From the Depths of My Creative Madness

Repotting Needed

2012-02-12T19:48:00.002-05:00

Some point soon, this baby will be repotted. It doesn't have enough support and getting a bit dusty. It will hopefully be looking better soon. I've been repotting (real) African Violets and orchids this weekk.

Balance

2012-01-31T20:54:00.003-05:00

I want to make EVERYTHING! That's how I look at it. There are so many things I want to knit (have you seen my yarn stash???), there's so much pretty fiber I want to spin up. I have ideas for beaded jewelry in my head. There is just so much!

For years, I've been trying to find a balance but I have a hard to settling down and focusing on one thing. My attention had been bouncing all over the place like a 3 year old. In the last year, I've found myself getting better at focusing on a project and in doing this, I found myself finishing quite a few projects once I set my mind to it. Back and forth between the fiber and the beads, well, it's hard for me to say Monday I will bead, Tuesday I will spin. I just can't do it. But I think I could actually say January I will knit, February I will bead. And so, tomorrow is February and I'm looking forward to turning some of my beady dreams into reality.

For now, I leave you with what I've finished in January of 2012.

A long time coming - I finished Lady Eleanor from the book Scarf Style: Innovative to Traditional, 31 Inspirational Styles to Knit and Crochet (Style series)

On ravelry's Puck This group, it was our January Hattrick knit along. Knit three hats for a hattrick of hats! I got mine in!
Morehouse Merino Mushroom Cap

Fornicating Deer Hat

And Wurm

I even got in a cowl! This is the Honey Cowl from Madeline Tosh

I also managed to finish spinning some fiber! This was on my spindle and I transferred it to Suzie. I just couldn't take anymore spindle spinning.

A Race to the End

2012-01-01T09:17:00.002-05:00

I had a couple of projects that I knew didn't require too much more effort to finish up and I wanted to finish them and it was getting to the end of the year. So, I worked to try to finish them up.

First up are the Climbing Lace Socks

Next, some roving I had on a wheel. I had gotten back to spinning it this week and I just needed a few hours to finish it up. I did finish up the fiber around 11pm and then spent the next hour plying. Everything was plied a few minutes after midnight. What started out as this

has become this

Happy New Year!

End of year

2011-12-28T20:21:00.004-05:00

As we get to the end of the year, I get reflective. I like to have goals so that I have a direction. I'm getting better at focusing individual projects that I've started but I still have built up years worth of UFOs. So...current projects include:

Beaded Flower - amaryllis
Beading - ?
Knitting (large) - Frost Flowers & Leaves Shawl
Knitting (small) - Climbing Lace Socks
Spinnning - something on each wheel and a spindle

I also took a "flash my stash" picture tonight

So... I'm very close to finishing up the pair of socks and I may be able to get through that by the end of the year (yes, in 2 days). I'm also very close to finishing up the fiber I have on Suzie and plying goes quick so I can empty off that wheel. I'll probably finish spinning up what's on the spindle on Suzie.

I need a small break from the amaryllis but there's not much left to be done, okay well half. And if I take the metro to work more, I can work through more socks.

Also, the goal for the year is to reduce the size of the stash so that it can all fit on the full sized bed.

I also want to spin through one of the Socks That Rock bags of fiber.

A Bead Embroidered Bracelet

2011-12-20T21:24:00.003-05:00

Bead embroidery is a beautiful thing...when you complete it. I've had some many starts on bead embroidered projects but I've never finished. For me, bead embroidery tends to be a free form thing and I get distracted and lose interest after a while. So, I was incredibly pleased with myself that I was able to finish this one for my friend Shawn's birthday.

Sunday night, I had my bracelet, my suede backing and the brass cuff

Then you add some epoxy and get high off the fumes

Then you sew the edges together

To get this

And finally

A holiday poinsettia

2011-12-19T10:30:00.002-05:00

I don't tend to make many Christmas holiday season related beaded things because I don't really decorate for Christmas. However, when I was invited to my friend Susan's house and heard her jokingly complain about how none of her beading friends made her any flowers for her house, I knew exactly what I was going to make her

And here it is in its current setting

NYC Marathon 2011

2011-11-08T19:32:00.004-05:00

It's been 4 years in the making. The ING New York City Marathon has a few methods for guaranteed entry but I'm just not fast enough or live close enough and also didn't want to fundraise. My options was to try my luck at the lottery. When I started, there was the guaranteed entry where if you were rejected for three straight years, you were automatically in the race for the 4th. So, 4 years in the making. I hear they're getting rid of most of the guaranteed entry methods in the near future. As usual, I ran this with my friend Reshma.

The full photo set is here.

The marathon expo was crowded and pretty insane. I'm usually okay in a crowd but I had to get in, get my stuff, and get out.

Marathon day started in the pre-dawn hours. By the time we signed up for transportation to the start, the latest option was the 5:30am bus. And our start time wasn't until 10:40. Yup, 5 hours in the freezing cold.

It had started to warm up by the time we started so everyone was able to shed some layers. All of the clothes left at the start (this is just a small bit of what was discarded)

is being donated to the homeless.

Finally (FINALLY!) at 10:40, we were underway. It took a long time for the crowd to thin out. The longest part of the race was in Brooklyn. I had motivation to get to at least the 15 mile mark because my friend Josh was going to be somewhere around mile 8 and Sonia was going to be around mile 14. I felt great at mile 8 and I was starting to feel the fatigue at mile 15.

I had been having ankle problems leading up to this race. I was ramping up the mileage way too quickly and my body couldn't keep up. In trying to take pictures and recording the race, it would force me to slow it down a bit and give my ankle a break. On the Queensboro Bridge, there was a section that had a beautiful view of both Queens (I think) and Manhattan so of course, I stopped and took a few pictures.

The Queensboro bridge was the bit of hell that everyone talked about. It seemed like an endless uphill and I walked it to save some energy. Back into Manhattan and I was ready to go again until I really got into the Upper East Side and noticed the slight but long incline. Around mile 18, my ankle started to bother me and the Bronx felt like it would never come. Crossing the bridge into the Bronx was a welcome sight! An even more welcome site? The entrance into Central Park because it meant the end was near!

Between miles 24 and 25, I saw a couple of people laying on the side of the road with police and medical personnel standing over them. I did not want to be them, to have come so close to finishing and being unable to do so. At this point, it hurt my ankle to walk and my quads didn't have it in them to keep running so I did the best I could to just finish. 6 hours and 29 minutes later, I finally crossed the finish line. My brain could not form coherent thoughts and the only things I knew were that I had to get out of there for the 7pm dinner reservations and I needed to stop at the medical tent for some ice for my ankle.

The exit chute was the longest I've ever experienced. Normally, when you cross the finish line, there's a couple of hundred feet where it's only the finishers and the people trying to put medals on you and give you water and food. They blocked off the exit chute with some high walls and I must have walked 2 miles just to get from the finish line back out to the street. Seriously, we all just traversed 26 miles on our feet and we have another 2 to go? It was incredibly hard to get a cab and I ended up hopping on the subway to get closer to the hotel. I finally managed to get a cab as people were getting out and there was a woman who started walking towards it with her two kids as I was standing by the door. At that moment, my feet didn't work so well but I would have jumped her and wrestled her for the cab then and there because my feet were not going to take me the 10 blocks to get to the hotel.

Dinner was pushed back to 7:30 and I got a half rack of ribs. I wish the ribs were a little fattier but I can't complain because the thought of them did help me get through the end of the race.

It was a great race. New Yorkers throw a great party! Thanks for having us!

Order in Chaos

2011-10-19T23:35:00.003-05:00

To me bead embroidery is a bit chaotic. I don't normally go into it with a plan of any sort. I may start off with an idea and let it go where it might take me. As it grows, lines to start to form and there is some order within the beads that I love to see and feel.

Amaryllis

2011-09-29T19:58:00.002-05:00

One amaryllis made. This isn't completely finished. I wanted to add just a little bit of greenery to the bottom. Once I've done that, I will take some better pictures.

