lower case creations

Porridge and Oats

2011-11-27T12:20:00.003-05:00

Later today I am heading over to my sister's place to watch the Grey Cup, eat some food, drink some beer and celebrate my baby sister's 23rd birthday. It's true what they say - you don't notice yourself aging, but you see the passage of time in those around you. My little sister is an adult. She has a career, an apartment, a partner and an RRSP.

The truth is that after she outgrew her fear of dogs and a palette that could only tolerate chicken fingers she has seemed like an adult, to me at least. There is almost 5 years between us, but sometimes it feels like having a twin. She is a mature woman, and has been for a number of years.

Add to her temperment that she bakes for a living, quilts for a hobby, and her favourite article of clothing is our grandfather's old cardigan and my baby sister practically seems ancient. She is a little old lady in a 23 year old's body.

Porridge and Oats Winter Set
Patterns: Nine Dwindling Cables Beret and Wood Hollow Mittens
Yarn: Galway Highland Heathers in #1973 Oatmeal Heather

I think these mittens and beret look like they feel out of the 1940s. And a bit like they might be found in a trunk of things our grandmother had when she was a young woman. I hope my sister likes them.

I cast Colour Spray!

2011-11-15T21:04:00.002-05:00

Some things are a rite of passage among knitters, just one of those patterns that everyone has knit. The Baby Surprise Jacket, Clapotis, more recently Turn A Square, and the Noro Striped Scarf.

I hadn’t knit any of those. But earlier today I finished my Noro Striped Scarf. I actually hate most of these. They are often so colourful that it’s hideous, and I have never been a huge fan of Noro, so many of their colourways have about three too many contrasting colours to be pleasing to the eye. That bright emerald green colour they seem to slip into everything actually hurts my retinas.

So imagine my shock when I decided that I really wanted one. And that I love the finished product!

Colour Spray Noro Striped Scarf
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden in #252 and #349
Pattern: Noro Striped Scarf
Measurement: 6” wide and just about 7’ long

I named it after a spell in Dungeons and Dragons that stuns people with pretty colours!

So little time . . .

2011-11-10T15:47:00.005-05:00

School is in full swing and it is keeping me busy. Don't get me wrong, I love school, but what with work and school I feel like everything else falls by the wayside. I don't see my wife as much as I'd like, I don't see my friends and family as much as I'd like and I don't see my yarn, books, fabric or paint as much as I'd like.

However, in the past few months I have been trying to sock away some time to work on some knits. My friend's coworker is putting together a bunch of stuff for donations this winter. And I've been trying to help out and get a few things done.
Wee Hats
Yarn: 100% wool
Size: baby

Tween Hats
Yarn: Bernat Satin Solids
Size: child-teen

Little Mittens
Yarn: 100% wool

Size: kidlet

Neckwarmers
Yarn: James C. Brett Marble Chunky
Size: teen-adult
(I made two of these in different colours, but only photographed one)

Pom Pom Hats for Kiddies
Yarn: 100% wool
Size: small kid

I am hoping to get a few more things made before winter gets into full swing, but school is keeping me busy and I have to start thinking about the holidays and holiday crafting.

My Best Friend's (Steampunk) Wedding

2011-09-26T14:35:00.005-04:00

Oops, somehow it has been over two months since I last posted anything to my craft blog! Don't be deceived, it doesn't mean I haven't been crafting - I have been crafting like crazy! For my best friend's wedding.
That's the wedding party, don't we all look incredible? Photo taken by friend/photographer extraordinaire Saajid Motala.

In the above picture I crafted the bride's choker, both the skirts my wife (with the dreads) and myself (blue corset with burgundy hair) are wearing, plus a bunch of accessories including shawls (not pictured), my spats which I blogged about a few months ago and some little odds and ends.

My skirt was a bit of a production, so I think it deserves a close-up picture. Unfortunately this picture was taken with a flash so it's very shiny. It is a two layered skirt with a lot of pleat ruffles. I loved it.

Here is a better picture of the bride's choker, it matched her skirt perfectly, and was just the right amount of steampunk without looking too "costume." That's a pretty impressive feat considering I had never seen the full wedding dress when I made it (I had seen the dressmakers sketches and fabric swatches), and I made it after the bride had left the city to prep in the weeks before the wedding so she didn't see it until I arrived a few days before the wedding. I altered a little book to make a prop for myself. It hung off my belt pouch.

This capelet is beautiful, but it was such a nice day that I didn't wear it at all. I modified the Liesl pattern and used the same yarn as my spats. The buttons I ended up putting on the capelet matched the spats, too.

Here is the Belemondo Shawl I made for my wife's outfit. I used Lamb's Pride Worsted, which is so fluffy! Now that the wedding is over I'm going to steal this shawl, I love it a lot.

So that's where I have been. It was fun, but I am glad it's over and I can go back to regular hat knitting.

Oxford Stripes

2011-07-22T18:40:00.006-04:00

I knit myself a pair of mittens last week. That may sound crazy, considering the current heat wave, but I assure you that there is a very good reason that I knit myself a pair of mittens.

I am quitting smoking. Or I have quit. I’m not sure when I stop being in the act of quitting and become an official ex-smoker. I’m probably still “quitting,” seeing as it has only been a week. It’s been going pretty well, surprisingly well. I still occasionally want a cigarette, but I haven’t had that “I need a cigarette” feeling since last Thursday.

Oxford Stripes
Pattern: Ann Budd’s Basic Mitten Pattern (modified for length)
Yarn: Diamond Yarn Galway Heather in Chocolate Heather, Moss, and Bright Rust; Cascade 220 Wool in #8892 Teal

So, back to my mittens: I love mittens. However, I never wear mittens because it is impossible to light a cigarette or smoke a cigarette with mittens obscuring your fingers. However, once I am a non-smoker I will not have this problem. So I knit myself an awesome pair of striped mittens to remind myself of one of the many small perks that go along with not smoking.

I’m heading back to school in the fall, and I am really excited to debut my mittens on a brisk autumn day walking the tree lined corridors of the University of Toronto, a place I have missed a lot this past year.

Black Yarn and Goth Wizards

2011-07-08T21:29:00.003-04:00

I have nothing new to show here, mostly because I have been spending my time banging my head against a wall*

*knitting a black capelet that is driving my around the bend

I am so utterly sick of black right now. It seems cruel to be working on a deadline with a pile of black yarn when everything outside is so beautiful and bright. Even my hair is fuscia currently. Add to my suffering the fact that once I am done the capelet I have another time sensitive project to knit in black. Ugh. I mean, I love completed black knits, but I much prefer to knit things with chartreuse yarn.

So instead of a recent finished project I present you with the wife’s Christmas present. It was black.

Goth House
Yarn: Cascade 220

I wanted to knit her a new scarf because she only owns one (which is a nightmare to someone as in love with neckwear as myself). It’s just a striped tube with fringe on the end. I like to think that it belongs to a Hogwarts student, does it bother no one else that there seem to be no goths at the wizard school? Now that seems unrealistic.

look what I made!

2011-06-19T15:48:00.002-04:00

Hey look, I made a real garment!

Beach Stone Liesl
Pattern: Liesl by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Cascade 220

My other adult garment, the featherweight cardigan, has been put on hold for a while for various reasons: 1. We are in a Steampunk Wedding crafting crunch (see spats) and 2. I can’t decide how to finish the cuff and bottom of the sweater.

So I knit this little short-sleeve sweater to make myself feel like less of a flake about the featherweight cardigan. It was quick and easy, which I love. I wish more crafting was as quick and easy. I am about to undertake a whole bunch of sewing for the upcoming Steampunk wedding, I hope my machine cooperates.

My (very) Belated Birthday Present

2011-06-02T20:11:00.003-04:00

In March of 2009, ten days before my birthday, I decided I wanted to knit myself a giant scarf. I figured that knitting something that big for me would be a birthday present to myself. See, at the time I was often knitting for other people. I’m over that now and I knit for myself almost exclusively.

I knit about half a scarf and then I got distracted. For over a year. In August of 2010 I remembered about my old birthday present. In the year and a half that had come and gone I had learned a lot about knitting. I took one look at the giant purple thing and saw immediately that the gauge was far too tight and the scarf was going to be far too stiff. So I started again.

Grape Soda Scarf
Yarn: Bernat Super Value Solids

I finished the monstrous, squishy, purple scarf in January. I then promptly forgot to take a picture of it. So from inception to blog post this scarf is the product of 26 months. It was worth the wait, every time I wear it I smile. It makes me feel silly and happy and a bit like a gnome.

Extraordinary Buttons and Steampunk Weddings

2011-04-29T17:21:00.002-04:00

Today I completed a ridiculous knitting project. Ridiculous because it was very intricate and took a lot of time and I will very likely only wear the item once.

Extraordinary Button Spats
Pattern: Well-Heeled Spatterdashes
Yarn: Diamond Galway

These spats are a part of my outfit for a dear friend's Steampunk wedding. I think they look awesome. The pattern wasn’t exactly difficult, but it did demand attention – these were not streetcar knitting. There is a good chance I will only ever wear them for the wedding, so part of me feels a wasteful spending time and money on a one time use sort of item.

But then I look at the buttons and I know it was totally worth it.

Compulsive-impulsive knitting

2011-03-14T22:25:00.006-04:00

I have reached a point where the act of knitting may have more meaning to me than the finished knitted product. I don't like to sit still without something yarny in my hands. Not knitting makes me antsy.

Recently I have knit several projects not because I actually wanted the finished article, but because I had a certain amount of yarn and I needed something to knit.

Dusty Violets Scarflette
Pattern: Kink from Knitty
Yarn: Diamond Yarn's Galway Heather in Palatine

I knit this funny little scarf about a month ago. I like the pattern - it's quirky, but I knit it knowing there was very little chance I was going to actually wear this odd scarf/neckwarmer/weirdo. While browsing ravelry between projects I saw the pattern, thought "that's interesting," pulled out the yarn and cast on immediately. I had to knit something!

I think I may have a problem.

Daily Creations: Rats! Week no. 7

2011-03-05T23:43:00.003-05:00

Henri
March 6, 2011
Media: Worsted weight yarn, pattern here
Time: 3 hours

This little french rat makes me smile. I think all rats should start wearing berets.

Daily Creations: Rats! Week no. 6

2011-03-04T23:23:00.002-05:00

Gaugi
March 4, 2011
Media: Pen and water
Time: 15 minutes

Squeeking in a quick sketch just before midnight. The pathetic thing is that it was my day off. I had all day to make something amazing but instead I knit a hat and watched some awesome boxing. I regret nothing.

Daily Creations: Rats! Week no. 5

2011-03-03T21:25:00.002-05:00

Lil' Feltzy
March 3, 2011
Media: acrylic felt and wool yarn
Time: 30 minutes

Mina was jealous that the cat got a toy yesterday, so today I sewed a little rat toy for Mina. Now everyone is happy!

Daily Creations: Rats! Week no. 4

2011-03-02T22:43:00.002-05:00

Ratty Cat Toy
March 2, 2011
Media: Cascade 220, pattern here
Time: 1 hour

I really don't want to encourage Mildred to play with rats, but it's just so cute!

Daily Creations: Rats! Week no. 3

2011-03-01T20:37:00.003-05:00

Samuel Whiskers Tote
March 1, 2011
Media: iron on transfer and canvas tote
Time: 45 minutes

I messed this up - the interior of the canvas tote had a plastic coating that fused together when I ironed the transfer. I pulled it apart but the bag is a bit damaged.

This isn't original art, it's a drawing from The Tale of Samuel Whiskers by Beatrix Potter. In my opinion the very best (and scariest) Beatrix Potter book. I spent some time cleaning up the cover image in photoshop and then printing and transfering it.

Daily Creations: Rats! Week no. 2

2011-02-28T21:49:00.003-05:00

My Friend the Rat
February 28, 2011
Media: 4"x5.5" lino-block print
Time: 40 minutes

I don't do enough printmaking. It really is one of my favourite art forms - I was seriously hoping to specialize in printmaking while I briefly attended art school. I have dreams of one day having a studio where I can do zinc plate etchings.

This little rat print didn't turn out exactly how I had hoped. In the end I couldn't cut the face as sharply as I'd hoped working with such a small space. I was also using a "speedy-cut" block instead of standard lino-block; the speedy-cut is easier to cut and is a lot faster to work with, but it isn't as good for detail work. I'm pleased with the final result, but I might try something similar with a regular lino-block to see if I can get the face more detailed.

Seriously, I should do more printmaking.

Daily Creations: Rats! Week no. 1

2011-02-27T23:57:00.006-05:00

I keep pet rats, or more accurately, pet rat. My wife and I have had several pet rats over the years. About three years ago we adopted four sisters from the Toronto Humane Society. Gaugi is the last surviving sister - rats usually live about two years so she is well into her dotage.

This is an old picture of Gaugi with one of her sisters.

Rats are really wonderful pets. When they are properly cared for and socialized they accept their humans as part of their clan, much like pet dogs. They are clever rodents: friendly, clean and cute. I know that a lot of people don't care for rats - and I will admit that the first time I encountered a pet rat I was sceptical (I had a bad experience with some mice my grade two class kept). But I love having rats as pets and I highly recommend them, especially for someone looking into adopting a small pet or rodent. They are more social than hamsters, more intelligent than rabbits and have way more personality than most gerbils.

So welcome to rat week!

Little Ratty Greeting Card
February 27, 2011

Media: Pen and card stock
Time: about 10 minutes

The card doesn't look much like Gaugi - Gaugi has curly whiskers.

Work in Progress: Work of Patience

2011-02-22T16:46:00.004-05:00

It's been quiet here at the blog. Would you like to know why it has been so quiet?

That is about 30% of a Featherweight Cardigan (ravelry link). A sweater knit with lace weight yarn. It is so light and drape-y and beautiful, but it is taking an eternity! I started a little over two weeks ago and I have been knitting at least an hour every day since - some nights I knit for hours! It is a test of patience, not of skill.

That's basically how I feel about grown-up garments - they are not beyond my skill to make (though finishing and I have our differences), they are beyond my patience. But by refusing to stick with a big, boring, monotonous project I deny myself a lot of beautiful knits I would really love to own.

I'm not letting my impatience win, I am going to knit this sweater in time to enjoy it later this spring. So far I have been good and not cast on any other projects, I am likely going to break my streak in the next few days, but I have made really good progress on my sweater in the last two weeks. I am confident that I can survive the knitting as long as I keep my eye on the goal - a beautiful, light, striped cardigan of my very own.

