage high on me at the shoulders and as tall as me at the head -- and I'm right at 5', and short waisted. So about 3 feet at the shoulders and 5' at head. The nice lady who sold me toys told me they usually weigh around 160 lbs. I'll confess to jokingly thinking "a girl could just about hide one of those in her basement."
Seriously, it's one of those shows that makes you go "I wanna be an alpaca farmer!" Until you see someone sweeping alpaca poop, and then you think "On second thought, you be the alpaca farmer. I'll just pet your critters and buy some fleece."
No one told me that alpacas make the cutest noise! It's this squeaky whiney cooing thing. It's cute, especially coming from a critter this size.
And of course, I bought things.
That's 500 yds of laceweight alpaca yarn (enough for a basic shawl), 4 oz of cria roving (baby alpaca. It's soooo soft!), and a teddy bear made from alpaca. The bear isn't squishable, but it is really terribly pettable. The fur is so soft, you'll pick it up and not want to put it back down.I got a chuckle out of the vendor with the roving and bear with one of my usual mannerisms. Said I wanted 4 oz of roving, and "one of the bears wants to come home with me".
I also do enjoy a show where when you walk up to one vendor carrying bags from another, they go "ooh, where'd you get that?" in a yummy voice.
If the Alpacafest is back around Peoria next year, I'll definitely go again, but I'll probably skip it if its in Princeton again. It was fun, but as I said, small. I only spent about an hour there, and spent more than twice that on the driving.
On the way back, I went through Chillicothe, and along the road saw a sign for an antique store that said "Big sale today". I'm not the type who stops in every antique store along the way, but I do enjoy them. They sell me fountain pens cheap. So I found somewhere in town to get lunch, then went back to it.
It was one of those places that isn't really so much an antique store, as the stash of a packrat who justifies their collecting by claiming it's a store. Very packed with everything to really old unopened soda bottles/cans (seriously, Coke in the old bottles, some M.A.S.H. Beer), to a Gameboy that was running around there. No prices on anything, and the owner absolutely talked my ear off. No fountain pens, either, but I did find some pirns with yarn on them, and a miniature spinning wheel.
Everything spins that's supposed to on the wheel. Just add a little driveband, and it'll actually work. Well, technically; you don't have a whole lot of capacity on the spindle there.And, all of that there was $5. If I'd known he only wanted $1 each for the pirns, I might have cleaned him out. Not that I have any idea what to do with the things, but they're kind of cool.
Oh, it just hit me that most people don't know what the hell a pirn is. It's used in weaving to hold the thread in the shuttle that makes the weft (cross threads). Handweavers often use them, but I understand a lot of modern weaving mills no longer do (although they're still common in less developed countries). They end up in antique shops or eBay when mills close shop or upgrade, and often they still have the yarn on them.
So, that was my day. :)
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