I have also started on a second amaryllis!

Milady's Pendant

2011-08-28T21:50:00.004-05:00

Last year, I took a class with Cynthia Rutledge. Finally, I'm done.

The pendant itself was mostly completed by the time class was over but I had set it aside for a while.

I pulled it out last week and finished up the bail and made the spacers. The last couple of days, the east coast had been visited by hurricane Irene so I decided that I would hunker down and try to put the necklace together. I spent a lot of time working on the clasp and in fact, this is the second version of the clasp that I made.

Since the necklace itself is actually strung, I originally thought about using a metal clasp but what I had on hand did not do this piece justice. So, I decided to bead it. The first iteration of this clasp also had a beaded bead cap that cupped the end pearls with a loop inside through which I could thread my Softflex. However, the combination of the loop and the crimp bead left the bead cap sitting just a bit apart from the pearl so I put it aside last night and went to bed. This morning, I came up with this iteration.

The toggle and loop are made and I decrease the ends to a loop so they look like a part you would buy at a store. I then strung the same beads onto the Softflex and used that as the connecting loop on my necklace.

I do love this necklace and I must find a way to incorporate this into my wardrobe. It is a beautiful piece and very ornate but by day, I'm a software developer who dresses business casual leaning more casual!

When life gets hard...

2011-08-24T23:23:00.004-05:00

I bead. The last time that I really remember taking solace in my beads was when I worked for Raytheon and I helped make some of the flowers for Donna's book. I haven't really touched my knitting much in recent days but I'm zipping through the beads. I picked this up again today.

It's Cynthia Rutledge's Milady's Brooch/Pendant Ornament. I'm opting for the pendant since I don't really use brooches. I took this class when she taught at Bead Obsessions last year and when I put it aside, I was very close to being done. I held off because the dangly bit wasn't quite centered but a year later and looking at it with some tired eyes, it looks fine. I just need to finish off the bail and string it up with those pearls and I can wear it out! I'm looking forward to new jewelry!

Clematis

2011-08-14T19:50:00.004-05:00

I have new wall art! This is Donna's clematis pattern that was originally for a potted plant but I have adapted it to fit in a frame. There is only so much surface area to place stuff before you have to start going up a wall. A clematis being a climbing vine, it was perfect for this! My trellis is made up of 3 pieces of 16 gauge stem wire that I beaded. There was some fun with a staple gun involved. Every time I fired the staple gun, I hoped that it wouldn't accidentally end up going into a finger or leg.

It's probably just me but I enjoy dimensional art much more than just a flat piece. It appeals to me more. Look at what I create, have you ever seen me paint or draw? It's not pretty. I like the effect of the 3 cut beads on the flowers versus the regular beads on the flowers. It helps the flowers to pop out more.

Getting closer!

2011-08-13T07:46:00.002-05:00

Remember all of that greenery? Well, we're getting a little closer!

Donna is back to teaching. Her students are all slowly finding their ways back to the beaded flowers. Life had taken over for a bit but we're all slowly coming back to our old projects. I've even managed to hook up with an old friend that I knew from this group. She lives up in Baltimore and we lost touch when she changed jobs but now her office is a couple of blocks from my house so we're going to try to get together periodically to get stuff done!

A bit of greenery

2011-07-21T21:11:00.002-05:00

Such a pain to make, but it really does help fill out the finished product. Hopefully, there will be a finished product to share with you soon!

A little something old

2011-06-21T22:45:00.002-05:00

In early May, I was up in Frederick, MD. I was originally supposed to run the half marathon with my friend but due to an incredibly hectic first part of the year, I wasn't able to train properly and ended up dropping down to the 5K. While my friend and I were there, we had a delicious dinner at VOLT and wandered through a couple of shops downtown. In one of the shops, I found an old vintage necklace. I don't really buy much jewelry these days but this one jumped out at me. I loved the colors and the beads were quite unique. Upon closer inspection, I think some of the beads may have been paper mache.

The problem with old things is that they break down. When I bought it, it was already missing a couple of beads on the inner strand. I knew that I was going to have to re-string it at some point. I didn't quite realize how soon. The second time I wore it, I was standing in my kitchen when one of the strands broke. I gathered as many of the beads as I could and threw everything into a plastic baggy. I had a feeling I could probably buy some Swarovski pearls to replace the missing beads. It turned out, I had some pearls on hand that would go well in the necklace. I was still missing a couple of separator beads but for where they would be sitting, I threw in a couple of seed beads, and you can't really tell the difference. I restrung the necklace as close to the original as possible and it still fits.

Emerald Crown Jewel

2011-05-17T20:22:00.002-05:00

I find that when life gets to be incredibly busy and stressful at work, I find myself thinking more and more about the knitting and the beading, my creative outlets. In these projects, there's a start and a definitive end. In the world of software, it feels as if there's no end because there is always a bug to be fixed or a request to make a change.

I had this piece mostly finished before I moved and I was able to find some time to finish it up bit by bit and satisfy my need to make something with beads. The ball is Laura McCabe's Crown Jewel pattern and I added a little bale to hang it from a twisted ndebele robe. The toggle was also beaded.

Because I've been busy moving

2011-03-13T19:09:00.003-05:00

That's right, moving. I moved back to DC. I don't like the suburbs. I miss the city. My furniture is still in Virginia while the house is on the market so my living room looks like this

I wanted to be back in an urban setting and have a chance to walk and bike more. I also wanted a smaller space. I'm now in a 1200 square foot condo and it makes me happy. For now, I've been working on Lady Eleanor

Because I know where this project and the extra skeins of yarn are and it's pretty mindless.

A floral painting

2011-02-11T20:11:00.002-05:00

It's my floral "painting". I had taken the frame off of a 4'x3' bulletin board and stapled on black felt. That is a beaded magnolia and a three stems of beaded forsythia pinned to the board. This was the idea of a friend when she happened to see it when the board was just sitting on my coffee table and I had the magnolia sitting on it because I needed a place to set the magnolia. It's a great idea because it gives me something to do with the flowers but it can always be rearranged.

I'm thinking about making a few more stems of forsythia for the lower left hand corner and maybe adding in a couple of smaller magnolias and a couple of more branches of magnolia leaves? That should look okay, right? As long as I don't over crowd?

Wishing for spring?

2011-02-02T10:31:00.003-05:00

I had recently gotten it into my head about creating a hydrangea arrangement. I already had these two guys and the vase sitting around the house:

The last couple of weeks, I was hard at working making another white bloom so now I have this:

I was hoping to get started on potting them but the Sculpey that I have has been around too long and has dried out. It resembles a big brick at this point. This is Donna Dickt's hydrangea pattern out of her book Designer Beadwork: French Beaded Designs. I need more greenery to fill this out.

Snow time adventures

2011-01-27T08:44:00.002-05:00

So many factors came together last night to make the whole snow situation really awful. The snow came on fast and furious so that visibility was bad. It was cold. The roads weren't really treated or plowed. But for people trying to get home, the worst thing that could happen was probably that every one got on the roads AT THE SAME TIME.

Washington, DC rush hour spans 3-4 hours because we attempt to stagger our work schedules. But around 4, everyone realized it was time to get going, if they hadn't already done so. With everyone on the roads, the road conditions being as horrible as they were, people were having a horrible time driving.

It took me about an hour to get about 1 mile away from the office. At the rate I was going, I had a feeling I would end up getting stuck going uphill so I turned off on a side street and came back to the office. My boss was still here so we wandered out for some food. We wandered back and found some others were also still stuck here and were waiting for rides. Those rides came close to midnight. My boss ventured home around 1 in the morning. I slept under my desk. I didn't really feel up to attempting to drive home in the middle of the night. Anyways, there had also been some alcohol involved and I was still feeling a bit of the buzz so there was no way I was getting on the road in that condition (me and the road both).