Daily Creations: February Week no. 7

2011-02-12T14:15:00.004-05:00

Groundhog
February 12, 2011
Media: Coloured pencils and felt-tip marker

Time: about 15 minutes

Not my best contribution, actually this drawing kind of sucks. But I decided that the point of my daily creations project wasn't to be brilliant all the time. It's an exercise in breadth, not depth. With that in mind I am willing to show this crummy little drawing to the world.

So, Happy Belated Groundhog Day. I don't care what the little guy saw, it's snowing outside and it is definitely still winter.

Daily Creations: February Week no. 6

2011-02-11T17:44:00.003-05:00

Maple Cream Sandwich Cookies
February 11, 2011
Media: cookie! recipe here
Time: about 1.5 hours

Flag Day is just around the corner! The National Flag of Canada Day really doesn't get much press but that's no reason to ignore it entirely, especially when it's a perfectly good opportunity to make maple goodies. The recipe called for maple extract but I didn't have any, I substituted a bit of maple syrup and vanilla extract. They came out delicious so it must have worked.

Daily Creations: February Week no. 5

2011-02-10T22:33:00.002-05:00

Umbrella Day
February 20, 2011
Media: Pen and Ink on paper
Time: about 5 minutes

Today is Umbrella Day. Or so the internet tells me. I’m not really sure, but it was listed on several websites that February 10 is “Umbrella Day.” I’m not sure why umbrella’s need their own day, but there you go.

Daily Creations: February Week no.4

2011-02-09T21:33:00.000-05:00

My Grumpy Valentine
February 9, 2011
Media: worsted weight yarn
Time: about one hour

Have I mentioned that Valentine’s Day is not my favourite? It makes me grumpy. This is nothing compared to my wife’s feeling about Valentine’s Day, she hates it so much she wants to keep any potential offspring home from school on February 14th to protect them from the “hetero-normative nightmare.”

I gave her the heart.

Daily Creations: February Week no. 3

2011-02-08T22:26:00.000-05:00

Paper Lantern
February 8, 2011
Media: Printed vellum (Opal and Red with Gold Stars) and votive candleholder
Time: about 10 minutes

For today I made a little lantern to represent the celebration of the Lantern Festival for Chinese New Year. You might think I celebrate Chinese New Year based on my February creations so far, but you would be wrong. I just prefer the aesthetic of millions of little lights and the colour red over a million little hearts and clashing reds and pinks.

That’s right - I’m calling you out, Valentine’s Day! I’ll meet you behind the gym after third period!

Daily Creations: February Week no. 2

2011-02-07T22:33:00.003-05:00

Snow Day
February 7, 2011
Media: 3 sheets white bond paper
Time: about 10 minutes

I haven't had a snow day this year but it seems as if most everyone else in Ontario has had one since February started. Something about a giant snow storm/snowpocaypse thing that I seemed to miss. Sure it snowed, but I don't see how my mother managed to get two days off work because of it.

These 3D paper snowflakes are really fantastic, I made a bunch last month for the window display at work. All month we had people coming in asking how to make them. They are actually really simple, the first one can seem a little daunting if you can't picture how it will come together, but just follow the instructions and they're pretty foolproof. And they're pretty pretty, too.

Daily Creations: February Week no. 1

2011-02-06T21:01:00.004-05:00

February is probably my least favourite month. Usually by February winter has stopped being crisp and pretty and has become gloomy and damp. Plus, for the shortest month of the year February is really full of stuff: Valentine’s Day, Family Day, Flag Day, Groundhog Day, Shrove Tuesday, Black History Month, Chinese New Year and more. I thought it might be fun to make some silly little February themed creations this week to help the month (and all its related bric-a-brac) speed along.

Year of the Rabbit

February 6, 2011

Pattern: Anything Animals

Media: Cascade 220 Yarns

Time: about one hour

It’s Chinese New Year, ushering in the Year of the Rabbit. Maybe with all the fuss over western tropical astronomy we should all just switch over to the Chinese zodiac (I’m a rat!).

Steampunk is the New Goth

2011-02-05T16:32:00.005-05:00

One of my dearest friends is getting married in September, and my wife and I are in the wedding party. It’s my first and quite likely last time being a bridesmaid (unless my sister decides to get married). It’s a Steampunk wedding, colours ivory, brown and teal. We get to chose what we want to wear provided it suits the themes and colours. So here is my problem – I love the theme, I love the colours, but I do not ever, ever choose brown. It’s not that I hate brown, I just consider it a distant second to black and grey, fine for other people but not for me.

My sister gifted me some really beautiful cinnamon coloured alpaca yarn last year. It’s lovely. However, I don’t like knitting for other people with gift yarn so this yarn had to be something for myself. But it’s brown. So it sat in my stash for a year. So a few weeks ago when I decided to get over my brown hang-ups by making myself something beautiful in brown.

Alpaca Toasters
Pattern: Toast by Leslie Friend
Yarn: Classic Elite Yarns Inca Alpaca in Harvest Bounty

They are beautiful and simple, and just a little slouchy. I really love them. The coppery-red tone is really lovely and it looks great with black.

I like to say that my brown issue is a residual prejudice from my old goth days. Well, Steampunk is the new Goth, and the joke goes that Steampunk is what happens when you introduce Goths to brown, so maybe there’s hope for me yet.

The Colour Purple

2011-01-25T23:08:00.004-05:00

I tend to gravitate to different colours depending on the season. For some reason I love cobalt blue and oranges in the spring; hot pinks and teals during the summer; red and chartreuse in the autumn and purple during the winter.

I like all these colours all the time, but I am more drawn to them during certain seasons. Its likely related to light during different times of the year. At any rate, purple is a staple in my stash but it gets the most knitting time during the long cold snowy months.

Big Purple Mittens
Yarn: Rowan Big Wool

I posted about knitting a pair of purple mittens a while ago. I designed them myself and I’m really pleased with how they turned out. They were a Christmas gift but I kind of wish they had been for me.

Black Currant Cowl

Pattern: Lion Brand Yarn Cabled Cowl

Yarn: Berroco Vintage

I was sent the pattern and yarn for this project in a swap, the yarn is a perfect match for my purple winter coat. I wouldn’t have paired this yarn with the pattern because I’ve heard that the yarn is a bit splitty but I didn’t have a problem with it. In the end I really like how they worked together. The Berroco Vintage is really nice for an acrylic blend.

I really wanted a cowl, I’ve never owned one and I’ve been admiring all the big cowls that I’ve seen this winter. I’m still a bit undecided about whether I think cowls are too silly to exist or are the perfect winter accessory, but I’ve been wearing this all week so I’m leaning towards cowls-are-awesome.

Pretty soon the light will change and I’ll want to knit everything in orange, but for now I’m enjoying the snow and the colour purple.

Tiny Knits

2011-01-19T12:54:00.004-05:00

I knit some little people Christmas gifts this year. I love knitting for little people because the knits are so small so they knit up so fast! And they’re very cute!

Hat for a Little Man
Yarn: Cascade 220
Little Person: Quinton

Q is 20 months going on 22 years old. You should see his Christmas portrait poses, - he is a tough little man. So I had to make him an appropriately tough little hat.

Dinosaur!
Yarn: Cascade 220
Little Person: RJ

My sister gave RJ an awesome T-Rex puppet this past summer. He ran around roaring for an hour. I’m hoping the hat inspired similar silliness.

Snowflake Mittens
Yarn: Starlette Yarns
Little Person: Hailey

Hailey is the perfect intersection of a princess and a tomboy. She loves pink, sparkly, princess things but she is the most energetic runner I know. This princess will roll in the mud with the best of them. So pretty-pink indestructible acrylic mittens seemed a good fit.

Rocky Raccoon

Yarn: Cascade 220

Little Person: Mavis

Mavis is still a baby, and she seems to like everything. Apparently she loves the mobile I made for her, often saying “bird” when she gets up in the morning. Such high praise for my knitting made me take a risk and hope she likes raccoons.

And speaking of tiny knits, my mother-in-law got me Knitting Mochi Mochi for Christmas, so there are likely going to a lot of silly little knits in my future. I may start with some mini gators!

Daily Creations: Sweet Bonus!

2011-01-09T21:49:00.005-05:00

Even though the week one of Daily Creations is over, I still made something today.

Honey Coffee Cake
Recipe: Anna Olson's Mini Honey Cakes from Another Cup of Sugar

It's pretty tasty. It didn't bake perfectly, so the edges are a little dry. This probably wouldn't happen if you used the mini bundt pans the recipe recommends. But honestly, who has mini bundt pans?

I plan to do another round of Daily Creations soon - maybe I'll try for the first week of every month for a little while. I have some knitting things to blog about during the interim, so hopefully I'll have another post up in a few days.

Daily Creations: Hat Week no. 7

2011-01-08T22:26:00.005-05:00

My Favourite New Hat
January 8, 2011
Media: Acrylic on scrap fir
Time: 10 minutes

Well, I managed the week! I made something new for seven days. It might not seem like much, but it was hard to create something from scratch on days when my work day started at 9:45am and ended at 9:15 (not even factoring in travel time). I did that three times this week. So even if the things I made weren't all fantastic, it still feels like I accomplished something kind of special.

This little painting is of the same hat I drew on day one, it's a hat I knit on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. It's my new favourite hat.

Christmas Elf Hat
Mirasol Yarn Sulka

It's soft, warm, cute and just a little bit silly. I really like it.

Daily Creations: Hat Week no.6

2011-01-07T23:34:00.003-05:00

Paper Hat on Penguin
January 7, 2011
Media: grey cardstock and button
Time: 10 minutes

Spent most of the day at work so I didn't have time to make anything awe-inspiring, just a little paper hat on a stuffed penguin. I did manage to take a few pictures of yesterday's hat while on my break, enjoy!

Daily Creations: Hat Week no. 5

2011-01-06T23:16:00.003-05:00

Guttersnipe Hat with button flap
January 6, 2011
Media: Knitting with Rowan Big Wool
Time: 4 hours

So I managed something a little more substantial during my day off, a full sized hat for my head. Sadly, when I finished it was too late in the day to take a decent photograph of it on my head.

Daily Creations: Hat Week no. 4

2011-01-05T22:03:00.001-05:00

Nesting Gnomes in Pointy Hats
January 5, 2011
Media: felt tip pen and coloured pencils
Time: 40 minutes

I feel like a punked out a bit doing another drawing, but it’s quite difficult to accomplish anything earth-shattering while working a week of split shifts. I have tomorrow off so I’ll try to make something fantastic and utterly unique. I may be setting myself up for a giant, messy failure. Stay tuned!

Daily Creations: Hat Week no. 3

2011-01-04T17:59:00.003-05:00

Dinky Hat Charms
January 4, 2011
Media: Shrinky Dink paper and markers
Time: 1 hour

These little charms didn’t turn out quite the way I had hoped. I haven’t used Shrinky Dinks for about 20 years and I left them in the oven a little too long so they didn’t flatten out perfectly. Also I forgot quite how much shrinking actually occured using Shrinky Dinks. I had been thinking of turning them into badges, but they came out so small that I think they’ll make better magnets.

Daily Creations: Hat Week no. 2

2011-01-03T22:06:00.003-05:00

Mug Chapeau
January 3, 2011
Media: James C. Marble Chunky acrylic yarn from stash
Time: about two hours between work shifts

So here is my second contribution to my Daily Creations project. It’s an individual mug cozy to keep tea warm as it steeps. It looks like a little hat for a mug.

I love pompoms.

Daily Creations: A New Year's Goal

2011-01-02T19:27:00.006-05:00

Happy New Year!

I’m not really one for resolutions. They often seem to be grandiose plans that are virtually impossible and set up to fail from the beginning. People often set huge tasks for themselves like losing 50 pounds or giving up alcohol for a year. Smaller goals like taking a walk three times a week or only drinking on weekends don’t seem difficult enough to count as resolutions.

While I may not care for resolutions, I fully support goals. A goal is something you are already heading towards, something you already want. A New Year’s Goal may not sound as flashy as a resolution, but change doesn’t often come in flashes, it’s the slow process of life.

So I am working on 101 in 1001, 101 goals worked towards and hopefully reached in 1001 days. I have had no luck locating the origin of the 101 in 1001 project, but the gist is that you create a list of goals that you want to reach in the next 2.75 years. It’s an exercise in progress, not perfection. I’m still working on my list, I may end up blogging about it sporadically somewhere else.

One of the items on my list is to create something new every day for a week. Daily Creations. If things go well I would like to do weeks of daily creations again. I am going to document this goal here. This should also help my goal of blogging more regularly. So here is today’s contribution to goal 1 of 101:

Self in Hat

January 2, 2011

Media: marker on paper

Time: About 20 minutes on the streetcar

A Tribute . . .

2010-11-21T22:33:00.006-05:00

Knitting is a really big part of my life. I am a knitter. It is what I do - well, it is one of the things I do. It is difficult to explain how much joy I have in my life because I learned to knit.

I am knitting a pair of mittens right now.

The Naked Sheep is my friendly local yarn shop. In my opinion it is the best place to buy yarn, to get some advice, to have a friendly chat about knitting, or to hang out and knit in the city. Sadly, they are closing in a few days.

Looking at my mitten, I realized how large a role the Naked Sheep has played in my ability to knit it.

The first day I met Lisa, the owner of the Sheep, she encouraged me to get over my fear and knit myself some mittens. Her friendly and encouraging manner made me less afraid that I couldn't do it. I’m working a cable on the mittens, something I learned to do this year during the Ravelymics as part of the Naked Sheep’s team. Everyone at the Sheep encouraged me to learn, even though I was nervous. The yarn I am using for these mittens, Rowan Big Wool, is probably the last thing I will ever purchase from the Sheep. Of course there are other very nice yarn stores in Toronto and I will be able to buy more wool from other places (plus I have a pretty impressive stash of yarn primarily from the Sheep), but there is something symbolic about the last skein I ever bought at The Naked Sheep.

I started going to the Sheep right when I started learning how to knit. The shop has been with me my entire life as a knitter, every triumph and every dropped stitch - it has been my local yarn store. It makes me melancholy to know that I will continue to have triumphs, to learn new things and become a better knitter, but that it will not be at the Sheep.

So these mittens are, in a way, a tribute. But more accurately everything I ever knit will be a tribute. I don’t know if I would have stuck with knitting during the tricky early days, I don’t know if I would have been up to the challenges without the support I received from everyone at The Naked Sheep, staff and patrons alike. The Sheep is a special place, I don’t know if I would have been a knitter without it.