It's morning now, the sun has come out, and it's still a beautiful snow covered white out

Flowers of the Field

2011-01-16T21:51:00.003-05:00

I said I would have something by the end of the weekend and here it is:

This is Flowers of the Field by Melanie Potter. I bought the kit last year at BeadFest last year. It was a fun kit to work through and it definitely took a while. Finally when there was an end in sight, I just sat and beaded and got a bit of that mojo back. It's quite lovely! She sells her kits at her School of Beadwork website where you can also find some kits from Carol Wilcox Wells.

Now for something a little bit different

I started that this afternoon while over beading at Donna DeAngelis Dickt's house. Donna is my mentor for the beaded flowers. We have all been taking a bit of a hiatus from the flowers and are slowly finding our way back. For anyone local, she may be starting up classes again soon and I told her I'd help spread the word.

Workspace

2011-01-13T23:32:00.003-05:00

It's not so much a workspace any more as much as a storage space.

That's one wall of the room. On the right, are my various seed beads. The Czech beads are in the drawers and the Japanese seed beeds are in the plastic containers. There are also gemstone beads and some focal beads in the plastic containers. To the left is all of my wire - stem wire (16 & 18 gauge), 26, 28, and 32 gauge copper wire. I have containers and floral tape in various colors.

Along this wall, is the bookshelf of books. There's also a table with more cabochons. The blue basket has all of my Swarovski crystals. Under the desk are various findings, wire, and random tool type things.

Once I got this stuff together, it didn't feel as if I had that much and found that I definitely had enough storage containers. At least it feels like a bit of a relief. My big project this year is to move into a smaller space. I think if I found the right armoire, I could fit all of this stuff in there.

Hopefully next week, I can post a picture of a finished beaded project. I have just a little bit more to go and I think I should be able to finish it up this weekend. For now, here's a little preview.

New Year, new project, new goals

2011-01-02T16:18:00.002-05:00

Hello 2011!

This sweater barely made it into 2010. I had 30 minutes to spare.

It's Idlewood (ravelry link). It fits nicely and it keeps me warm.

I'm slowly knitting through a couple of projects, both old and new as well as trying to de-clutter my house and get a move on with things.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

2010-12-27T21:23:00.001-05:00

It's a work in progress but I wanted to show that I haven't been sitting around and knitting all the time! All I have left is to add all the little leafy dangles and add in the snap clasp and I'm done! My goal is to finish it for the Bead Therapy meeting in a couple of weeks so that I don't feel like such a slacker and have something to show off.

Life has been moving quickly. I've been working on organizing yarn and beads and have realized that when it comes to the beads, I'm a bit of a hoarder. Check back with you all next year! My goal for 2011 is to try to post at least once a week!

The joys of being a designer

2010-11-18T23:56:00.003-05:00

I know I haven't really done much in the way of designing lately, or even beading. I've been too busy knitting socks!

I received an email a couple of days ago and when I opened it, I found these pictures from K. Ward:

It's my calla lily pattern!

I love getting emails like this! I love what she has done with the flowers and the shading. It looks like she even adapted some leaves to go with the flowers. The bouquet is put together so well that if you didn't know any better, you'd think they were real. There was a certain sense of artistry in the making of this piece. See why it put a smile on my face?

I do love my flowers!

2010-08-25T23:42:00.003-05:00

This is the kit I bought at BeadFest. I do love the flowers. I've been working on it a little bit each night. So far, it has been all chevron stitch. There were a few different color options for this necklace and I liked this one. I'm glad I got to see it in person because if I had seen only the picture in the kit, I don't think I would have been as eager for these colors. The colors in the picture are sharper and contrast more than the beads in the actual necklace. I almost wonder if maybe she used a slightly different color scheme for the pictures or if it was actually adjusted to contrast that much more. The colors in the picture actually hurt my eyes.

BeadFest

2010-08-22T20:13:00.004-05:00

I went up to Princeton to visit a friend this weekend and took the long way to get there. I stopped in Valley Forge, PA where there was BeadFest!. I did a little bit of shopping but I didn't go nuts

I bought a necklace/earring set from Melanie Potter at the School of Beadwork booth. I'm really excited. I even got started on it while I was at my friend's place

There are some heads in there that I hope to use in bead embroidery, made by Fired Up Ladies:

And a focal bead head that, well, I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with it yet

The plier thing is similar to the wrap and tap. It lets me make rings in 6 different sizes. I flipped through the class catalog and found a couple of wirework classes that I would have liked to have taken this year (like this) so hopefully, there will be similar classes next year. It's certainly much less expensive than going to Bead & Button, which I do hope to get back to in a couple of years!

Blinding myself with little black beads

2010-08-04T22:40:00.003-05:00

A while back, I needed a break from this piece, I needed to work with color. Maybe it's the color overload from the Cynthia Rutledge piece, I don't know. This seems to be the piece that's calling to me right now. Bits of progress.

Changing it up

2010-08-02T22:17:00.001-05:00

Yeah, I have a bit of an attention span problem :)

The last time you saw this piece, it looked like this:

A few days of progress you hadn't seen and now it looks like this:

Romancing the Lariat - a start

2010-08-01T22:22:00.003-05:00

I've been working on this for a while, slowly. I'm taking a bit of a break from knitting and instead am trying to finish up some beading projects. This is a Cynthia Rutledge kit that I bought in March when she was at Bead Obsessions. Before I give you the next detail, remember that this is a kit and I DID NOT HAVE TO PICK THE BEADS. The lariat is 60 inches long and is a color gradient made with 24 different colors of beads. This part is done. Onto the dangles!

A little beading

2010-07-28T22:13:00.002-05:00

I know, I keep disappearing. After finishing my sweater project for the Tour de France knit along, I wanted to get back to some beading. I have MANY MANY MANY unfinished beading objects so I decided to go for some low hanging fruit with a partially done Embellished Peyote Cuff. Instead of using a metal clasp, I chose to make my own using a peyote stitch ring and toggle. The toggle is attached to the bracelet using simple beaded ring chains so that the bracelet can be expanded for a larger wrist.

Juggernaut Bag

2010-04-06T22:14:00.003-05:00

Not bead, not knitting but sewing.

Way back when I had made a bag using a hex frame based on the u-handbag hex frame bag tutorial. I wasn't very happy with its dimensions or some of its construction. I ended up pulling the hex frame out for future use. Well, the future is now.

This is the story of the juggernaut bag and how the tshirt came to be. Going into the ECAC tourny weekend, the USCHO writer was picking his games for the weekend described us as The Big Red are the dream-crushers, they play in games that end streaks and crush passion. They are the soul-devouring juggernauts of the league, because they are so systematically thorough in every aspect of the game that they will completely suck every ounce of energy out of your lineup.. Well, that became the talk of elynah and we kept joking about wouldn't it be great if there was a t shirt?

ECAC tournament weekend comes and goes. We win the Whitelaw (yay!) and Barry Melrose, in the selection show, picks us to go to the finals to face Miami who is facing their own road of hardship. Miami's equipment manager (and son of Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke) was killed in an auto accident this year. So again, we joke, "but doesn't he know that we are the dream crushers and soul devouring Big Red? The writer gave his permission to have his words put onto a tshirt (in return for a hoodie) and the design began. Within a day, there were more than 100 posts in the tshirt design thread and the local Ithaca tshirt printers (PSP) had jumped in and started coordinating with the campus store for sale and distribution. And then we had the tshirt for sale.

I bought two. One to wear, one to turn into a bag

I stuck the hex frame in and stuck some feet on the bottom. It's lined with a scarlet red taffeta. The cotton knit is stretchy so I wanted something non stretchy on the inside. The bag is all set for Detroit.

Sadly, we lost our first game at regionals. The irony of this shirt was not lost on us. They could crush dreams and devour souls. We never specified whose dreams or souls that would be.

color changes

2010-04-05T23:43:00.001-05:00

And yeah, I needed to get rid of the background color, cuz it was annoying me and hurting my eyes.

I need some color!

2010-04-05T23:20:00.003-05:00

The black purse will look good but I'm really in need of something that is not a shade of black. So...