So, Lisa, Sarah, and everyone at the Sheep, here’s to you. Know that everything I ever knit is possible because you were there. I am a knitter because you were there.

Thank you.

On the Value of Hand Crafts

2010-11-07T14:31:00.007-05:00

About two weeks ago I was commissioned to knit a scarf. Normally I don’t take commissioned work and I thought this scarf gave me the perfect reason to write about why I don’t usually knit for pay.

I am knitting a Doctor Who Scarf, but slightly scaled down. The original scarf was 10-12 inches wide and 12-14 feet long. The scarf I am knitting will be 9 inches wide and about 9 feet long when completed. I’m slightly past the half way point with the knitting, but once the knitting is completed I will have to weave in all the ends and add the tassels. I estimate that I am about halfway through the project right now. To date I have spent about 20 hours knitting, which does not include the time I spent gathering yarn or swatching to choose the right needles.
So in the end this scarf will probably take about 40 hours to complete. That may not sound like a lot of time, but consider that it is the equivalent of the standard working week. This large scarf will be, in essence, a week’s worth of work. I have a day job so it is all being knit during my downtime which means it will likely be about a month worth of knitting time – and I am fully dedicated to this project. I have been working on it exclusively for almost 2 weeks.

So here is the rub, the reason I do not knit for pay. How much is a week’s pay? Minimum wage in Ontario is $10.25. If I were to charge in this way I would claim this as work on my income taxes. 40 hours of work at minimum wage is $410. That does not include materials. Using the legal minimum hourly wage puts the cost value of this scarf over $450.

But then the big question looms: is that a fair way to estimate the value of hand crafts?

Some people argue that knitting is an enjoyable hobby that knitters willingly undertake, thus it is unfair to charge as if it was a job. I think this reasoning is faulty – at a regular day job it would be utterly inappropriate to pay someone less simply because they enjoyed their work. However, knitting is a hobby I enjoy so is it fair to charge for knits as if knitting were my job? I am not sure.

Another point is that knitting is not all-consuming – many of the hours I have spent knitting this scarf were done on the streetcar or watching The National at home with my wife. The work did not interrupt my routine but instead simply slotted into my existing routine, thus charging as if it were a job is unfair. This is a difficult point to really break down – yes, knitting is a part of my regular routine, and yes, most of the time spent working on this scarf is time I would have spent knitting anyway. However, that would have been personal knitting time during which I would have made a dent on my Christmas gifts or items for myself. Does that make it fair to charge? I am not sure.

On the other side of the coin, many knitters argue that knitting is a learned skill that is worth more. A kid stocking shelves at Loblaws makes minimum wage without spending years learning about the consistency of cans, the numerous ways they can be stacked to create different effects and the best ways to ensure that his stacking lasts years becoming heirlooms. This is a simple, garter stitch scarf – nothing very fancy. But knitting is not something that one learns in an hour, and it is a skill. So is it fair to charge minimum wage for a skill I have spent three years learning and improving? Again, I am not sure.

There are no easy answers here. Knitting websites and forums are full of questions about value. The crafting community at large struggles with these issues daily. How does one charge a customer what an original illustration is worth when IKEA sells prints for $3 a pop? How does one charge a customer for a hand knit hat when H&M sells them for $7? What formula can take into account the value of time, effort and skill present in hand crafts?

These questions are why I do not knit for pay. I made an exception in the case of this scarf because I know both the person who commissioned the scarf and the intended recipient truly appreciate hand crafts. They would never balk at my estimated cost because they can buy a scarf at Old Navy for $12. But, in truth I will not charge them $400 for the scarf. I simply do not want to charge someone I love that much for something I was happy to make them. In cases like this I prefer to barter skills, my knitting for say, someone’s baking. I knit because I enjoy making things that make people happy (and warm). In the end, I don’t knit for money, and no amount of money will convince me to knit something for someone if I did not want to.

too much of a good thing

2010-10-20T19:35:00.006-04:00

There is a family story about my third birthday party. Apparently my grandmother, Shirley, looked at all my gifts and said “Oh Emma, you got too much!” My precocious, smart-ass, child self replied “I like too much.” It’s become a bit of a family catch phrase, acknowledging that you don’t actually need something but you still want it.

That little story pretty much sums up my relationship with scarves. While perusing my scarf drawer (yes, I have a dresser drawer dedicated to my scarf collection) I did a quick count, I appear to own 29 scarves. Some are big, some are small, some are hand-made and some are not. Almost every colour is represented, and I’d dare to say that almost all weather possibilities are covered. So I don’t need any more scarves, it’s possible that I might never need another scarf in my lifetime. But I do still want them.

Scarves make me smile, it sounds silly but those 29 strips of fabric make me happy. Opening the drawer and picking out the perfect scarf brightens my day a bit. Which might explain why 29 doesn’t really feel like “too much.”

This past year something else has been moving into the scarf drawer – shawls. For a long time I was utterly faithful to rectangles when it came to my neckwear. But shawls are fantastic, and I love knitting them.

Radioactive Woman Shawl
Pattern: Traveling Woman by Liz Abinante
Yarn: Viola Sock in Radioactive

This is my most recent finished shawl. I love it. The colour is fantastic, the yarn is perfectly soft with amazing stitch definition, and the pattern is perfectly wearable. I did an extra repeat of the lace chart to make it just the right size. Immediately this shawl ranked with my favourite scarves.

To date I own 5 shawls, with one on the needles currently. It’s nowhere near my scarf collection (though combined it’s a staggering amount of neckwear). I know I don’t need more scarves or shawls, I know that a sane person would say I have too much. But to that sane person I would respond:

“I like too much.”

Black Friday and Black Knitting

2010-10-14T19:00:00.008-04:00

Well, Thanksgiving is over which means that we’re steadily creeping up on The Holiday Season. Except that for knitters (and really most crafty peoples) The Holiday Season usually starts much earlier. That’s because there are so many handmade gifts that must be completed. In the USA, The Holiday Season officially begins the day after American Thanksgiving. That is still a few weeks away, but you ask any crafter and chances are they've busted out a few gifts by the time Black Friday rolls around.

My Holiday gift planning usually starts in September, but with the wedding happening in September I really only sat down and started thinking about Christmas gifts this week, mostly because my mother dropped some heavy hints about wanting one of these. (ravelry link)

So I started searching for some cute ornament options to make for friends and coworkers, in the past I’ve made snowmen and korknisse.

I have a few ideas for this year - they may or may not involve knitted Christmas puddings. I feel a little behind compared to the past few years but with no school this term I can probably manage. And then I asked my wife what sort of knit she wanted this year, I suspected she would want a new hat or fingerless mittens. She wants a hooded pullover, in BLACK!

Now, for any non-knitters out there, black is the worst colour to knit with. You cannot see the stitches nearly as well as you can with any lighter colour, it is really difficult to see at all unless you are in natural light which makes knitting with black at night pretty painful on the eyes. And it is so very, very boring. I really like black knits, but actually knitting them is a pain. And now my dear wife has requested a big black sweater!

And I realize that it is my own fault. For her birthday I knit her a vest.

Slouch Vest

Yarn: Mary Maxim Mellowspun DK Acrylic, held double
Pattern: construction loosly inspired by Pickles' Wild Vest

I knit this in 10 days, working on it every spare second I had. She had a ratty old fleece vest and I thought it was time for an upgrade. She loves the vest. This is a girl who was pretty convinced she would never get much wear out of a knit garment, she thought they were too “nice” and “stuffy.” But in comes a slouchy, casual vest and now she is dreaming of a knit hoodie, a black knit hoodie.

She has told me that it could be another colour, she swears that grey or red would be fine. But I know. I know that what she really wants is a black sweater for Christmas. I just hope I can do it without making my eyeballs bleed.

Cottage Love Scarf

2010-10-05T23:06:00.002-04:00

So I am back. The wedding is done and the honeymoon is over. I’m just settling into married life, it’s funny how much it feels like common-law life. Well, actually there are some subtle differences but I won’t bore you with such nuances of feeling.

I suspect that at some point in the next month I’ll post a bunch of pictures about the wedding and wedding crafts, but for now I want to take a break from the whole wedding thing. I also have a backlog of things I knit before the wedding that I just didn’t have the energy to blog about; I’ll probably get to those soon as well. For now I’ll just show you something I knit last week. So onward to knitting porn:

Cottage Love Scarf
Yarn: Cascade Yarn 220 Wool, Diamond Yarn Galway, Diamond Yarn Galway Heather, Mission Falls 1824 Wool, Plymouth Yarn Homestead, Shepherd Classic 100% Wool, Fibre Company Khroma WW – in total 16 colours from stash

I knit this scarf during the honeymoon. I cast on the thursday before the wedding as we were driving up to the cottage to prep. I cast off the following Friday morning just in time to wear on the drive back home after the honeymoon.

The linen stitch knit with so many colours has a rustic look that reminds me of a rag rug. It is homey, domestic, and beautiful without any glamour or gloss. It is obviously constructed from odds and ends, but those bits form a larger pattern and structure that suits them – as if they were each carefully selected instead of being leftovers. I love the homey look and I love the knubby yet soft feel of this scarf.

There is nothing glamorous or rich or elegant about this scarf, but it is soft and comforting and beautiful. That’s what I hope a good marriage will be like too.

Wedding Slump

2010-08-30T22:25:00.006-04:00

Less than a month away from the wedding, it seems as if the wedding is all I think about. I spend my time working on wedding related things. Everyone is always asking how the planning is coming. Last night I woke up in the middle of the night worried that I had run out of time to change the straps on my dress – I am blaming this late-night anxiety on allergy medication.

So while I am constantly making something: banners, song lists, shrugs - I just don’t want to TALK about it! I don’t want to write about anything because I don’t want to think about anything.
This is some bunting for the wedding and I don’t want to talk about it. It took too long, and it’s still not quite done. But it’s adorable and I’m glad I did it. I just don’t want to talk about it.

So I promise that once the wedding is over, and I make a silly post about “Oh My God! Look at the pictures of all the cute things I and my friends made for my wedding! It was great!” Once that’s over, I’ll have the energy to take pictures and write paragraphs about the things I make again.
I am still making non-wedding related things, I just don’t want to talk about them right now, either. Every non-wedding thing I do makes me feel a little guilty about the wedding-related thing I should probably have dedicated my time to instead.

I want to really push myself to draw more, so later this year there will probably be more drawing and painting material on the blog alongside my crafting. I swear that things will even out here sometime around October. Until then, wish me luck for the final stretch of wedding planning.

Felting: Relinquishing Control

2010-08-14T22:08:00.003-04:00

I like being in charge. In true twenty-first century fashion I believe that I am the master of my own destiny, I am the captain of my fortune. I am the one in the driver’s seat (figuratively, in actuality I cannot drive). So I like being the boss in situations that involve me and my time and my life.

My control freak tendencies are why felting scares the daylights out of me. Seriously, for ages I could not wrap my head around the idea of knitting a pretty woollen something and then chucking it is the washing machine on hot. In the end, just hoping for some luck and the accuracy of your test swatch. Utterly terrifying.

So it seems fitting that I bit the bullet and starting felting with the intention of making something for the wedding. Planning a wedding is an exercise in letting go. Very little is going to go exactly the way you originally planned. Part of me wants to fight and stamp my feet whenever things don’t fall into place the way I hoped they would, but another part of me knows that in the long run it won’t really matter that we didn’t get the date we wanted at first, that we couldn’t have cloth napkins or that my necklace got lost in the mail. No matter what the napkin situation, no matter what I am wearing around my neck, it is going to be a good day. If I don’t have the perfect red lipstick, if people cannot figure out how to carpool, if my aunt never gets around to RSVPing, it will still be the day I celebrate my life with Mina, surrounded by people we love. The little things seem insignificant in comparison to the wonderful big things.

And felting seems way less scary.

Feltzy Bowl
Yarn: Shepherd Classic 100% Wool

This little bowl was a test. The wedding related felting is not finished yet. Maybe it will turn out and maybe it won’t, and I am okay with that. The bowl is now home to Mina’s dice, which seems fitting as I am learning that it’s okay to leave some things to chance.

What to Expect when you knit for babies . . .

2010-08-03T16:30:00.002-04:00

There seems to be an unwritten rule somewhere that knitters should knit gifts for babies: relative’s babies, coworker’s babies, even stranger’s babies sometimes. While I think it is very nice to knit something for a little person, sometimes I get frustrated.

I am a busy person and knitting is only one of my hobbies. So when I knit something I want to know that it will be appreciated. Obviously, when it is a baby thing it falls to the parents to appreciate – babies think they rule the world and are unequivocally entitled to everything they get and more (they’re babies so this is less egomaniacal and more adorable than it sounds). So I hope that the parents will appreciate that I handmade a hat, sweater, blanket, or toy to welcome their new little person. But here is the snag – babies seem to rub off on parents and suddenly the parent also believes that the baby is entitled to everything and anything. Suddenly it seem implied that of course I hand knit that baby sweater – I am a knitter and it is a baby so it was bound to happen.

This does not happen all the time, and for the most part I am lucky enough to be surrounded by wonderful people who appreciate the value of something being made by hand. I make a point of making extra-special things for babies whose parents really love handmade goods. Babies Quinton and Mavis both received some serious crafting because they have awesome parents who really get the whole “I made it with my own two hands” thing.

But I am cautious with parents I don’t know so well. Whenever there is going to be a new baby in the girl’s family she hopes that I can knit them a little gift. When my schedule allows I try to comply, but in truth I make these gifts smaller. It’s not that I think the gifts won’t be appreciated - it’s only that I don’t know the parents as well. I don’t want to drive myself crazy knitting a baby blanket that might bear no more meaning to the recipient than a blanket I bought at the store.

So it was Kallie’s first birthday. Kallie is the daughter of one of my girlfriend's cousins. When Kallie was born I did not have the time to knit anything for her, so now seemed like a good time for something heartfelt, but small.

Kallie’s Animals
Pattern: Anything Animals by Rachel Borello
Yarn: stash acrylic

This pattern is wonderful, and it might become my new go-to for those times when I don’t know what to knit for a little person. They didn’t take long, only a few hours each. I feel like a sent a nice little gift to Kallie, and if her parents aren’t into the whole handmade thing I don’t feel as if I wasted my time.

Knitting in a Heat Wave

2010-07-14T19:22:00.003-04:00

The damson is done!

Damson
Pattern: Damson by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Sandnes Mini Alpakka

I love this little scarfy-shawlette thing.

However, it is unbearably hot and humid in the city. It took me three weeks to knit the damn thing, and then the heat wave hit – which meant I didn’t want to get anywhere near that alpaca garment. Two weeks before I got around to blocking it and then another two weeks before I was able to put it on long enough to take a picture.

But it’s done and I cannot wait for the fall so I can wear it.

My wrist is basically back to normal which means I have been knitting again – my current project is acrylic which does not radiate heat like the hot pink alpaca damson.

power in creating little things

2010-07-01T23:27:00.003-04:00

While I don’t have regular readers (unless you count my soon-to-be-wife) I try very hard to update this little blog regularly. My goal is to post at least once every two weeks. I have been lax recently. The following post discusses why I have not posted in two weeks, and bridges into some political territory which I mostly try to keep out of this blog. You have been warned, there is no yarn porn in this post.

__________________________

About two weeks ago I injured my wrist while doing repair work on my soon-to-be-wife’s dreads. As a result I have been taking things very slow and had to take a complete break from all crafting. This has been driving me around the bend.

The name of this blog, lower case creations, has a meaning. It reflects my values about arts and crafts. Art does not need to be “Capital A” Art to have relevance. Making small things are just as valuable and making fine art. Creating is how I relate to the world. I make things because by making something I put part of myself into the world and can make small changes.

This reflects my fundamental value system, I believe in small steps towards a greater good. Grand gestures and sweeping change may sound appealing, but in the end it is the small things that matter and really stay with you.

Losing my ability to craft happened at a bad time. While I don’t want to seriously discuss politics on a craft blog, I will say that the G20 took place in Toronto this past weekend and the fallout has been bad, and my faith in my country has been severely shaken.

The political circumstances and my own injury combined to make me feel small and powerless. Not only are there big forces at work that my little voice cannot match, my little hands cannot make little things to send little messages of protest, anger and most importantly, hope.

That is, until today. A few days ago I quickly designed a little emblem. Today my soon-to-be-wife cleaned it up and with the help of some friends we put them on a few t-shirts. A t-shirt is not going to change the world. I still feel small, the problems still seem big and my wrist still feels a bit weak. But I do not feel powerless. I have the power to make things, little things - lower case creations. And maybe many little things can slowly change the world.

All quiet . . .

2010-06-16T17:31:00.005-04:00

Yikes, two weeks without a post and practically nothing crafty to show for it! Seriously though, I have three VERY good excuses!

1. Planning a Wedding
There is crafting happening (albeit slowly) that I don’t really want to blog about. Not only do I not want to reveal things like invitation designs or favours before guests recieve them, I also don't want to be the sort of person who can talk about nothing but my upcoming wedding.

2. Dreading the girl’s hair
It was two full days of work, plus now there is about 30 minutes to 2 hours of work a night in maintenance. Does this count as crafting? I am using a crochet hook. All those hats I have knit her are suddenly useless.

3. The World Cup
Awesome.

Hopefully I’ll have something worth showing off soon. My damson is almost done, just the edging left, really.

Yards of Pretty

2010-06-01T18:24:00.002-04:00

My crafting has hit a snag named 'wedding planning.' Ridiculous, really, seeing as I have a million things I want to craft for the wedding, but instead I spend my time making lists. I was stuck in limbo on the wedding-craft front because we’d had a slight change in plans about the girl’s outfit, and so our colour scheme was possibly shifting from aqua-cranberry-black to aqua-primary red-black. So I didn’t want to start anything without a finalized colour scheme (sure this might sound crazy, but consider that I colour code just about everything).

I went to the Textile Museum Yardage Sale on the weekend hoping to find a couple things on the cheap to use for my bunting. I found a bunch of great fabric that is not only going to be used for bunting, but also for table covers. I’m pretty excited picturing bright and pretty tables.

As far as actual crafting goes, I have been a bit slack the past few weeks. Things like work, the internet, dreading the girl’s hair, books, Buffy and the internet have been taking up a lot of my time. I’m still knitting away on my Damson, but progress is slow. Once I tidy up and pull out the sewing machine and the old printer things like bunting, garland, tablecloths, and invites will soon fill my little apartment.

Which reminds me, I better get back to tidying up. Hopefully I’ll have something more fun to blog about soon.

Summertime Inspiration

2010-05-18T19:07:00.005-04:00

The summer makes me want everything to be in Technicolor. I am a sucker for bright colours, and once the sun is shining and there are bright green leaves on the trees I want the whole world to look like a bag of skittles.

So I am finally tackling the magenta stash, knitting my Damson. I am enjoying the knit, very simple without being mind-numbingly basic, unlike the shrug which I am glad to say is (tentatively) finished.

My craving for colour usually leads me to my paints. Super-bright matte acrylic, is there anything more cheerful? So for my mom’s birthday I made her some acrylic and mixed media “quilt blocks.”

Summertime Stars
Acrylic and paper on Canvas 6"x6"

My mom is a serious quilter, and for a while a few months ago I was toying with the idea of quilting her something. I'm glad I decided not to because I am having a really hard time finding a space to set up my sewing machine. These little paintings were a really nice way to combine something that she does which we both love and something that I do that I know she loves. And it was the perfect opportunity for me to make something aqua and green and utterly summery.

I’m not the sort of person who starts wishing for summer in November. I really enjoy autumn and winter. But at the end of May, when the world is green and the smell of a barbecue wafts through my open window the summer really makes me smile.

Where does the time go?

2010-05-11T23:06:00.002-04:00

During the school year I had these grand dreams about all the things I would accomplish once term ended. I dreamt of reading books without worrying about later recalling the names of insignificant locales for a test. I dreamt of painting large canvases (somehow, in my dreams having more time also meant my apartment grew to immense proportions). I dreamt of knitting whenever I felt like it. I even had a crazy idea about making sewing buttons. It seemed as if Utopia was waiting for me if I could only last until mid-April. In my mind, paradise is not a place, it is time, abundant time.

Flash forward to May and I seem to be accomplishing nothing extra, despite being free from higher education. This may be due to my work schedule being inflated this month while my manager is on vacation. Or it could be because I move at a slower pace when school is not in session. I have more time to accomplish things so I allow myself to move at a slightly more leisurely pace. So I don’t seem to be accomplishing anything extra in these last few weeks. Basically, I’m accomplishing the same amount of reading, painting and other general crafting as I was.

And my knitting has hit a bit of a snag.

That snag is black yarn. I adore black knits, they are my favourite. But knitting with black yarn is such a bore, and hard on the eyes once the sun goes down. I am trying to knit a simple black shrug, all stockinette with a seed stitch border. Can you say “yawn?” Seriously, I just don’t want to pick the damn thing up it is so boring. But I do really want a nice black shrug to wear with my dresses. So I plough on, slowly.

Stitch by stitch I am knitting a shrug, and day by day I am living my life. All the time wondering, “where does the time go?”

Stash Busting in Magenta

2010-04-30T14:30:00.004-04:00

Blue Bottle Striped Scarf
Yarn: Cascade 220 and Shepherd Classic 100% Wool

I knit this scarf for the wedding raffle. The raffle was an amazing stash busting project – who knew I had so much worsted yarn in teal?

Thinking up projects for the raffle had me digging through my yarn stash a lot. And I noticed three things:

1. This bin needs to be reorganized! I organized everything last year, but since then things have gotten a little unruly. I am now thinking I should go through all the yarn, assign projects to everything and anything that doesn’t have a destiny here should move along.

2. There is a lot of worsted weight scrap that I am willing to hang onto even if I have no idea what I am going to use it for. Having a rainbow of colours in simple worsted weight 100% wool was a godsend for this raffle project.

3. Holy fucsia yarn, Batman!

There is a lot, and I mean a lot, of hot pink yarn in my stash.

I understand how this happened, but that doesn’t make it any less embarrassing. Fuscia is one of my favourite colours. And fluffy pink yarn draws me in like nothing else. I buy it for myself, other people buy it for me, and it accumulates. It accumulates because I would never use hot pink to make something for someone else. Unlike the rest of my stash, the pink is only for me. I won’t reach into my yarn bin and cast on a bubblegum hat for my mom, I won’t decide to knit magenta mittens for my girlfriend. And I don’t knit for myself enough to use up all the pink I love to collect. So that is going to change!

Pictured above is:
- Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Fuscia (93) – I bought this to make myself a pair of mittens, and I will! I am thinking Snapdragons.
- Twilleys of Stamford Freedom Wool – I bought this to be a pair of mittens, I knit one mitten (poorly) and gave up – they were my very first attempt at mittens. I have some black Freedom Wool, so I am thinking Urban Explorer Mitts, maybe with some white, too.
- Cascade Sierra – I really have no idea what to do with this. Maybe a little cowl or a small scarf. I don’t know - it’s pretty though.
- Sandnes Mini Alpakka – I was sent these in a swap along with the pattern for Damson. And I am dreaming of a hot pink damson.
- Various Cascade 220 and Galway Wool partial skeins. I am cool with holding onto these for now - you never know when you might need some hot-pink worsted weight wool.

Toasty Hands

2010-04-25T10:48:00.002-04:00

Last week I made two little pairs of fingerless mittens.

Waldo’s Mitts
Yarns: Cascade 220 Wool and Diamond Yarn Galway

Putty Handwarmers
Yarn: Mission Falls 1824 Wool

These were the final items for a larger project I have been working on. My partner and I are having an Arts and Crafts Raffle to raise money for our wedding in September. Go to the website to see all the goodies.

Advice from a Caterpillar

2010-04-16T21:07:00.009-04:00

Last month I was in an Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland swap. The package I sent was all about the Caterpillar, here’s the fun stuff I made:

Just some cute tags I made for everything

Mushroom Project Bag
100% cotton fabric with craft felt and satin ribbon

Caterpillar Glovelets

pattern: Cabled Glovelets (heavily modified)

yarn: Cascade 220

I love Alice, it was great fun to craft things from Wonderland. I am such a geek when it comes to Victorian literature for children, one of my favourite genres.

How doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale!
How cheerfully he seems to grin,
How neatly spreads his claws,
And welcomes little fishes in
With gently smiling jaws!

I really like doing swaps. I have a lot of fun making a package for someone I don’t really know. Best of all, I love themed swaps, where every other person participating is also geekily in love with the theme.

Pattern: Giant Killer Cap

2010-04-14T21:34:00.012-04:00

This simple, slouchy cap was loosely inspired by the folk tale type “the Children and the Ogre” (327B, for any folklore nerds). For some reason many of these stories feature sacks – Jack’s bag of beans, the bag Molly Whuppie uses to trick the giant’s wife, or Esben’s bags of peas, malt and salt. The i-cord ties on this hat make it reminiscent of one of these sacks.

Sizes: S (M, L)

Adult Small “Molly,” comfortably fits 22” head, women’s small to average size (shown in red and brown)

Adult Medium “Jack,” comfortably fits 24” head, women’s average to large, men’s small to average size (shown in white and yellow)

Adult Large “Giant,” comfortably fits 26” head, women’s extra large, men’s large to extra large size

You will need:
2 skeins Cascade 220 or other worsted weight yarn
4.5mm circular needles (16”)
4.5mm double pointed needles
stitch marker*
darning needle

*because all sections of the hat are either ribbed or one row stripes it is always possible to easily determine the start of a row, as a result you may not need a stitch marker. However, I find having a stitch marker helpful as a tactile reminder to switch colours if your mind tends to wander as you knit.

Gauge 20 st/4”

Instructions

CO 96 (104, 112) in Colour A
Join in the round, place stitch marker
Row 1-4: work k1, p1 ribbing

Begin stripes:

At the beginning of row 5 begin knitting stockinette with colour B. Knit the full round until you come to your stitch marker. Slip marker. Pull Yarn A up, wrap it behind Yarn B and begin knitting with Yarn A (see image below on left). Make sure to pull Yarn A so that there is no loop of excess yarn between rows, but do not pull so tightly you create a puckering. The correct tension will create a small twist with no loops (see image below on right). Because these stripes are only one row wide the jog is minimal.

Knit one-row stripes in this manner until piece measures 3” (3.5”, 4”), ending on a Yarn B stripe.

On the next round (Yarn A) work increase row: k11 (12, 13), k1fb* rep to end of round.

Continue knitting stripes until piece measure 7.5” (8”, 8.5”).

Decrease Rounds:
Continue to stripe Yarns A and B.
K11 (12, 13), k2tog*rep (Yarn A)

Knit (Yarn B)

Continue decreasing every Yarn A round 4 (5, 6) more times, knitting one less stitch between k2togs until 56st remain.

Switch to double pointed needles when necessary.

Now begin decreasing every round
K5, k2tog* rep (48st) (Yarn B)

K4, k2tog* rep (40st) (Yarn A)

K3, k2tog* rep (32st) (Yarn B)

K2, k2tog* rep (24st) (Yarn A)

K, k2tog* rep (16st) (Yarn B)

K2tog* rep (8st) (Yarn A)

Thread tail end of yarn through the remaining stitches and pull tight.

To Embellish:
For “Molly” I knit a 20” i-cord and attached pompoms, for “Jack” I knit a 26” i-cord and tied it into a bow.

If you have any questions or concerns about the pattern please contact me. If you knit this pattern I'd love to see your version. And, of course, you are welcome to the pattern for personal use only.

Versatile Snowdrift Cowl

2010-04-12T23:48:00.007-04:00

I like the idea of versatility, really I do. I would consider myself more a jack-of-all-trades than an expert in any one thing. But mostly, I hate things that pretend to be malleable but are really just junk. Those jersey dresses that claim to be adaptable but always look like a half-finished dress no matter how you tie them, that's usually what I think of when someone says an article of clothing is "versatile."

But I am nothing if not contrary, so I set out to make something "versatile."

Versatile Snowdrift Cowl
Yarn: Mirasol Sulka
The yarn is so soft and cozy. Open eyelets and four big wooden buttons mean this can be wrapped anyway, which means it's great for a variety of different jacket necklines. This is the traditional "cowl" buttoning.

Here it is as a hood. Sure, it might seem silly for a cowl to become a hood, but then you realize you forgot your hat at home on your desk and praise me for being a genius (or something).

This is my favourite option, as a little buttoned neckwarmer.

So there you have it, a "versatile" piece of clothing that actually looks like clothing. However, no matter how adaptable this cowl is, it cannot change the fact that it is April, and no one needs a thick merino/alpaca/silk neckwarmer in April. Oh well, there's always next winter.

Jayne

2010-04-08T15:33:00.005-04:00

We said goodbye to our big old cat, Jayne, this week.