And now to do some sewing...

3/24/2010

2010-03-24T22:37:00.001-05:00

Filling in

2010-03-18T00:06:00.001-05:00

Also, here is the Cynthia Rutledge Milady's Brooch.

The brooch itself is done. I need to work on the necklace part.

Beading a progression

2010-03-16T22:12:00.003-05:00

I've been lax in posting on the blog but I'm hoping to make up for it. Last summer I took a class with Sherry Serafini to make a beaded bag. Well, the colors in the kit weren't really inspiring me and I decided to start over. I'm going with a theme of black and using different sized black beads and finishes to create the bag. For some accents, there are some crystals in a clear white. I also thought it would be interesting to post a picture of the bag at the end of the night and follow the work progression.

Bead Embroidery Bag

2010-03-15T23:03:00.002-05:00

Bead Embroidery Bag
Just a little bit of progress tonight.

Insanity is...

2010-03-15T00:30:00.002-05:00

embroidering a bag with teenie tiny size 15 black beads with tired eyes at 1 in the morning.

Beading inspiration has been lacking at times. For a long time, my beading time was not my own. I'm slowing working on reclaiming that and hope to get back to doing some more spectacular beadwork.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-13T21:08:00.004-05:00

Yes, it's mid month already. My main crafting goal right now is trying to get through Ivel so that I can stop paying for the cashmere. I've knit enough of the sleeves that I'm now working through the body so I can join them for the yoke. For the body, I'm up to the waist decreases. The updated pattern that was received in May, well, it is a little better than the previous version. The waist decrease chart, well, I think it's wrong. I think I may just say fuck it and go with what I think is right, since I really don't think the chart is.

A bracelet

2009-12-05T00:15:00.001-05:00

Just in time for the company holiday party. I wanted something sparkly and cuff like and here we go:

Hockey promotional post

2009-09-30T09:24:00.002-05:00

So... sicklipstick and I are trying to organize a meet up of area hockey fans to expand our local hockey fandom world. For this meet up, you need to be single. Please see details here

I know right? Haven't posted in ages and this is what I throw in.

Welcome back, beading muse

2009-07-22T20:18:00.003-05:00

I spent this past weekend at Bead Obsessions in a 2 day class with Sherry Serafini. It's been a long time since I've been absolutely taken with the need to bead. Maybe you were able to tell with the lack of bead work being shown here. This weekend brought it all back. The artistry, the beauty, it brought it all back.

The end result is a small evening hand bag.

I don't think I'll be bringing this with me next week. Bead embroidery requires a mix of beads, which I won't have with me. Instead, I had purchased a kit this weekend that I hope to finish next week.

Cottage Gardens

2009-06-24T21:34:00.003-05:00

Last year at Rhinebeck, I bought 4 ounces of fiber. I was looking for fiber that had been dyed using a few different colors. I was inspired both by looking at the before and after pictures of stuff that javajem had spun up and also by My So Called Scarf and how the colors blended in so well together. With those thoughts in mind, I went shopping and came home with this:

This was spun on Suzie and soon became a bobbin full of singles:

With the bobbin looking like that, I decided that I would try to create long color blocks rather than trying to mix and match because of how this was dyed and packaged. In order to create something like what javajem had been spinning, I would need roving that was more splotchy with colors.

Finally, after being Navajo plied and set, it became 230 yards of soft soft fiber:

A pound of fiber

2009-06-22T22:44:00.001-05:00

Last of the Persimmon Tree Farm fiber
Originally uploaded by jyiu7

In 2008 at Maryland Sheep and Wool, I bought a pound of fiber with the intention of spinning it up and knitting a shrug out of it for my friend's wedding...in August of 2008.

Well, it's June 2009 and I have finally spun through it all! The last bit of it has been washed and set and is now hanging to dry.

Keep on spinning

2009-06-16T21:35:00.002-05:00

I must finish this - Creatively Dyed merino/bamboo:

I'm into the home stretch. Once it's spun, I will do a 2 play. Hope to finish this by July 1st. I want to finish it so that I can start in on one of these:

juliespins 50%alpaca/30%merino/20%silk in "Embers"
or

juliespins 50%alpaca/30%merino/20%silk in "Great Grape"

You can find juliespins here

And summer begins

2009-06-13T06:57:00.002-05:00

Some progress pictures after the last game of the 2008-2009 NHL season:

This picture of the February Lady Sweater is from 1st intermission of the game. I knit a few more rows. I've still got another 2 balls of Malabrigo and since the game is over and I'm still knitting, I think I'm going to attempt a mid thigh length sweater, having been inspired by this one.

Also...not quite finished for class today but:

National Donit Day

2009-06-05T07:21:00.000-05:00

Since today is national donut day
1. free donut at Krispie kreme.
2. Free donut with purchase of a drink at participating dunkin donuts

Yes, I sew too

2009-05-25T21:37:00.003-05:00

I used to sew, before I played with beads, or before I took up knitting. In middle school and high school, I sometimes made my own clothes because I couldn't find anything I liked in the stores. I've done pillows. The curtains currently in my bedroom I made. But I haven't done much of it in a long time. And all of a sudden, the urge to sew is back. So yesterday, I made this:

This is the u-handbag Hex Open Frame tutorial/Knitting bag. The bag turned out bigger than I anticipated and I'll be using it this week to test drive this one. I did have a few thoughts about the bag and the construction as I worked my way through it:
- Basting is a wonderful wonder thing! It's how I held the bag bottom in place because I wasn't able to find feet.
- The bottom...well, I top stitched both sides along the bottom of the bag and that sort of holds the bottom in place but I'm not very happy with it. If I had feet for the bag, this would not have been a problem
- The bag lining is a little too big. Next time, I would probably take about a centimeter off the bottom of the lining and then continue with the rest of the instructions. As it is, it's kinda bunchy at the bottom.
- If I didn't have feet and needed to secure the bottom, I would do that first before I sewed the open hole in the lining used to flip the bag right side out.
- Pliers came in handy to hold the frame together as I attempted to shove the screw into the hex frame.
- I would make a wider bottom.

Before it all

2009-05-19T20:01:00.004-05:00

Before the beading and the knitting and the fiber, I sewed. My mom started sewing because it was cheaper to make our own curtains than it was to buy them. It was cheaper sometimes to make your own clothes than to go out and buy them. I watched her, and thought it was fun and I learned. In high school, after I learned to drive, I spent a lot of time at the local JoAnn's. It's a little different now but it's still a familiar place.

I kinda want to do some sewing and make some bags.

The saga of the Ivel continues

2009-05-15T22:58:00.004-05:00

Finally, after about 2.5 months, I received the updated version for Ivel. There have been some major changes.

- There are now more than the original 3 sizes
- I had cast on for either the medium or large before with 50 stitches. Now the small starts at a cast on of 64 stitches for the sleeve. Yup, definitely have to rip that out.
- The sleeve was knit flat, joined to the body, and seamed before you did the cuff. Now the sleeve is knit in the round. Well, I added 2 selvedge stitches to each sleeve so that I can knit both at the same time flat. I want the seams. The cashmere needs the support. Also, with the seams, it's easier for me to get measurements to use for the lining.

So yeah. There are also somethings about the pattern that annoy me. I guess I'm a language purist. If I'm reading English, I expect it to be written in English without a heavy use of abbreviations. You want me to repeat something 5 times, please write out "5 times" instead of "5X". Or, please write out "On the next round begin" instead of "On the next rnd beg". Every time I read that, I do a double take and go "WTF does that mean? Oh, next round begin..." I'm sure most of us native English speakers who deal with American knitting instructions can translate this, but think of those whose English skills are not so good. Also, is it really that much more effort to write out the word in the paragraph than to use an abbreviation. Yes, I do rant against using internet abbreviations when writing in a proper setting as well. Does that bother anyone else?

I know this sweater will turn out amazing. It just seems the ordeal with the instructions have made things a tad bit annoying. Plus, I'm also working with the endless supply of cashmere. I just keep telling myself, "It will turn out beautiful."