Jayne was a wonderful cat. I used to say it was like having a funny old man as a roommate. Like an old man he was very particular, resistant to change and highly indifferent to anything he did not like.

He wasn't a young cat, he was estimated at about nine years old when he first came to live with us, and he had been a stray for a while. I think his age and his past made him a calm fellow. He seldom put up a fuss and mostly just wanted someone to scratch his head. He just wanted to be, and liked it best when you were near by. He would sit beside me on the couch while I knitted, never trying to play with the yarn or get in the way. He was a wonderful companion.

In the end, Jayne only lived with us for a year and a half, but the quiet feeling his passing has left makes me realize just how much he was a part of our family. It will be a long time before sitting on the couch doesn't feel quite so lonely.

I really want to thank everyone at the Beaches Animal Hospital for being so generous, caring, helpful and sympathetic during his illness and passing. And to all my friends and family for their kind thoughts. I'll miss him. He was my buddy.

wedding craftiness (aka my partner thinks I'm nuts)

2010-04-04T07:38:00.011-04:00

I mentioned briefly in my last post that I am planning a wedding - my wedding. After being together for almost nine years, and engaged for six, the girl and I are finally going to get married.

The truth is that I’m not a particularly traditional person, and I’m really not a wedding person. Things like receiving lines, father-daughter dances and toast after toast after toast sort of weird me out. I don’t want to put down anyone’s wedding, because if you like those things that’s great. I think a wedding should reflect the people being married, and if those things are what they want they should be able to have them. But they are definitely not things I want.

So we’re just having a party. Food, drinks and hanging out at my family cottage on a weekend in September. Even still, the idea of a party where my partner and I are the centre of attention all day still makes me a little uncomfortable. However, a few weeks ago I read something brilliant on a craft blog I follow. A wedding is the single largest craft project most people get to undertake. So with that in mind I’ve been having a great time coming up with themes, colour schemes, cute ideas and a list of craft projects I want to make.

The first step was one of those silly (cute) little mood boards all the wedding blogs like to make. I’m working a mid-century picnic type theme, with a touch of our punk/goth/rock aesthetic thrown in. Think jam, gingham and skulls all mashed up. I didn’t keep track of where I pulled all the pictures from (bad Emma), so if any of the pictures are yours please let me know and I will credit you or take it down at your request.

The location photographs in the top row are all pictures of the actual venue, and the bedroom in the bottom row is an interior of the venue. So can you see the colour story I’m getting at? Here it is represented in yarn

Ahh, Cascade 220, is there anything you cannot do (besides make comfortable daisy stitch handwarmers)? Pulling yarn for colour swatches was way more fun than making regular colour swatches.

And then, I thought about the beautiful sweater in the Twist Collective Spring/Summer Issue.

Banderilla. Love it! I think I’ll have to wait until I get my dress first, but I was thinking I’d likely need a sweater for at least part of the day, September evenings can be chilly. How adorable would this guy be, all matched to my wedding colours!

Honestly, I'm having a lot of fun deciding what I want to make and have on "the big day" (I keep telling my mom "it's just a day" when things go a little haywire). Have I mentioned that my partner thinks I'm crazy? She's already agreed to wear suspenders, but you should have seen her face when I tried to explain what a pennant bunting was.

Holiday Tea (cozies)

2010-04-02T18:48:00.004-04:00

I remember a time when you couldn’t go anywhere on Good Friday. Even the odds that the corner store would be open when you realized you were out of milk were about 50/50. Today, walking down the street in the sunshine all the shops and restaurants on Queen Street had their doors wide open.

It was nice to walk in the world of the living, today being the first day that I am “free” from the immense stress-inducing headache that school has been for the past few months. Don’t get me wrong, I love books, but I feel like I haven’t interacted with any non-fictional personalities for weeks. So, despite it being Good Friday I wandered out and got a chai latte in the sunshine.

And speaking of lattes, this morning I finished up three little projects (part of a larger project I’m planning, I’ll let you know about that one later).

Chamomile Cup Cozy Yarn: Shepherd Classic 100% Wool, Light Gold

Double-Double Cup Cozy
Yarn: Shepherd Classic 100% Wool, Cocoa

Earl Grey Cup Cozy

Yarn: Shepherd Classic 100% Wool, Pewter

This one is my favourite, I love grey and orange together.

I’ve been working on knitting stash yarn, these were all knit with leftovers from my Practically the Doctor scarf.

I’m so glad to be (almost) done school; now I can dedicate my time to crafting, planning the wedding and caring for our sick cat. I’m really worried about the cat, but I am grateful that I have the time to dedicate to giving him the care he needs right now. I have my fingers crossed that things are going to work out.

update!

2010-03-25T18:53:00.007-04:00

This post is more of a follow-up to my last post:

1. Here are some pictures of my sister’s sweater Lady Sweater
Pattern: February Lady Sweater
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers
Pretty nice, eh?

2. I finished my scarf in time to wear on my birthday! I love it.

Little Rain Cloud Shawl
Pattern: Simple Yet Effective Shawl
Yarn: ?

It took me a while to figure out what this yarn was. The wife got me the beautiful violet-tinted grey yarn for Christmas, but she had it wound at the shop and didn’t bring the tag home. In the end I guessed what it was by looking at the yarns at the Sheep, I’m pretty sure it’s Painted Fleece Hand Dyed Cashmere/Merino/Nylon Lace

belated knitwear

2010-03-15T19:39:00.005-04:00

I finished my sister's birthday gift. Her birthday was in November. She wanted a February Lady Sweater, so we went and picked out her yarn at the Naked Sheep in September, and I slowly got to work. She knew I would be busy with school, so she was very patient. In the end I made her a little something for her birthday, and I hoped to finish the sweater for Christmas. That didn't happen due to school and other Christmas crafting things.

My sister is great, and she has been really patient and understanding about how long it has taken me to make her sweater. It is my first finished adult garment, and I'm glad it's for her. I'm also glad it's finished just in time for spring, the perfect season for a swingy little blue sweater.

I have not given it to her yet, so I'm still a little worried about the sizing, I'm worried I may have blocked it a little big, but we shall see. Once I've given it to her I'll post pictures of the finished sweater, until then I can show you how much yarn I had left over from my four skeins of Cascade 220.

Yep. That's it. I had to weave in all my ends to salvage enough yarn for my bind-off round. I had less then two yards of waste yarn.

Now I'm moving on to finishing up another birthday gift, this time for myself. I really want to be able to wear my little rain cloud shawlette this weekend for my birthday. I got this yarn for Christmas from the girlfriend and I cast on this scarfy-thing in the car up to my grandmother's on Christmas day. The trouble with finishing for the weekend is that I am swamped with schoolwork and in order to have time to block it I'll need to be done by Wednesday I think.

Maybe I could just steam block it. What do you think?

Gold!

2010-03-02T17:57:00.008-05:00

Gold Medal Ribbon Toque
Yarn: Khroma WW in Olive Oil

Cabled without a cable needle!

Over the 16 days of the olympics I learned a new technique - knitting cables. My goal wasn't to complete one project, but to get over my fear of cables. The first project, my cabled glovelets were knit using a cable needle. I made a second pair to sort of iron-out the kinks in my ability to follow basic instructions, but I realized I'm still not very good at that (one ended up being a whole pattern repeat longer, so I'm ripping back to knit it right).

This hat was knit without a cable needle. I have always had a few projects in mind that I've simply pushed aside for "later" because they were cabled. I won't do that anymore, so I consider this a gold-medal victory.

Also, I'm quite keen on the hat. I think it's cute.

The Learn-to-Cable Glovelets

2010-02-16T18:28:00.004-05:00

I learned how to cable!
The Learn-to-Cable Glovelets
Pattern: Cabled Glovelets (rav link)
Yarn: Cascade 220 Wool

My challenge to myself for the ravelympics was to learn how to cable, and thus I have learned to do something I was nervous about. I taught myself to knit through internet searches, and I'm always a little hesitant of new techniques, as if I'm going to discover that I've been doing it wrong all along. But the internet has not steered me wrong yet (so far as knitting goes), and some internet searches taught me how to make these pink little cuties.

I love them. They are a lot "sweeter" then I usually go, but I really like that about them. I got this yarn as a prize during the TTC Knit-Along and hadn't had a good opportunity to make anything shockingly pink. The need to stick to stash right now encouraged me to finally use it. I wish the glovelets weren't so snug, but I'm sure they'll stretch a bit as I wear them. I'm going to make a second pair in teal Cascade 220 and modify the pattern to make them a little looser.

I'm pretty pleased with myself.

February makes me Cynical

2010-02-14T19:31:00.005-05:00

For the shortest month of the year, February is sure full of stuff. Groundhog Day, Valentine's Day, Family Day, Chinese New Year, Flag Day, Shrove Tuesday, and a whole host of events like the Super Bowl, Mardi Gras and apparently International Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day. Add to that that it's also the Olympics this year, and February is feeling overloaded with events I don't really care about.

Except Shrove Tuesday, I love Shrove Tuesday!

In truth, I'm fairly cynical about most of the events I listed. I'm not going to get into the angst of why I think Family Day is superfluous, or why Valentine's Day seems mildly offensive, or why anything good about the Olympics is heavily outweighed by the bad. February is a cynical, cold and dreary month for me.

But something snapped two days ago - I was simply burnt out on being cynical. So I stopped being. I still don't like a lot of the things that happen in February, but I figured the best thing to do was take what I like and leave the rest.

So to the Olympics, I'm going to watch the events I like and accept that I cannot stop the Olympics from being financially disastrous and culturally insensitive. I can't make it an honest event by pointing out hypocrisy from my couch, so I'm just letting go. I'm playing along with the Ravelympics, and having lots of fun. I'm learning to cable, look! I'm so proud of myself. I'll probably be done my first project in a day or two.

And as for you Valentine's Day, I still don't like you very much. Pink and red clash, heart decals are ugly and you are wasting disturbing amounts of paper. But I'll grant you that you can be a little cute sometimes, so I made some cute little love-bones cookies in your honour. Don't expect me to buy anyone a Snoopy card, though.

Playing Catch-Up

2010-02-11T23:11:00.004-05:00

It's been a while since I posted anything, so it's time to play catch up and post pictures of things I finished over a week ago! I hadn't got around to blogging about them mostly because I am busy with real-life and thus internet-life suffers. I console myself by thinking about all the people I know whose internet-life consumes so much of their time that real-life suffers. I'm looking at you, WoW Guild friends!

And look, the perfect segue:

For the Horde!
Yarn: Twilley's of Stamford Freedom 100% Wool

I made this for my partner a few weeks ago while she was in the hospital. Last time she was in the hospital I started knitting her a simple black hat in Mirasol Sulka. I almost finished and then ended up having to frog the whole thing, I still have the yarn. The emblem on this isn't very well done - it's lumpy. But at least this time she got a finished article.

If anyone isn't in the know, the emblem is the symbol for the Horde, one of the two main factions in World of Warcraft. My partner is a bit of a gaming addict, she's Queen of our guild. One step closer to being Queen of Gondor, I guess. (Seriously, he's not going to pick you when he has a hot elf! Also, he's fictional!) Um, should I start having "geek-content" warning signs at the top of posts like this? Let's move on.

Loving the Basics
Pattern: Chunky Knit Beanie by Leslie Friend
Yarn: Twilley's of Stamford Freedom 100% Wool

I had leftover yarn from making the Horde hat, so I decided to knit myself a simple little black toque. Can you believe I didn't have one? It was such a good choice, I've worn it almost everyday since I finished it last week. So cute and basic.

And now on to the knitting Olympics! I am going to challenge myself to learn to cable! I'm going to start with these glovelets (ravelry link). So today I pulled out all the colours in my stash that I might like to make them in. I'm leaning towards the pink Cascade 220, and maybe making a second pair as a gift in the dark teal (also Cascade) once I've mastered this whole cable thing. Wish me luck!

The Children and the Ogre

2010-01-26T15:26:00.004-05:00

Well, I made something:
Jack the Giant Killer
Pattern: in the works
Yarn: Cascade 220

The hat is very long and slouchy. It's quirky and I like it.
The pattern was loosely inspired by "The Children and the Ogre" fairy tale archetype. Stories such as Jack and the Beanstalk, Molly Whuppie and Little Thumbling all fall into the category. I find the story type fascinating: the preoccupation with eating and being eaten, extreme violence being a just response to suggested violence, and the protagonist's rise in fortunes based on their own cunning and cleverness.

The heroes of these stories are intrepid, clever and are prone to shouting witty retorts back to their giants. I think Jack might don a quirky little cap like this one.

post-holiday post-irony

2010-01-09T22:18:00.007-05:00

So, the sweater and the toy are still waiting to be finished. I want them to be done so that Christmas is officially out of my hair. This whole "hand-made" Christmas was exhausting. Next year I'm going for a commercially-mass-produced-kitsch Christmas, I wonder where I can get a pink aluminum tree.

My sister's boyfriend went to visit family in North Bay this Christmas, which saved me having to make his present pre-Christmas. I'll be seeing him tomorrow for the first time since Christmas and his gift is ready. Too bad my sister's still waiting for her gift.

DayGlo Toboggan Hat
Yarn: Diamond Yarn Fine Merino DK Superwash
Pattern: out of my head

I saw some picture's of his trip to North Bay - they went tobogganing and he had the most intensely 1989 DayGlo ski jacket. Oh, you ironic hipster kids!

He was also wearing the ironic mittens I made him for Christmas last year:

So 90s! Mitts
Yarn: Twilley of Stamford Freedom 100% Wool
Pattern: Ann Budd's Basic Mitten Pattern

I love these mittens in an almost not-ironic way. Somewhere between the Might Morphin' Power Rangers and "If You Want Blood" by AC/DC. I feel like they belong in a high-five freeze-frame at the end of a classic Degrassi episode. So 90s!

So now he'll have a complete set of hand-made irony-heavy winter wear for his next tobogganing trip.

The Eleventh Hour

2010-01-05T12:20:00.007-05:00

I am busy. Sometimes things just don't happen in a timely fashion because I am quite busy. These two gifts are a good example - they happened in a mostly timely fashion, though.

Basic Black
Pattern: Ann Budd's Basic Mitten Pattern
Yarn: Sidar Click DK with Wool

These got finished while drinking tea and eating cheese at my grandmother's on Christmas Day. The recipient was sitting beside me. She'd also driven to my grandmother's beside me, opened gifts beside me and woken up beside me that morning. They were my girlfriends gift, and they weren't finished until about 3pm Christmas Day. Oops.