If you want to increase some stitches evenly...

2009-05-08T22:06:00.002-05:00

I declared my undying love to a fellow raveler for showing me this link. It divided 38 stitches evenly into 207 stitches for me. I love this link. It's amazing.

Time for a little ridiculous

2009-04-29T21:45:00.002-05:00

Pattern: Desperate Housefrau
Yarn: Lion Brand Homespun in purple.

Enjoy and happy Maryland Sheep and Wool weekend!

Wool Skirt

2009-04-15T22:20:00.003-05:00

This may be the knitted item I wear to MD S&W. I know, totally not practical. But I may actually finish it by then. But as I'm knitting this using BULKY wool, I kind of wonder at what I was thinking. Or perhaps what Teva Durham, the designer, was thinking in making a short skirt out of bulky wool. I mean, it doesn't look good if you lengthen it. So far, most of the comments has the skirt coming out smaller than one would've expected so it's going to be a mini. Wool..in the summer? Sure I could wear it in the winter with some knee boots but my legs are still cold. I think I may line this so my legs aren't directly touching the wool.

Back to the playoffs!

2009-04-15T18:49:00.003-05:00

We finished up the college tournaments and now onto the NHL.

BU wins the championship this year. Yay. It was a good weekend of games and the championship was won almost in a fitting way. BU came back with 1 minute left of the 3rd period and scored 2 goals to tie. Then they won it in OT. That seems to be about the way it goes. Another good weekend with friends, even if it was a little (or a lot) crazy.

I finished some socks:

I test knitted these socks for someone on ravelry. The yarn used was a merino/tencel blend from Mind's Eye Yarns that I picked up a couple of years ago in Cambridge, MA.

What else...I pulled out some Malabrigo to start swatching for the February Lady Sweater. I have a necklace I want to finish up. I have a wreath I need to get working on.

Periodically

2009-04-07T21:36:00.003-05:00

Things get a little hectic. I went to Grand Rapids, MI, cheered for my team, and lost my voice. I finished knitting a hat for a friend

I get caught up in the middle of the Cherry Blossom Festival parade while I'm running around trying to get things done

I start and finish a bracelet.

This is the Embellished Peyote Cuff (beginning peyote) class taught at Bead Obsessions. I sat in the class not to learn peyote stitch but because I've never actually sat through this class and I'll be teaching it in a couple of months. I wanted to see how Patricia had this class set up and what she was trying to cover for topics.

What to knit?

2009-04-07T12:33:00.001-05:00

I'm in a knitting funk (again). I've got some WIPs but they're leaving me uninspired. I've got a pair of socks on the needles and once they're done, I don't know what to do with myself. I'm on the cuff of a top down sock of sock 2. Ya, need to figure out something. Maybe I'll make the February Lady's Sweater with my malabrigo like I keep meaning to do. I like this version where she lengthened the body and made full sleeves instead of 1/2 or 3/4 sleeves.

The Clap clapclap*

2009-04-02T12:24:00.000-05:00

I'm thinking of making the Clapotis with this

when I'm all done. Maybe I'll be finished knitting in time for MDSW. What do you think? Around here, May is too warm for a sweater.

Continuing through the stash

2009-03-24T22:49:00.003-05:00

A pair of socks finished. Another sock already on the needles. I've been good this month. I don't think I've purchased any yarn yet. And I won't be this weekend since in the past, when I've purchased yarn on game day, we've lost. Now...if Cornell is eliminated on Saturday, you may very well find me headed to a yarn store in Grand Rapids.

The socks are made with Lorna's Laces Shepard Sock in the Red Rover colorway. Size 2 Addi Turbos used. The pattern is L-Bee Socks by wendyknits. It was an interesting knit. The front and back are each produced by 3 chart panels, 8 row repeat. Once you memorized the pattern, it goes quickly.

It's a toe up sock with a gusset and heel flap. I don't know why but the toe up version always looks weird to me. Anyways, more yarn being used!

Me turning 30

2009-03-23T21:01:00.004-05:00

Today is my birthday and I am 30. I've been celebrating since Friday. Not that I'm particularly excited or unexcited about turning 30. But it's always fun to have an excuse to celebrate.

Since Cornell made it to the ECAC finals, I was on my way up to Albany, NY for the annual tournament. The annual tournament gets suckier and suckier every year. They used to have a whole festival outside with vendors and stuff. No more. Well, anyways, we'll start with the plane. I was knitting and napping and when the plane landed, my ball of yarn fell off my lap and rolled 2 seats up the aisle. Oops.

The shoe in the lower right hand corner is my foot, and look to see where the ball of yarn is. So yeah, oops.

Moving on. I had a plan to start drinking by 3pm that day. I also had a plan for drinking. It's March Madness time. For most people, it's basketball. For me, it's hockey. But for this guy, it's the Fermented Four. I don't drink beer and I don't drink much wine. However, I do like my cocktails and liquor so I thought I'd start with the cocktails bracket. And so I give you...on Friday:

Apple Martini vs the Long Island Iced Tea. This was a tough match. The apple martini is so tasty but the Long Island Iced Tea is such an efficient drink. In the end, I think I'd have to give it to the Long Island Iced Tea for its efficiency. I can drink 2 or 3 of those. As tasty as the Apple Martini is, it's very sweet and I get queasy from the sweetness after a couple of drinks.

Melon Margarita vs the Irish Car Bomb. The Melon Margarita was tasty but like the Apple Martini, I can only drink so much of it before the sweetness over takes everything else. And I love the Irish Car Bomb. The Irish Car Bomb wins.

And yes, there is some hockey thrown into all of this to.

Sometime during Friday's game, I realized that I had done something wrong with my stitch marker. But an hour after an apple martini, a long island iced tea, and a cranberry and vodka, I wasn't really ready to figure out what it was.

Our pep band hung a bulldog in effigy on Saturday as we were playing the Yale Bulldogs in the final. We lost pretty badly. I can't say I expected the loss but 5-0 hurts!

Back to the cocktails bracket. Saturday night, I continued drinking through the cocktails regional.

Pineapple Mojito vs Gin & Tonic. This was a blowout. I like mojitos. I took a sip of the gin and tonic and gave the rest to my friend Josh. People said I needed to finish the drink but you know, I'm just drinking my way through to decide which of the two I liked better and I DID NOT LIKE the gin & tonic. Pineapple Mojito wins, no contest.

White Russian vs Whiskey Sour. I'll give it to the Whiskey Sour. Both were quite tasty but the White Russian was a little too sweet. It starts to go the way of the Apple Martini and Margarita in that respects. Josh said the Whiskey Sour was well made because it was all so well balanced.

So, advancing to the next round, we have: Long Island Iced Tea vs the Irish Car Bomb and the Mojito vs. the Whisky Sour.

Cornell lost the final but they do keep playing for at least another week. They're going to Grand Rapids, MI for the regionals. So am I :)

Today, my coworkers brought in food and cake so I've been eating all day. Then, I went out to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner with Amber, Amber, and Nina. I had a peach bellini here. It was in frozen form which surprised me:

It was a fun evening with friends. I will leave you with these two pictures from the evening...first a normal picture and then me looking crazed again:

A big thank you to everyone for all the birthday wishes!

Meet Suzie

2009-03-19T21:49:00.004-05:00

I picked her up this morning at the post office. Finally, after a long day, I brought her home:

And I took her out of her box

After a bit:

and some fluff!

I do have to say a little something about the whole ordering experience. After reading some rave reviews on ravelry, I started speaking with Tracy at Woolly Designs. He and his wife run a farm out in Colorado. He is very knowledgeable about Majacraft spinning wheels and was able to answer the questions I had about the wheels. They were also reasonably priced.

In putting the wheel together, Tracy also provides supplemental materials which helped in the assembling of the wheel. If I had relied on only the instructions that came with the wheel, then I would still be sitting here wondering why the whorl felt loose and it wasn't working. They're farmers and can't spend that much time in front of the computer but they've put together a great set of instruction materials with good pictures. It's not an alternate set but it supplements what comes from majacraft.