Luckily she was so pleased with them when they were finally finished that I'm not sure whether she's taken them off since Christmas Day.

Cobb Family Hat
Pattern: Jayne Cobb's Family Hat
Yarn: Cascade 220 Wool

This is my step-brother-in-law's birthday gift. I finished it the evening of his birthday. It's not a big deal because I'm unlikely to see him for a while, though.

This is the first thing I've ever made him, not because I didn't want to make him anything, but I didn't think he'd really get much use out of anything I could make him. Then he requested a one of these, and he looked sort of sad that I'd never made him anything. Who knew? This makes this particular hat by-far my most requested handmade item. This is the fourth I've made on request.

So, now I just have some Thirteenth Hour items to finish - the sweater for my sister and a toy for a baby. They're already late.

52 in 52

2010-01-01T15:05:00.004-05:00

How do you measure a year? The number of times the PM prorogues parliament? The number of FO's on your ravelry page? The number of times you burnt yourself making cookies? Me, I measure life in books.

I have two great loves in my life – literature, and arts & crafts. Both have been a big part of my life since before I can really remember (I take this on the word of adults who knew me at a young age). When I took up knitting, a lot of my time that had previously been dedicated to reading was suddenly being eaten up by my needles.

So last January I decided to keep a record of all the books I read in 2009. I figured that if I met the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge I would be satisfied that my crafting wasn’t limiting my reading too much. So here is a list of all the complete* books I read in 2009, alphabetically by author.

1. Poetic Designs – Stephen Adams (s)
2. The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing Volume I: The Pox Party – M.T. Anderson (s)
3. Cat’s Eye – Margaret Atwood (s)
4. Emma – Jane Austen
5. The Time In-Between – David Bergen
6. Through Black Spruce – Joseph Boyden
7. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
8. A Little Princess – Frances Hodgson Burnett (s)
9. Such is My Beloved – Morley Callaghan (s)
10. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass – Lewis Carroll (s)
11. Beautiful Losers – Leonard Cohen (s)
12. The History of Sexuality – Michel Foucault (s)
13. Memoirs of Montparnasse – John Glassco (s)
14. Travels with My Aunt – Graham Green
15. The Sorrows of Young Werther – Goethe
16. Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
17. A Gradual Ruin – Robert Hilles
18. Howl’s Moving Castle – Diana Wynne Jones (s)
19. Dubliners – James Joyce
20. The Trial – Franz Kafka
21. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – Ken Kesey
22. The Jungle Books – Rudyard Kipling (s)
23. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe – C.S. Lewis (s)
24. The Princess and the Goblin – George MacDonald (s)
25. Bliss and Other Stories – Katherine Mansfield
26. Life of Pi – Yann Martel
27. Emily of New Moon – L.M. Montgomery (s)
28. After the Quake: Stories – Haruki Murakami
29. The Story of the Treasure Seekers – E. Nesbit (s)
30. The Symposium – Plato (s)
31. Tom’s Midnight Garden – Philippa Pearce (s)
32. Mercy Among the Children – David Adams Richards
33. How I Live Now – Meg Rosoff (s)
34. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone – J.K. Rowling
35. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – J.K. Rowling
36. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – J.K. Rowling
37. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – J.K. Rowling
38. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – J.K. Rowling
39. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling
40. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – J.K. Rowling
41. Epistemology of the Closet – Eve Sedgwick (s)
42. Funny Boy – Shyam Selvadurai (s)
43. As You Like It – William Shakespeare (s)
44. Dressing Up for the Carnival – Carol Shields
45. Sister Woman – J.G. Sime (s)
46. A Series of Unfortunate Events 1-13 (the Complete Wreck) – Lemony Snicket
47. Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer – Laini Taylor
48. The Flying Troutmans – Miriam Toews
49. Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
50. The Accidental Tourist – Anne Tyler
51. A Patchwork Planet – Anne Tyler
52. Ecoholic – Adria Vasil
53. The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde (s)
54. Fables Vol. 7: Arabian Nights – Bill Willingham
55. Fables Vol. 8: Wolves – Bill Willingham
56. Fables Vol. 9: Sons of Empire – Bill Willingham
57. Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall – Bill Willingham
58. Orlando – Virginia Woolf (s)
59. The Torontonians – Phyllis Brett Young (s)

*This list is only books I read from beginning to end. I read a variety of short stories, articles and segments of non-fiction books as well this year but did not record them for the purposes of this list.

I hope 2009 was a success however you measure your years, and I hope that 2010 exceeds expectations. Happy New Year.

Bonhomme

2009-12-30T17:56:00.003-05:00

I knit two snowmen for Christmas gifts this year. They were both designed as I knit, and made out of scraps in my stash.

This guys is a mug-cozy to keep things warm while you're steeping a cup of tea. He was for my mother in law.

This guy is just an ornament. He stands on his own, but I put him in our tree to take the picture. He was for my mother, she has a pretty intense snowman collection on her mantle. My step-father wasn't so pleased about yet another snowman, but she has requested that I make her a new one every year from now on.

"trees" by Emma and Mina, 2009

2009-12-27T14:11:00.004-05:00

So, the holidays have come and gone at my place. It was a bit of a whirlwind, to tell the truth. In the last few weeks I've been up to my eyeballs in crafting. In the end a few things slipped - mostly my sister's sweater. It's coming along nicely, she should get it in a few weeks.

One of the things that caused the most stress was the Christmas cards. The girl and I like to send out handmade Christmas cards, us both being artsy kids. So this year we spent some time making linocuts together and then divided up the tasks to actually assembing our lino pine tree cards.

Of all the crafting I did for the holidays the cards were the most work, but they're also the item I'm most pleased with. I think they came out really beautiful and special. I may make next years cards in February or March and just put them away until next Christmas to cut down on the stress.

10 days . . .

2009-12-15T15:46:00.003-05:00

Okay, I thought I didn’t have a lot of Christmas crafting to do, but it’s suddenly totally out of hand. Three hats on the needles, one (secret), some more ornaments, a mug cozy, something for my mom (maybe a painting?), and a SWEATER! Umm, can you say “ten days left until Christmas.”

On the up side, my last exam is today, and I did finish something:

Quartz Mustard Scarf
Pattern: Another Mustard Scarf (ravelry link)
Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Cuarzo

I can’t tell you what it’s for, but that’s one gift checked off the list.

Bird Brained

2009-12-11T00:04:00.005-05:00

White Leather Owl Wall Art by: missmatching on Etsy

What’s the deal with all these owls?

Don’t get me wrong, owls are cute. But why are they absolutely everywhere in the arts and crafts world right now? Did all the crafters get together and decide “this year owls will be so in!” Felt, wood, wool, silver, polymer clay . . . owls are everywhere!

An all item search for “owl” on Etsy returns 28,103 items. “Skull” has 33,258. Skulls have been ‘in’ for the past 30+ years! Combining “mouse” “mice” and “rat” yields about 16,000 items – and a bunch of them seem to be generic cat toys. Are owls that much cuter and craftier than mice? Are they really almost as popular as skulls?

Well, they are pretty adorable:

Hoot Hoot Owl Pendant by UrbanDesigns07

Mod Owl Buddy by CircusPeanuts

Owl on Branch Wall Decal by PopWall

Well, to the crafting collective: I dig the owls and all, but I'd like to put my vote in for goats in 2010.

it's a trainwreck . . .

2009-12-09T23:10:00.008-05:00

Life is kicking my butt. No matter how much I sit at my computer and deny myself sleep my papers simply will not write themselves. What jerks!

Extra shifts, and shifts that stretch 2 hours longer then they are supposed to at work doesn't help much. Don't get me wrong, I agreed to the extra work and I need the money, but it still makes me cranky.

So basically nothing is wrong other than that I am tired and don't want to do the things I have to do. I feel like I'm living the sort of accident you don't want to see but can't look away from. People say I'm morbid.

Applique Disaster 2
Quilt Series 2008
Acrylic and Paper on Canvas, 4"x6"

Applique Disaster 1
Quilt Series 2008
Acrylic and Paper on Canvas, 4"x6"

Oh yeah, I am morbid. I did these little pieces last year. They sum things up I think, if the premise of this blog post is "I'm creepy and kind of miserable and depressed, but also crafty and cute so it's mostly okay!"

Back to writing about the role of food in children's literature.

Beauty in Basics

2009-12-06T22:53:00.003-05:00

I knit these mittens a few weeks ago for a swap. Likely the last non-christmas gift thing I'll knit for a while.

Basil Hybrid Mittens
Yarn: Mission Falls 1824 Wool (Basil)
Pattern: Susie's Reading Mitts for the bottom, from the gusset and up I used Ann Budd's Basic Mitten Pattern.

I love Ann Budd's The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns. It gets a lot of use around Christmas, making basic hats and mittens with some added flair like stripes and different stitch patterns is a lot easier than complex patterns for everyone on my list.

handmade holidays

2009-12-03T10:03:00.002-05:00

The holiday season is fast approaching – yikes.

This year I’ve decided to have a handmade Christmas – that’s right, I’m buying from local artisans and making gifts myself. So far this seems to require a lot more effort, but fun. I am going to make a few exceptions: likely I’ll buy mass produced wrapping paper or craft paper because of the prohibitive cost on beautiful handmade papers. And I may buy some books, books are my best-friends, I can’t turn my back on them just because they’re mass produced. They can’t help the way they're made.

A lot of people on my gift list are going to get cookies, but I wanted to include a little item with some extra personalities. So I’m making some ornaments to give with the cookies. The first batch of ornaments was a troupe of little nisse.

Wee Folk
Pattern: korknisse

I’m such a fan of little gnomes, so I love these guys. I think I might keep one of the pink ones for myself to go on my tree.

a quick, but heartfelt, gift

2009-11-24T12:25:00.005-05:00

My sister’s birthday is this week, once upon a time I was planning on making her a sweater for her birthday. Then school started and the sweater got pushed back to Christmas.

I still wanted to make her something for her birthday. After my girlfriend, my sister is the most excited person I know about getting handknit items. So I needed something quick that would have a big impact.

Dijon Mustard Scarf
Pattern: Mustard Scarf (ravelry link)
Yarn: Khroma WW in Olive Oil

This was a great, quick little knit, and I think it turned out really cute. I have a skein of purple malabrigo that might be calling out to be a Mustard Scarf.

Here’s my girlfriend's seal of approval (she hurt herself at work last week, and is bandaged up like a drawing in an Archie comic).

5 Free Gifts – Who the &^%* is Kingsly Zissou?

2009-11-12T12:10:00.005-05:00

My arts and crafts cupboard prevailed, and provided me with black felt despite the city-wide, post-halloween shortage. So I was able to finish the final gift in the free gift project.

Kingsly Zissou
Pattern: Team Zissou (modified)
Yarn: Cascade 220 Wool

One of my very first knitting projects (my third, to be exact) was a Team Zissou Beanie, you can see me wearing it here. It was fun to tackle the same project again, and remember that the first time around the project taught me to purl and decrease for the first time.

And, if you don’t know what the hat is from, you should really watch The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. Very caustic, funny, sweet, and as an added bonus its soundtrack features David Bowie songs in Portuguese.

Also, I made oatmeal chocolate chip muffins. Yumm.

Signature Colours

2009-11-09T20:19:00.010-05:00

I have a friend who wears lots of aqua, when I commented on this she told me that her colour changes based on her boots. In the year I’ve known her she’s had aqua boots, if she got a new pair of boots in a different colour, she’d have a new signature colour.

For me, my hair determines my signature colour.

I decided I needed some aqua knits because I dyed my hair black, aqua and green for my Halloween costume and I am keeping it. In January I dyed my hair pink, and suddenly everything I knit myself was pink (or grey). Last year, when my hair was purple, most of the things I knit myself were purple (or grey). So I went to the Sheep last week, picked up some teal yarn, and knit this guy:

A Felicitous Felicity
Pattern: Felicity (ravelry link)

Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers

I really love the look of this hat, and judging by the number of projects on ravelry, I’m not the only one. It’s a simple look, with a bit of quirk, and very on-trend. More on-trend than I usually go, but I like it.

______________

On the topic of colours, the 5th Free Gift is all knit up, but requires some black felt to complete it. Being about a week after Halloween, it seems that the entire city is sold out of black felt. So, I’m waiting for a felt shipment before it can be finished.

5 Free Gifts: Boys and Wash Instructions

2009-11-06T20:57:00.007-05:00

Boys and wash instructions do not mix. I have learned this the hard way.

I made my girlfriend a Floopy Hat for Christmas last year. Even though she is hard on her knits, I knew this wouldn’t be an everyday hat, so I splurged and made it out of Mission Falls 1824.

When my friend saw the hat he immediately requested one (in this instance, the definition of requested is a little closer to begged). I wasn’t going to make his out of the Mission Falls, but I found some Patrons Classic Wool in the colours he requested that I thought would be nice.

He wore his hat every day. Then one day in April I saw him without the hat (the first time since I’d given it to him, this thing was becoming his trademark). I didn’t say anything, but he didn’t wait long to begin a sentence with “so, I’m an idiot . . .”

He had inadvertently washed the hat. It had gone through the laundry inside a sweater’s hood without him realizing. It felted, a lot.

I gave him his new, ACRYLIC, hat last week. He was very pleased.

Goblin Redux
Pattern: Floopy Hat
Yarn: Patons Canadiana

This hat is hard to photograph, I've made three of the things and I don't have a good picture of any of them, but it is a wicked hat and a great pattern.

5 Free Gifts - Fit for a Queen

2009-10-24T21:10:00.004-04:00

My friend asked for a pair of these after seeing the ones I made for a swap. She never got back to me about what colour she wanted, and I think she forgot entirely about asking for them. This worked out really well, as I needed to make her something for the 5 free gift project, and I wanted it to be a surprise.

The Queen of Hearts Gauntlets
Pattern: Frothy Gothy Wristwarmers
Yarn: Diamond Yarn Galway Heathers (I forget which colour, it was a half ball remnant - possibly Claret)

My friend is quite fond of Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland and it's various incarnations. I didn't want to make anything too specifically "Alice" but while thinking about these wristwarmers they struck me as rather gothically royal. So I decided to pull out some nice red stash yarn and make them for the Red Queen, or the Queen of Hearts, depending on if you've gone through a rabbit whole or ended up on the other side of the mirror.

I was always more a fan of the other side of the mirror - the portmanteau words really captivated my imagination.

5 Free gifts – Second Surprise

2009-10-20T10:20:00.002-04:00

I decided to keep all the gifts a secret until they were given to their intended recipients. Mostly this was no problem, except for this one.