Weekend...

2009-03-18T18:36:00.003-05:00

So...I'm turning 30 on Monday. Ya. With that in mind and the fact that I will be in Albany for hockey, I've decided that I'm going to drink my way to 30. That is the theme of the weekend. The problem, however, is that I need to find some sort of a sock project to work on that is not a plane old stockinette sock in the round cuz those bore me to tears...but then, I plan on not being in my right mind so maybe they will work. Does anyone know of any SIMPLE sock patterns that might also work? I do have the L-Bee socks on the needles but that is a somewhat intense 8 row repeat sock pattern across 3 charts. And I am also testing knitting a sock that does involve just a cable periodically so that might work. And so far, it doesn't look like there are all that many mistakes in the pattern.

The post office has my Suzie!!!!!! Ya, I think I will be up a good portion of the night tomorrow putting her together and spinning. Happy Birthday to me! All I need now is for Cornell to kick some ass both in the bball tourney and in the hockey tourny.

Happy St Patrick's Day!

2009-03-17T22:35:00.003-05:00

No green beer for me. Not even an Irish car bomb but I'm hoping to remedy the Irish car bomb part this weekend.

I need...

2009-03-15T22:17:00.003-05:00

to bead myself a wrist strap for the new crackberry. A couple of weeks ago, I read this post and watched the embedded video about why one might need a wrist strap. A couple of days later, I was watching the Caps at Verizon Center and someone on the other team committed a penalty. I think it was tripping. Anyways, up went my hand and immediately the thought of "If I had let go of the phone...omg I need a wrist strap!"

I'm off to Albany this weekend where I could see this happening again. I have the beads I need to make this with. I'd best get started so I can be done by Friday.

No I did not stop beading!

2009-03-11T22:10:00.002-05:00

Class is Saturday! (It's the sunflower)

March goals

2009-03-01T20:56:00.003-05:00

Wow, setting some goals for myself, amazing! Well, first, I want to finish my sunflower. I've got class scheduled for 2 weeks from now so I need to take pictures and write out the instructions. Corresponding to the weekend of class, I need to submit one of my applications and one of their essays is unique. They ask you to describe yourself and you can submit the "essay" in any media format, as long as it's non-perishable and isn't some sort of CD, DVD, etc. So, When I put this sunflower together, I'm sending it in.

I also want to finish making Dianne Fitzgerald's "A Time for Teapots. Those mini teapots are so cute. I need to make myself a whole tea service.

On the knitting front, I'm going to keep working on the Hydrangea scarf. But for larger needle, mindless knitting, I'm thinking of the Yoke Pullover from Vogue Knitting Winter 2005/2006 with some grey Berrocco Peruvia.

Decreasing the yarn stash

2009-02-28T22:34:00.003-05:00

I finished Buttony!

It seems like everytime I'm taking a picture, I'm in those pajama pants!

The yarn: Debbie Bliss Merino Chunky.
Well...it's superwash which is why it didn't feel quite like wool and I couldn't spit splice. Definitely a bulky knit and it went fast. Not sure if I would use this yarn again, I didn't feel anything positive or negative about it and it definitely didn't turn me on.
I originally had 15 balls of yarn but used 3 of them to make Esme. I bought those 15 balls for about $24 at MD S&W one year. I ended up having to buy another 3 balls of yarn for another $24 to finish this sweater, otherwise it would've been sleeveless. I have a slight dyelot issue here. It's noticeable if you know what to look for and where. If anyone asks, I will just tell you that it's the lighting and a trick of your eyes.

The pattern: Buttony
Not the best written pattern. It's more like an outline of what she did. After hearing the general background of how she doesn't really want to be a designer from Amber, it makes some sense. There was definitely a gauge swatch involved and I did have to start over after a couple of rows because the initial neckline that I cast on was too small. I added some waist shaping here and made it much more form fitting than what may have been originally intended. The instructions also say to knit to 12 buttonholes. I only made 11 buttonholes since 12 would have been way too long.

National Pancake Day at IHOP!

2009-02-23T18:57:00.001-05:00

http://www.ihoppancakeday.com/

Free shortstack from 7am to 10pm. Of course, they would like you to donate the cost of the shortstack to Children's Miracle Network.

Buttony progress

2009-02-19T22:50:00.001-05:00

The lighting was dark, but whatever. I just wanted to try it on, and take a picture and see how it looked. And now you all can see how it looks as well. I'm now working off of two different dye lots of the yarn.

Spinning a garden

2009-02-16T22:53:00.004-05:00

I borrowed Lorenzo (a Majacraft Suzie) from Helena to reacquaint myself with the wheel. This is going to be a purchase with my tax refund. The wheel spins like a dream. The fiber I'm using is some Blue Faced Leicester from Frabjous Fibers that I bought at Rhinebeck from Susan's Fiber Shop. The colorway is called Cottage Garden.

I've been very much inspired by javajem's spinning adventures. It's really amazing to see what the fiber looks like in roving form and what it looks like after it's been spun and plied.

Around the time of Rhinebeck, I had also seen some scarf patterns, My So Called Scarf being an example, that really made use of varigated yarns with very different colors. At Rhinebeck, I was on a budget and a quest. I wanted to find a roving painted in different enough colors that the end result may not necessarily be what I expect it to be. And then, it would be knit up into something like My So Called Scarf. I came home with this.

I've just begun spinning but upon beginning, I realized that the color segments were long enough that I could spin up a large section of each color and navajo ply for long stretches of color. Of course, there will be some mixing since I haven't quite got down how to separate each color in the plying but it should be interesting.

The fiber itself is easy enough to spin. It's soft and quite yummy.

Ivel sleeves

2009-02-15T21:53:00.003-05:00

Worsted weight cashmere on size 4 needles. I have to stop every couple of rows to rest my hands but the fabric this creates is stiff and firm. I'm enjoying knitting this so far, and it's not just because this is cashmere. The finished product is going to look amazing.

I bought the first iteration of this pattern and am waiting impatiently for the errata. She should be releasing a second version with the various corrections by the end of the month. The pattern begins with the sleeves and there's a length to be knit on the sleeves before I hit the increase/decrease section so I figure that I'm good until I receive the next iteration of the pattern.

Hat and Scarf Set

2009-02-15T20:22:00.002-05:00

Before I took this picture, I had to apologize to the bear. See, he's a he. And I'm putting a girly hat and scarf on his head. But he's my best model!

The hat is Gretal and the scarf is My So Called Scarf.

The yarn for both is Madeline Tosh Worsted in the Ox Blood colorway. I absolutely LOVE (LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE!) the yarn. When I picked it up, I was unable to put it back down. It was soft and squishy. It is definitely something I would knit with again.

I'm doing...

2009-02-09T21:20:00.003-05:00

- A sunflower. It's part of my summer wreath series. I have an autumn berry wreath that I hang on my door in the autumn. I'd really like to have a wreath for each season. I'm starting with a summer wreath with lavender and sunflowers. The sunflower will be there soon.
- Ivel - I cast on for the sleeves but it is on hold. Apparently, I have version 1 of the pattern and there are MANY mistakes in it. I'll be receiving a copy of version 2 when she has it ready. It's supposed to be soon...like this week or next.
- Buttony - knitting, knitting along! 55 yards per ball, it is definitely possible to knit a ball a day.
- Hydrangea - I need to get back to it.

Buttony - the beginning

2009-02-03T22:01:00.003-05:00

I started on Buttony. It's a good exercise in making your own top down raglan. There is no gauge in the pattern and the directions are really general. So, um, yeah...there's some improvisation going on here. I'm also not sure if I have enough yarn. I'm hoping I have enough to make 3/4 length sleeves. I did find someone on ravelry who has the color I'm using but a slightly different dye lot.

THANK YOU, CAPITALS! clapclapclapclapclap

2009-02-03T21:33:00.002-05:00

Those of us in ravelry's Washington Capitals group have been talking about doing a Sticks n' Stitches event for a couple of years now. The difficult part has been getting any sort of feedback from either the sales office or TNNA to make it an official event like Stitch n' Pitch has been. Others in other cities have been more successful. So I took it upon myself to just get a group together and get tickets. So, this past Sunday afternoon, we met up, we watched a game, we cheered and some knitting was done. I think others may have gotten more knitting done than me. I forgot my camera but lolly did take some pictures. I'm unsure of what my plans are the second half of the year but I think it would be fun to organize a more wide reaching hockey/knitting event early next season. With the Capitals so hot, it's so damn hard to get a large set of group tickets at the end of the season! Good think I already have tickets to the last regular season game!

Why the subject line "THANK YOU, CAPTIALS! *clap*clap*clapclapclap*"? Well, on Sunday, Papa John's began a new promotion with the Caps. It's similar to the Redskins promo. Applying only to Sunday games, on Monday, you can buy a large pizza for $9.99 and for every goal the Caps score, you get one free topping. Double if they win. Well, the final score of the day was 7-4 Caps.

tomato x 2
grilled chicken x 2
banana peppers x 2
mushrooms x 2
onions x 2
sausage x 2
green peppers x 2

Esme

2009-01-29T23:51:00.001-05:00

Esme
Originally uploaded by jyiu7

I've completed the hattrick with 2 days to spare. 3 skeins of Debbie Bliss Merino Chunky. I have enough left over of the last skein to begin swatching for Buttony.

Watch a little hockey, knit a little more

2009-01-25T20:02:00.003-05:00

It's NHL All Star weekend and I finally remember it ahead of time! This means that I've been parked in front of my tv enjoying the festivities :)

Along the way, I've made some progress on the Hydrangea Scarf. Susan Pandorf is brilliant. There were parts of the instructions that were a little confusing but the result is amazing. I'm using Just Our Yarns Myne. It's cashmere laceweight. It's really on the thin side of lace weight but I think that and the color adds in to create the effect I'm trying to achieve.

The white line is my life line. This is a lace every row type of pattern so there is NO room for mistakes. This is a challenge that I've thrown out to some of the Sweet Life Knitters and the knitters at Bead Obsessions and I'm really glad that people of all knitting levels took me up on it.

In other knitting news, I've been in a bit of a funk. I think it's because I'm knitting Hydrangea but I need some socks and something worsted on the needles. I haven't found a new sock to knit so it's been a week or so since I haven't had a sock on the needles. As for worsted...I'm still in a bit of a funk but I think I'm slowly finding my way. I'm going more towards bulky than worsted though. I'm swatching for Ivel and I'm considering a quick knit in Buttony. When I realized that Buttony wouldn't use as much yarn as I anticipated, I realized that I could use to bulky to make another hat as part of the Puck This! January Hattrick knit along. I had seen a lot of hat patterns but they're mostly using bulky and now I have bulky! So here's the start of the hat. I make the brim first and then pick up stitches to make the actual hat part.

Ponder

2009-01-23T23:55:00.001-05:00

Ponder ponder ponder ponder. and reading more from the book of yarn.

The stitch is essentially a play on stockinette stitch. I'm knitting with cashmere. Cashmere is inelastic but will eventually stretch out. Raglan construction. Hmmm...will this combination work? I was really hoping for a seam to help hold its shape.

Ponder ponder ponder. Ponder ponder ponder. Ponder ponder ponder.
ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder ponder

Hmmmmm....

The never ending cashmere

2009-01-22T22:52:00.003-05:00

I'm not sure how I feel about the Juno cardigan. I'm not a big fan of a ribbed body which is what Juno is. However, I've been toying around with the idea of making a jacket. This jacket

This is Ivel

Inauguration Day 2009

2009-01-20T08:38:00.003-05:00

Some might call it the "Barack Obama Day". I'm sitting comfortably on my couch with heat, indoor plumbing, donuts, and tv in HD in my pajamas. Working from home and nursing my cold. Excellent

New Year, New Glasses, Finished Things

2009-01-14T19:59:00.003-05:00

Well, happy new year! It's a little late but hey, I'm also delayed. The holidays are usually a little chaotic and when you throw in a visit from your cousin immediately following the chaos...it leaves you tired with a cold.

I got new glasses:

It definitely changes up the look.

I also finished a couple of things:

As part of the ravelry Puck This group's January Hat Trick knitalong, everyone is attempting to knit 3 hats in January! This one is most likely getting donated to the troops since that style is not quite my style.

I also finished:

Another pair of socks. A little too Christmasy.

They've had a good run

2009-01-02T20:25:00.001-05:00

After 5-6 years of residing on my face, my glasses finally broke.

Stashalong 2009

2009-01-01T09:44:00.004-05:00

The object of the game is to have a net loss of yarn. My starting point (from ravelry):
67642.2 yards of stuff
121 items in my stash
4 items to trade/sell
10 items in handspun

The idea is that by 1/1/2010, I need to have less yardage and fewer items in stash than this. Handspun is a little iffy because it's a 2 step process, first spin the fiber and then knit up the yarn. With the handspun, I'll be making slower process since I want to sell my Ashford Traveller and buy a Majacraft so...we'll see.

Urg. The cashmere

2008-12-30T20:36:00.001-05:00

I've been told that cashmere can be QUITE warm. Well, I wanted to knit Juno but it turns out that it's using a DK weight yarn DOUBLED! Well, my cashmere is about DK weight and I'm going t ohave to double it? It's doing to be damn warm! I think I need to find another pattern that doesn't necessarily require that I double the yarn since I don't want it that warm. Anyone have any suggestions?

2009 already?

2008-12-29T19:00:00.003-05:00

The year flew by. Can't say I had all that many good memories of it. Well, whatever, it will be a new year soon and hopefully there will be some changes to come.

I decided that I'm going to spend New Year's Eve counting my yarn. Yup...I kinda see myself as Scrooge McDuck, except I'm not trying to hoard all the yarn in the world, I'm just there counting and counting and counting. I joined a "Stashalong" for 2009 in the hopes of having a net loss of yarn in the house next year and a better wardrobe. Any old projects that I have no interest in is getting ripped. This includes the Great American (Cashmere) Afghan. So, in order to do this, I need to know exactly how much yarn and fibery things I have in my house. It does make me a little nervous to think of it all. I bought another large rubber container tonight in the hopes of gathering it all together.

First project to start off for the year is going to be using the cashmere. I'm thinking of knitting the Juno cardigan from Rowan 40.

Very lucky indeed

2008-12-26T11:16:00.003-05:00

Well, no damage to the car. There was just a lot of snow and ice packed under the car that was throwing things off balance when the speed got higher.

As for all the Christmas knitting, Lynn got her pair of mittens and Tina got 1 mitten. I should be finishing up the second mitten today and then I can relax with the knitting! Maybe I will start swatching up something using the piles and piles of cashmere I have from the Hunt Valley Cashmere club.

Two knitting related things I had gotten were the books "Sensational Knitted Socks" and "The Knitter's Book of Yarn". I was excited :)

A time to give thanks

2008-12-21T20:46:00.003-05:00

Yeah, normally that's Thanksgiving but I do have something to give thanks for today.

It's been snowing all week and the roads in RI are a bit icy. I was trying to switch lanes and when my car started moving over, I realized I was going too fast and that there was ice on the ground and lost control of the car. The car managed to not hit the car in front of me, turned 270 degrees on 95 and was stopped by the snow packed along the center median. When I let go, it was an interesting moment because there was some sense peace and I had said "Let go and whatever will happen will happen." The car stopped. The cars on the highway behind me were far enough behind and going slow enough that I saw them slow down because they all saw what had happened. I was able to start the car and pull out and keep going. I was about 40 minutes away from Providence and managed to make it here okay. I couldn't see any damage to the body of the car but I know something did hit because the car now shakes when it goes above 50mph. So, very very lucky and much to give thanks for today. I do think that my mom was watching over me because it really could've been a lot worse than it actually was.