A friend had requested a “Doctor Who scarf that would be wearable,” instead of the true-to-canon scarves that are about 20 feet long. I had already bought the yarn before I started the 5 Free Gift project, though I hadn’t started knitting. I had to evade a few inquiries about the scarf as I was working on it, and then once I’d finished I didn’t see my friend to give him the scarf for over a month.

Eventually, he got the scarf.

Practically The Doctor
Inspired by the Season 12 Doctor Who Scarf, but in a different ratio to make the finished scarf about 1/3 the size of the original. It was about 7 inches wide and 7 feet long when completed.
Yarn: Shepherd Classic 100% Wool

5 Free Gifts - Gift the First

2009-10-15T12:51:00.002-04:00

In March, after surviving (by refusing to acknowledge) the “25 things about me” note craze on facebook, I succumbed to a facebook meme. The “5 free gifts” note. The premise was you would make gifts during the year for the first five people to reply to the note and post their own note to make gifts.

Sort of like a chain letter, but with gifts instead of threats about instant death and impotence.

I’ve been working on the gifts and at this point a few have gone to their intended recipients.

On Saturday, I bought some yarn on my way up to a family-reunion-type-thing at my grandmothers. And during the course of the afternoon I knit a silly little hat for my sister, one of the intended free gift recipients.

Snowy Elf Cap
Yarn : Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick in Wheat

It’s quirky. I knit it too long and she decided she liked it so I left it long and silly. She’s pretty silly so it’s a good match.

Urban Adventures

2009-10-06T13:59:00.007-04:00

I love living in the city. The bustling metropolis where there is always something new to discover or rediscover. This weekend was Nuit Blanche, and while I found it less inspired than in years past, it was still an adventure to wander the night time streets experiencing art.

On Saturday afternoon, before heading out to see the sites, I knit these:

The Urban Explorer Mitts

Garter stitch in bulky yarn, these simply constructed handwarmers can be knit in an afternoon, and be ready to be worn exploring that evening. The handwarmers are soft and warm, protecting you from the cold, and from the hard textures that abound in a concrete jungle. They allow full freedom for your fingers, because any urban adventurer needs full range of motion for texting, snapping pictures, and gripping the pole on the subway.

I used Mirasol Sulka in Black Pepper (Colour A), Truffle (Colour B), and Horseradish (Colour C). Any soft bulky yarn would do.

Gauge: 3st/1” on 6mm needles

You will Need:
3 Colours Bulky Weight Yarn (100 Yards - 40 yards Colour A, 30 yards each of Colour B and Colour C)
6mm straight or circular needles
8mm straight or circular needles
Darning Needle

Instructions:
CO 19st of Colour A with 6mm needle
Row 1-2: Knit across
Row 3-4: Change to Colour B and knit across
Row 5-6: Change to Colour C and knit across
At this point change back to colour A and repeat rows 1-6 five time for a total of 36 rows.
Rows 37-38: repeat rows 1-2
Bind Off using 8mm needle
Seem side together, leaving a space for a thumb hole.

As easy as that. Now go do some exploring.

Swapping Goodness

2009-09-29T13:33:00.007-04:00

I love craft swaps. It is such fun putting together a package for someone you don’t know. Over the course of figuring things out about them and amassing a small pile of things to send to them they start to feel like someone you know. Like a pen pal, I guess - though I never really felt like I knew my pen pal very well.

Today the package I sent for the “Favourite Colour Swap” from Odd Ducks Swap Group on Ravelry arrived so I can share what I made. My swap partners favourite colour was cyan (and pink, but I made her package cyan themed).

Cyan Shawlette Scarf
Pattern: Simple Yet Effective Shawl by Laura Chau
Yarn: Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label in Peacock from The Naked Sheep
I love this pattern. It’s so easy to customize slightly and get a great result. For this scarf I did rows of eyelets, I like the way it came out.

Seedy Cyan Wristers
Pattern: Emerald Green Handwarmer by creativeyarn
Yarn: Cascade 220 #8907 from The Naked Sheep
These were really easy to knit, knit up super-fast, and I think are sweet. I like handwarmers that don’t have gussets, I think it makes them more practical for actually doing things like typing or writing.

The Politics of Crafting: I'm Afraid of the Quilters

2009-09-22T01:31:00.002-04:00

So, nothing new to share as far as crafts go, but I did have a thought about crafts I wanted to put out into the ether that is the blog-o-sphere.

I am afraid of the quilters.

Seriously, I am scared. I know, it sounds crazy. Quilters are about 90% middle aged to elderly women who spend their free time quilting! Not likely to strike fear into anyone’s heart, right? Wrong. Quilting, like many handicrafts, is steeped in tradition. Like knitting and crochet, quilting is a women-dominated space that values hard work, creativity, ingenuity and the beauty of things made by hand. It is imbued with generations of women empowering each other by sharing knowledge from mother to daughter, sister to sister and friend to friend. When you think about it, crafting is a pretty feminist thing.

But there is a dark side to quilting, and to other crafting too, I guess. All that tradition, all those old-school lessons can come with a pretty heavy dose of conservativism. Nice, elderly women who quilt baby blankets for their grandchildren, Timmy and Jane - these women can easily be the same grandmother who insists that little Timmy and Johnny are “roommates,” women who won’t let Jane come to Christmas dinner with pink hair, women who are scary to me.

It’s not that I hate them; it’s not that I think they are evil. They are simply different from me, with different lives and different views. And I can take being told that I am wrong and evil and wicked if it comes down to it; I know I’m not those things. But crafting is this funny thing that encourages community, and sharing, and learning from those who have more experience. Crafting encourages people to get together and sit around and craft together. Crafting encourages people from all over the world to organize swaps and trades. Crafting encourages community.

And I am scared of the quilting community. I am scared to try to join a quilt guild, or even sign up for a quilted postcard swap, because I don’t want to be judged and hated and vilified and told I am wrong, evil or wicked for wanting to be part of the history and tradition of quilting by making a quilt for my girlfriend.

The truth is that the hipster-trend towards knitting meant a lot of young people started knitting. And for the most part yarn-crafts are a mixed demographic now, of young and old, conservative and liberal. The tradition of yarn crafts has grown in the past decade to truly include the new generation – and wonderfully that includes men picking up what was once a woman’s trade. That’s really feminism to me.

Part of me feels like I need to step up and help quilting move forward the way knitting has, but it’s scary. I am afraid of the quilters.*

*For the record: I know that not all quilters and ultraconservative, rightwing, homophobic, racist old women. My mom and aunt are both quilters, and they are quite liberal, open-minded and queer positive. My aunt was the only member of my family who didn’t need transgenderism explained. But I suspect they are an exception, not a rule.

Oy, the readings!

2009-09-16T23:09:00.004-04:00

School is back in session and I am already swamped with more readings than seem humanly possible. I'm sure I could read them all in the small windows of time given - but will it be a close reading that allows me to fully appreciate the text? Sadly, it's unlikely. As it is I'm struggling just to slog through the Odyssey without really retaining much, I think getting the right translation tomorrow will help with this, though.

The real downside to all this reading is how I suddenly have zero free time. With taking 5 English/Literary Studies courses, and working 20+ hours a week there's no crafty time!

Likely this means there will also be nothing for me to blog about and pester the internets with. Unless I start posting about well crafted phrases I happen to read.

"Freed from musical performance, the literary lyric is capable of greater intricacy, not only of form but of intellectual substance." Stephen Adams, Poetic Designs (Broadview Press, 1997)

What, too dry? Well it was thrilling to me yesterday when I read it! What do you mean you want to see pictures of knitting? I don't have any knitting, I'm up to my ears in queer literary theory, sonnets and Homer! You'll have to be happy with Adams' remark about poetry transcending it's original form as words to music! Don't you see that it is a subtle dig at anyone who tries to claim that Jewel is their favourite poet!

I bet you plebeians don't even like poetry! Fine, I'm off to read Sappho in bed. Goodnight.

It's a Sleeve!

2009-09-10T21:14:00.006-04:00

So far so good on the cardigan! I made a sleeve disaster-free.

I'm working on the body right now (the other sleeve can wait until I've decided I really want to knit the whole thing, I'm still a little worried about fit). I've had some trouble with the instructions for the body part of the cardigan - mostly it seems like they're a bit wrong. So I'm improvising, hopefully it'll be okay.

I got some funny looks sitting on a bench at school knitting. I don't really understand why, it doesn't strike me as any more unusual than sitting on the grass laughing about Family Guy episodes like the guys who were sitting near me. Oh, school, how I have missed you!

Just a friendly reminder:

2009-08-29T20:43:00.005-04:00

Your blog sucks.

These journals came out of a box at work. I laughed aloud when I saw them, then I quickly tucked them back into the box to be sent back to the mother ship (aka our Annex location). It's a family neighbourhood and little girls like to play with our journals. I can just picture some mothers reaction to these babies.

But it's always good to be reminded that no matter who you are, where you are or how important you might think you are: blogging is ridiculous. Possibly the only thing more narcissistic than blogging is writing about blogging on your blog. So I'll go back to my regularly-scheduled narcissism and blog about crafts.

I am going to make a grown-up garment! For myself!

From any other knitter this might not seem like news, but (a) I have never made a grown-up garment and (b) I mostly knit stuff for other people. So it's a big deal in my little world. I'm planning on making the Treeline Stripped Cardigan in black and teal Cascade 220. Wish me luck!

disappointing daisies

2009-08-24T21:46:00.002-04:00

Over the past week I have been knitting up some Daisy Stitch Hand Warmers. I’ve been itching to make some for a while now. They just look so cute in the pictures on the purlbee site and ravelry!

This guy was knit with Cascade 220 and he is nice to look at.

But he is not nice to wear. I don’t want to blame the pattern, because it is a well written and easy to follow pattern that created exactly what the pictures showed – very cute hand warmers. But the stitch pattern made a fairly inflexible fabric that doesn’t have much stretch, less than ideal for something going over hands. The stitch pattern is also very nubby on the wrong side, making the hand warmers feel itchy.

I think both issues could be remedied with the use of different wool. Something with a lot of elasticity and very soft. The truth is though, that I don’t want a pattern that requires the search for such a specific yarn. I love yarns like Cascade 220 because they are multipurpose. Reasonably stretchy, reasonably soft, and reasonably priced. Coming in a wide range of colours. With scraps that will be easy to use. I look for versatility in my yarn.

And if a pattern isn’t looking for a versatile yarn, if a pattern can’t work in a reasonably stretchy, reasonably soft and reasonably priced yarn, then no matter how pretty the pattern is, it’s probably not the pattern for me. I demand a lot from patterns so I can ask a little less of the yarn. More from the pattern writer and less from the sheep. I’m not saying the pattern writer here did anything wrong, this is a very cute pattern that was surprisingly easy to follow and yielded a good looking result. The pattern simply didn’t work very well in a substitute versatile yarn. Many people will work to find the right yarn for this pattern, and that’s a completely legitimate way to do things – they will be rewarded with some wonderful hand warmers. But it’s not the way I do things.

I really like how my handwarmer looks, but I’m unlikely to ever go find the perfect yarn for the pattern. I’m more likely to go look for a better pattern for these colours of Cascade 220.

working hard, or hardly working?

2009-08-14T19:24:00.002-04:00

For working retail, I have a pretty cool job. I work at a neighbourhood art, craft, stationary and office supply store. It’s a funny mix of things, but it works for the neighbourhood. We’re the only place in the area who carries printer paper, crayons and acrylic paint. Though I’m not sure exactly when you would need all three in a one-stop situation.

Earlier this week at work I was paid to stand outside in the shade on a beautiful day and do arts and crafts. I put on a Kid’s Craft Demo, as we dubbed it. A few years ago we had some success during the sidewalk sale doing crafts outside so I spent my week putting together craft kits, instructions and examples. Then I spent a morning outside demonstrating.

We had two kits available, the Party Masks:

And the Felt Badges and Magnets:

Needless to say, I had a blast standing around outside making little masks and magnets! I only wish more people had stopped by to see the demos and pick up some kits. The kits were a great deal – for $5 you got enough to make either 4 masks, or about 12 badges and magnets.

The very best part is that I get to do it all again this Wednesday! This week I’m making Fantasy Foam Mobiles! So cute. If you have any little ones and are in the Beaches area of Toronto you should come check it out.

Seriously, I have a pretty cool job.

does Blogger have a geek content limit?

2009-08-08T18:12:00.005-04:00

Pattern: Jayne Cobb's Family Hat
Yarn: Cascade 220

These two "cunning" hats were a request from a friend. They are to serve as some sort of identifying device for FanExpo. I didn't catch all the details, I think it has something to do with TAG (the Toronto Area Gamers). I would have paid more attention to the details except I can't attend the con due to work and I know I'll be hearing about it ad nauseum for weeks afterwards. So I'm trying to limit my exposure to FanExpo related things right now.

To any non-geeks out there (I hear they exist) the hats are replicas of a hat featured on an episode of Firefly. The big, dumb, tough brute of the show is sent a hand knit hat from his mother which he wears throughout the episode. It's sweet. In the words of another character "I think it's the sweetest hat ever."

In other news I got a new computer today! Well, more like I sat around the apartment being sick and my wonderful girlfriend brought me home a new computer today. A computer she paid for. Did I mention she was wonderful and I love her very much?

So here's the "before." My sad little 4 year old laptop.

And here's the "after." My brand new hp desktop! Isn't it pretty? (Remember last post and my total lack of computer sense? All I can really say is that it is pretty.) I did immediately notice the awesomeness of the monitor! My girlfriend had to talk the guys at Best Buy down to a smaller monitor because I did not want a huge one. This one is perfect, and so nice and bright compared to my laptop (which had a decent monitor as far as laptops go, really). I am paying for the monitor, which makes sense to me because honestly it's the only part of the computer I understand much about.

I'm sure the computer is much better than my laptop, I just don't really understand all the technical reasons why it is better. I do know that it will let me play WoW once it's done downloading, which is exciting. Truthfully, I think that's part of why the girl got it for me, so I don't kick her off her computer so I can play. This way we can play together like a happy (totally addicted, socially maladjusted) family.

To end on a geeky note: this is my cat, Jayne, checking out one of the hats. Jayne came to us from my friend who is the intended recipients of the hats. She fostered him after he was rescued from a life of stray-dom. She named him Jayne after the character in Firefly who wears the hat. He's a pretty excellent cat, and she's a pretty excellent friend so I hope she approves of the hats. He wasn't so impressed, but the truth is he's a cat and seldom impressed by anything.