The question now is...how am I going to make it back to Virginia. Will the car be fixed in time?

Mmm...jersey....

2008-12-17T22:42:00.002-05:00

It was sitting on my door step when I got home tonight. I'm so excited.

My very first game worn Cornell hockey jersey. And now, even though it is labelled Sawada, I need to verify that the name plate matches the actual era of the jersey.

Where in the world is Carmen San Diego? - Part 2

2008-12-17T22:06:00.002-05:00

And I was home for enough time to pack a new suitcase and I was off to Memphis.

Reshma and I had signed up for the Memphis St. Jude Marathon. I finished in 6 hours and 23 minutes. Not bad considering I hadn't run in about a month. Downtown was empty. It reminded me of St. Louis in how lacking in people it was but it was not as bad as St. Louis. We did go to Graceland. I love Elvis. I really loved Elvis when I was in high school but because of an unfinished school project, we never went. Well, now I get to go. Whee! Pictures are here. While I was there, I did have a peanut butter and banana sandwich - Elvis's favorite.

Scenes from Memphis:

OMG, I look crazed and starving. Reshma did a good job on the picture!

Gold Lame suit!

Chili cheese fries from Dyer's, as featured on "Deep Fried Paradise" on the travel channel. It was truly tasty.

Where in the world is Carmen San Diego? - Part 1

2008-12-17T21:25:00.005-05:00

Anyone remember that computer game that became a tv show?

Anyways, I've been busy. I went to Hawaii! The pictures are here. A week seemed like it would be a long time before I got there but it all went by so quickly. It's amazing to see the different climates on the various islands. We started on the big island and saw the volcanos, drove through the rain forest side of the island and drove up through the mountains where it was cold, a bone chilling cold. We stayed in Waikola Village at the Hilton. It's a beautiful resort.

After that we were in Maui for a night. The Hana Highway is a trip and you need a lot of energy and concentration to drive it. The beaches and the waves were amazing. We ended in Honolulu at Waikiki. We stayed at a hotel that overlooks the beach - ResortQuest Waikiki Beach. There was a cute bellhop and they did a breakfast by the pool every morning. Each room also got 2 insulated lunch bags so you can take breakfast with you. We caught a surfing competition on the North Shore. Those waves were HUGE! The last day was spent at Pearl Harbor looking at the Bowfin Submarine, the Arizona Memorial, and the USS Missouri. It really makes you appreciate the men and women who serve in our military and the conditions that they live in while on duty.

Leaving you with some scenes from Hawaii:

Saddle rd on the Big Island

Surfers in Maui

Waikiki Beach at night

Yarn Ottoman

2008-11-23T20:33:00.001-05:00

Yarn Ottoman
Originally uploaded by jyiu7

Many have heard me talk about the yarn ottoman in my basement. It's a 2 seater ottoman with storage space inside. I had it open yesterday and the camera around. As you can see, it is very much filled up. This is in case you're wondering what it all looked like

Free Dr. Pepper

2008-11-22T09:50:00.002-05:00

Well, Dr. Pepper is offering a free coupon for Dr. Pepper starting this Sunday. Why? They had promised to do so if Guns 'N Roses released their new album in 2008. Here's the yahoo news article.

Almost done

2008-11-20T23:47:00.003-05:00

I'm going to Hawaii next week. I'M GOING TO HAWAII NEXT WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay, I've got that out of my system. But because I'm going, I realized that if I could finish the Pinwheel Sweater, it would be weather appropriate for Hawaii. I already had the body done. I had the sleeves all knitted. I had done more than half the crochet work on one sleeve and it had gone really quickly so I figured, heck, I could have this done before the weekend and because it's cotton, I can throw it in the washing machine and the dryer! Well, okay, I'll do spin cycle and let it air dry so that I can block out the crochet lace edge.
But as I was browsing ravelry, I stumbled upon this version. It's not necessarily the sweater that I'm looking at but the button closure. I'm not sure how she put it on. If it were me, I wouldn't sew it on since this sweater can either be worn as a long sweater, or you can turn it upside down and wear it as a short sweater.
This puts and idea in my head. I can make a toggle bar with peyote stitch. I can then attach the toggle bar to either a button or some large crystal rivoli that I've captured. This would result in what is basically a cuff link that's a button closure for my sweater. The lace chains are small enough that I don't have to make a gigantic toggle. Hmmm...Well, I've got the weekend :)

"Making it" as a sock knitter

2008-11-19T00:21:00.001-05:00

I kinda think I've made it as a sock knitter when I finally realized how warm they keep my feet when I'm wearing them. In addition to that, I'm preparing my socks for tomorrow because I want something hand knit on my feet to try to avoid another craptastic day at work. Hand knit socks on my feet will at least make me smile for the 5 seconds I look at them.

Twinkle, twinkle, peyote star

2008-11-15T18:00:00.004-05:00

Twinkle twinkle peyote star
Oh how bright and shiny you are.
Up above my chest, so high
Blindingly sparkly crystals, oh my.

Class tomorrow. And now onto the instructions.

So much to do...

2008-11-12T19:06:00.002-05:00

Instead, I'm napping on the couch. I'm at the toe decrease of my second Nutkin sock with maybe another 10 rows to go. I'm just about ready to start the decreases on the first Anemoi Mittens. I've got a beading project that's close to being finished and I REALLY REALLY need to write up the instructions for them before this Sunday. Instead, there are other things I need to do like sleep or clean my house. Sigh

Finished Shrug

2008-11-08T21:21:00.002-05:00

This is Stephanie Japel's Carie Cropped Flare Sleeve Cardigan made with Cascade Magnum. I had to do a good deal of recalculation since my gauge was way off. Thankfully, it's just a basic top down raglan. The Magnum is bulky yarn. I saw it at Stitch DC Georgetown one day, thought of this shrug, and bought some. I was in need of a quick project since all of my knitting and beading projects were taking a long time. The button closure I picked up at Rhinebeck. Patricia had gone to a specific vendor to pick up buttons for Bead Obsessions and while she shopped, I shopped right along side her. They are hand made, ceramic buttons. Very cute.

Bead It! 3 - Autumn Wreath

2008-11-07T22:22:00.003-05:00

Tonight was the Gallery Opening for the Bead It! 3 exhibit and my wreath won first place in the non wearable art exhibit! Eee! I'm so excited!

I had completed this a couple of years ago. It is Donna DeAngelis Dickt's Fall Berry Wreath pattern. Onto the wreath, I've added a couple of Donna's cosmos and some wheat stalks I had lying about. I bring it out in the fall and hang it on my door.
This is currently on display at the Del Ray Artisan's Gallery: 2704 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria, VA. The exhibit runs through November 30th. I'll be gallery sitting on the 15th. Come on down and say hi!

Election Night

2008-11-04T20:04:00.002-05:00

I arrived at my polling center at 6:30. Knit a few rows on my sock. I left at 7:30. Not as bad as some of those 3-4 hour lines. I've done my part for Northern Virginia. I'm now settling in for a night of election results.

Bead It! 3

2008-11-02T19:58:00.003-05:00

For those of you in the DC area, next Friday, November 7, 2008 is the gallery opening of "Bead It! 3", a show put on by The Del Ray Artisans. I have two pieces in the show. I have a wreath based on Donna Dickt's Fall Berry Wreath. I modified it slightly by adding a couple of stalks of wheat and some cosmo flowers. Sorry, no picture. My other entry is an orchid:

So, for anyone who has been wanted to see my flowers in person, here's your chance.

Details of Bead It! 3:
Opening Reception - November 7, 2008 7pm-9:30pm
Show runs from Nov 7 - Nov 30
Gallery Hours:
Thursday 12pm-6pm
Friday 12pm-8pm
Saturday 10am-4pm
Sunday 12pm-4pm

I also have a couple of necklaces in their marketplace.

* Cross posted to Judy Yiu Designs