Of sewing machines and computers

2009-08-06T22:53:00.014-04:00

I pulled out the sewing machine yesterday and finally started piecing the quilt. I'm slowly developing a healthy relationship with my sewing machine. When I first got the machine I would become frustrated with myself over every mistake. Every issue I assumed had to be wholly my fault. My sewing experience was limited and the machine was brand new. I wouldn't blame the machine for anything, as a result I often overlooked situations in which the machine was partially at fault. Knowing the machines quirks would have helped me get a better result, but I couldn't believe that the mistake wasn't 100% my fault. Since I started quilting we've been getting along quite well and I can honestly assess when the machine could be doing a better job and when I could be doing a better job.

I feel like I should name the sewing machine, now that we're getting to know each other and work well together. But that might just be my inner nut-case speaking. Or the cold I developed today could be a fever, making me delirious.

I got two 12"x16" blocks done for the quilt before I was struck down with a killer cold today. I spent most of the day in bed. I snapped a picture earlier of some of my progress. It's not a great picture because I convinced myself before I went to bed that it wasn't a cold, only allergies and I'd go back to working on it in a few minutes and I would take a picture of my progress later. Didn't happen.

The other blog related business is that I finally got around to changing the look of this blog. I was never happy with the way it looked but my severe lack of computer-sense forced me to leave it alone.

There was a time (let's call it 'when Emma was in high school') that is was accepted - nay, expected - that artsy folks were tech illiterate. If you were interested in medieval history, Russian literature or post-modern sculpture you were excused from knowing how to use your computer. Times seem to have changed. All my friends who studied visual arts at a post secondary institution are crazy tech savvy (at least compared to me). They have electronic drawing tablets, they know Illustrator and Photoshop inside and out, they can have a conversation about Mac products that doesn't include how pretty they are.

I, on the other hand, have no interest in computers beyond their use as word processors and means to the interwebs. I created my blog header by photographing doodles in my sketchbook and cleaning them up in photoshop elements. I was afraid of using the very-fancy photo scanner on my girlfriends desk.

I don't want to be a computer wiz, but I would like to be able to get my little craft blog to look the way I want, and I suspect if I was a little more tech savvy that would be loads easier.

A Birthday Gift

2009-07-29T21:01:00.010-04:00

I was doing so well with the whole blogging thing, but suddenly three weeks went by without a post. I don't know how that happened. Honestly, it's not a blogging slump that's the trouble. I've been experiencing a crafting slump. I had some "set-pieces" to make for the window display at work, and I had some disembodied sleeves to knit for the girlfriends birthday. The futility of the first, the repetitiveness of the second, and the looming deadline of both sapped all my creative will-to-live.

The birthday was yesterday, and the sleeves were done. In fact, I had enough time to knit up a matching little toque. She's a sucker for a toque. Looking at the picture of her gifts from me, you might think she's a spoiled brat. You would be correct.

Disembodied Sleeves

Cascade Eco Wool

Sleeves that stand alone, the tops of the sleeves reach the bottom of a t-shirt sleeve, making them a good autumn accessory (according to my girlfriend, who specifically requested disembodied sleeves).

Disjointed Cap

Cascade Eco Wool

I love the unusual combination of a rustic styled cap with tassels. I think of tassels on a Victorian night cap. It's quirky, but not outrageously so.

__________________________________________________

In other crafting news I am trying to learn to crochet. I'm getting better, but it's hard for me to remember to hold my yarn up above my work. It still feels awkward.

And the quilt is slowly crawling forward, here's a sneak peak at my first attempt at laying out my pieces.

Not-so-Strangers

2009-07-07T14:25:00.006-04:00

So these past few months I signed up for, and finished my first craft swap. It's a strange thing, creating a package for a stranger and receiving a package from a different stranger. I had a hard time explaining exactly why I would do something like that to the non-crafters in my life. It seemed to strike them as very strange. Why does an idea that seems so natural to most crafters seem so unusual to non-crafters? Maybe because hand-crafts have always been a fairly community based activity. Something handed down and shared. Crafting builds relationships between people who might not have a lot in common besides their chosen craft. Knitting has brought a lot of new people into my life, so swapping never struck me as an odd thing to do.

Last week the package I sent arrived at it's designated location. Today I picked up my package at the post office, thus completing the circle and ending this particular swap for myself (I'm still watching the rest of the groups items come in though). It has been a wonderful experience, this whole swapping business.

The swap was themed around Edward Gorey, coordinated by the Odd Ducks of Ravelry swap group. I had a wonderful time putting together the package for my swap partner. It was fun digging up things we had in common. In the end I put together a package with some tea-themed goodies (we both love a good cup of loose lead tea) and a lot of purple (a colour she and I both described as a favourite).

I made my partner a pair of armwarmers for the "big" handmade item. They're made from Cascade 220 Heathers, the pattern was the Frothy Gothy Wrist Warmers.

And I made a handmade card, with a picture of Neville from the Gashlycrumb Tinies. I also made her a mug cozy with a bat motif, but I didn't snap a good picture. If you're on ravelry you can see the pictures she took of the whole package here.

I really enjoyed putting the package together, and I thought it would be the best part of the swap. I wasn't actually thinking at all about what I was getting until last night when I learned that my package arrived at the post office.

The person who sent me a package went so above and beyond. This is the full package, you can see close up pictures on my flickr page.

It was wonderful to receive something from a stranger who had gone to the trouble of getting to know me so she could send me something special. She made me a book in which she took Gorey's drawings and gave them new text about me. The Kafka one really made me smile because it meant that she had really searched for information about me. I know that nowhere on the swap forums did I mention that I love Kafka.

I had a wonderful experience with my first swap, and I can't wait to start my second. Now I simply have to choose between the three options for the swaps starting next month with the Odd Ducks: Tim Burton, Muppets or Favourite Colour. Tough choice, right?

Tea and Kaffe

2009-07-02T20:29:00.006-04:00

I went fabric shopping with my mother today. Yesterday, after I decided to make another quilt, my girlfriend requested that I make it for her. So I picked up some fabric to make her a red and purple quilt. In my head, I was seeing a quilt made of differently sized squares in vibrant purple and deep red. Something Kaffe Fassett-esque.

We first went to Homespun Designs in Stouffville. It's a fairly new shop, and it was lovely. They had a wonderful selection. I fell absolutely in love with Andover Fabric "Dimples." It is such a beautiful simple tone-on-tone fabric that comes in the most brilliantly saturated colours. I couldn't resist getting it in two colours.

Homespun had great stuff, but most of their purples were soft and pretty, not quite shocking enough for what I had in mind, so when we left I had all red, plus the one "Dimples" purple. We went to Ann's Fabrics, also in Stouffville, to hunt up some more purple. I found a bit more, and one more great red.

I figured I'd done pretty well, though I still wouldn't mind picking up a few more purples. Back at my mom's place we had some tea and I dug around through her stash. Purple and deep red aren't really her colours, but I did find a few things. And I found this:

Kaffe Fassett in red and purple! It was fate.

So here are all my fabrics, ready to be cut up into little squares. I am so excited.

The True North Strong and Free

2009-07-01T17:59:00.008-04:00

I love Canada, but I won't bore you with the details. It is sufficient to say that I am in no way in the dark about some of the less-than-wonderful things about Canada, but overall I think it is a great country headed in largely the right direction.

The truth is that my family takes Canada for granted sometimes. My mom is 7th generation Canadian, my dad's family are Native Canadians. I am a Canadian, I am very proud to be a Canadian, but Canada Day has never been a huge deal in my life. It's just something that has always been there. For my family, Canada Day is a nice day off in the summer, right in the middle of strawberry season.

Thus the "Strawberry Bake-Off" was born: the brain-child of my aunt about a decade ago. The deal is we bake things with fresh Ontario strawberries, we all eat said things, and maybe someone wins. I have no idea what the prize is, quite honestly I don't remember anyone ever really winning. The event is enough of a treat, I guess. The actual event is up at the family cottage on Saturday, but we had a little pre-bake-off bake-off and lunch at my mom's house today.

I made a strawberry buckle, based on Anna Olsen's Blueberry Buckle. It was a new recipe for me, and it turned out okay. The cake doesn't have enough flavour, though. If I made it again I think I would add lemon to the cake part.

I also knit my mom some strawberries. She is a huge fan of little knit toys and things, she quite liked them. The pattern is from here.

And I got to take a peek at my mom's current quilting projects. She really inspires me to take up quilting more seriously. I adore quilts. This one is a Japanese inspired quilt she made as part of a quilt guild project. It's not her usual style, but it's very nice and has some interesting Japanese techniques, like sashiko embroidery.

I made a plan to go fabric shopping with my mom tomorrow, and I'm checking out some quilt blogs in search of inspiration for my next quilt. I am thinking either fuchsia or turquoise.

Crayons in the Sun

2009-06-24T23:43:00.009-04:00

Remember this yarn?

My sister was given this yarn, and then I was given it to make something for her. "Shawlettes" being all the rage (and the only thing I could think to do with this much rainbow-bright fingering yarn) I knit a little shawl.

The pattern is The Simple Yet Effective Shawl, with one major modification. I started knitting the shawl with the alternating bands of garter and stockinette stitch, but it was way too solid. It was way too much crayon yarn! It needed to be broken up! So instead of stockinette, I knit a simple eyelet band.

Here is the stockinette . . . kind of horrible.

And here is the eyelet version . . . kind of cute.

I would never pick this yarn or wear this article of clothing, but it's kind of charming in a silly way. My sister loves things that are a little ugly, and a little charming. She liked her shawl.

Baby Mavis

2009-06-20T19:14:00.006-04:00

When I was born, my cousin Maggie was 8 years old. Her family was going to come visit my parents and I in the hospital. Maggie was so excited she threw up, and as a result was not allowed to come see me.

I was pretty excited when Maggie told us she was going to have a baby. I told her I was likely to throw up when I finally met the kid. I didn't. At exactly three weeks old, Baby Mavis was officially welcomed to the world by a few family members this afternoon. I made her a couple things as my way of saying "welcome!" Here's Mavis, Maggie and my girlfriend, Mina.

Apple Orchard Mobile
Pattern: Flock
Yarn: Assorted Worsted in Stash

Maggie asked me to make a mobile that would match the "farm animal" theme they've gone with. I stalled for a long time trying to come up with the perfect thing. I knew when I saw Flock that I was going to use branches to hang the mobile. I wanted to knit little farm animals, but that was a bust. In the end I decided the original pattern was too cute not to make the birds. I mixed them with apples to create an orchard-type feel.

Cardigan for a Flopsy Bunny
Pattern: Felix's Cardigan
Yarn: James C. Brett Marble

My mom fell in love with this yarn and bought it for me to make something for the baby. We knew a little cardigan with brass buttons would be just right. The sweater reminds me of something a character in a Beatrix Potter story would wear.

It's nice to be part of a growing family, it means I will always have people to make things for and to spend time with on rainy saturday afternoons.

The Bug

2009-06-09T21:21:00.004-04:00

I have caught it. The designing bug. Well, more the I-can't-find-a-pattern-that-is-exactly-what-I'm-looking-for-so-I-think-I'll-make-my-own bug. I'm no stranger to taking a pattern and fiddling to get it just right for me, but there is a step beyond where one pulls out some paper and turns away from other patterns and starts working on the fly. This is where I am. The designing knitwear bug is much easier on my wallet and my floor-space than the spinning bug or the dying bug so I'm not going to complain.

So what did I design, you ask? Nothing much yet, because this is only a prototype and not a finished pattern. I know what I need to change, but I haven't knit one with the modifications to see if they fix the trouble areas. It might not look like much - it's only a hat after all - but there was a real sense of accomplishment on Saturday morning when I finished my little grey prototype and saw that I had made something very like the image I had pulled from my head.

So here in my first real attempt at knitting something that came out of my own head, and not someone else's.

Guttersnipe Cap - the Prototype

My next designing move is to work up two items for a gift. And to get around to fixing up the few little issues with guttersnipe.

The Crawl and the Haul

2009-06-06T19:33:00.006-04:00

The TTC Knit-Along was today, and I had a great time. I'm pooped now, though.

I was on Team East B. Our route took us to The Naked Sheep, The Purple Purl, Lettuce Knit, Americo, and Romni Wool. You might ask why I chose this route - seeing as the first two stores are my favourite LYS's, and I'm no stranger to Romni. The truth is, I chose this route because I knew Lisa at the Sheep, and Jenn and Miko at the Purl would really get into things and make my time in their shop worthwhile.

I was not wrong. The Naked Sheep and The Purple Purl were by far the best stops on our route. Both shops had great discounts, give-aways, and refreshments. They really got into it and I had a blast at both shops. It is exactly why I shop at both so frequently - they make the place welcoming and fun.

The whole TTC Knit-Along was wonderful. The organizers did a great job. We all got buttons and a tote bag with the logo. The people on my team were friendly and fun. I was worried about going without anyone I knew, but I had a good time and met some new people.

Knitting on the TTC! That was the point, after all.

At the Purple Purl

Miko of the Purl shows off some novelty yarn . . . apparently it's all the rage in Europe. I've never been to Europe, but I still don't believe it.

Hanging out on the steps at Lettuce Knit. The shop is quaint and sweet when with a partner, but a little cramped with a group of 16.

Here's my knit-along project. My Kooky Cobalt scarf. I got past the halfway point. I'm not sure how long it'll end up being, but I used up one skein and I only bought two, so I'm definitely past the halfway point.

Knitters invade Rivoli after the crawl to eat, drink, and compare yarn. The pile on the table is the winner of "most bought." There are 17 skeins of some pink Mirasol yarn, plus other things.

Here's what I got at the Sheep. All Cascade 220, I might have a problem (I don't want to think about how much of my stash is Cascade 220). The yellow, orange and "red" are for a couple of Cunning Hats a friend requested. I won the pink - well, I won a skein of Cascade 220 in my colour of choice and I didn't have much time to pick so I panicked and grabbed hot pink. I'm sure it will become something wonderful, but right now I have no ideas.

Here's what I got at the Purl. The Mirasol Sulka in "Horseradish" is to go with some Sulka I have in my stash. I'm thinking about a scarf. They gave each of us a Purple Purl tote bag with the Calendar and some yarn. The yarn is Plymouth Earth Organic Mainland in "Latte Tweed." I have no idea what to make from it, but it's so soft!

All in all, I had a great day, but I am ready to crawl into bed a bit early tonight.