6KCBWDAY4 – Bags Of Fun

Time to delve into that most treasured collection of tools, notions and oddments as you are asked to spill the contents of your knitting or crochet bag, caddy or other method of organisation and put your crafting unmentionables on display.

My knitting tends to go with me. I like knitting at home, but it’s not the only place I knit. I keep all of my tools and accessories organized in a way that makes traveling with them easier–I never get to my destination, sit down, and find out I’m missing something I needed. I also don’t have to have doubles or triples of different tools, because they’re centralized together. As an added bonus, I rarely lose or misplace what I need!

6KCBWDAY3 – Experimental Photography And Image Handling

It is easy enough to fall into a routine of photographing your finished projects as is – clearly displayed, maybe from a few varying angles, and for a large part of the time these are what blog readers will expect to see, but every now and again it is good to throw in a picture that causes people to linger.

Refresh your skills at creating attention-grabbing pictures.

I’m not sure exactly how “attention-grabbing” these pictures really are, but I definitely had a lot of fun with them! I was thinking about this prompt last night and setting up my camera and such. On the topics page for this blog week there were a number of suggestions; I thought about following one or two of those, but ultimately decided I’d have more fun if I tried to think outside the shared ideas.

6KCBWDAY2 – It’s All About You

This post can be about your reality, your aspirations, past, present or future. Enjoy talking about you. If you really don’t want to write about yourself, though, use your creative license and invent yourself an alternative persona, whether you are a spy, deep-sea diver or astronaut (who just happens to love yarn).

For about 6 months I’ve been taking adult beginning ballet classes. As a result, a lot of my time and interest is focused on learning dance. I now read blogs like Adult Beginner (of course), Advance, and never halt, Kingdom of Style, Setting the Barre, and Tutus and Tea. (I keep trying to get into If the Pointe Shoe Fits, but she posts mostly videos and I almost never turn the sound on for my computer–so I’m always going, “Oh, I’ll watch that video later,” but I never do…) I love reading the Ballet Talk for Dancers forums, although I’m a bit too intimidated to post much.

I took ballet classes as a toddler, but I quit when I was in middle school, probably about age 11. I am pretty sure that I was no longer taking ballet by the time I started cheerleading. (Something I did only in middle school.) I don’t honestly remember all that much about ballet. I liked it, but only ambivalently. (If I were more serious about it, I wouldn’t have wanted to quit.) I took classes–probably once a week–at our local park district, and some of my hazy memories involve class levels being combined due to low attendance–and wondering if I’d only ever be in class with “babies.” I asked to stop taking class and my parents agreed.

6KCBWDAY1 – If You Were Yarn

If you were a type or brand of yarn, which would you be? Are you a classic pure wool? Is there extra tension but a bit of bounce in you because of your high twist? Would you be more like a high-maintenance, strictly hand-wash fluffy angora or a ‘bring it on’ acrylic, bravely heading into the world of possible baby-sick laundering disasters knowing that you will always come out bright and unharmed?

If I were a type of yarn, I would be… a delicate-looking light fingering-weight sock wool that seems far too wimpy to make a good pair of socks. The sort of thing that feels “safer” for a shawl, although you worry when it passes through your fingers if blocking it aggressively might make it snap and unravel. You might not use this yarn for a while, considering all that extra care it probably requires.

And then it knits up into a pair of iron-wearing socks that never need darning and have unfaded colours even when washed improperly. Socks you can rely on. (I feel like that matches up pretty well to a lot of my goals in life. “Be socks others can rely on.” XD)

If I were a brand of yarn, I would be… Lion Brand.

This one was pretty tricky. I’d love to be one of my favourite brands, like Madelinetosh, Lorna’s Laces, or Dream in Color. Something hand-dyed and gorgeous and soft and not “big box craft store.”

However, I think I’d be Lion Brand–not because I’m equating the type of yarn I’d be above with a yarn in their repertoire, but because my mom loves, loves, loves, loves Lion Brand yarn. She’s always loved lions–they’re her favourite animal, so that got them a point just on the name–and she mostly crochets innumerable afghans with Lion Brand Homespun. My mother, without a doubt, would be Lion Brand. She’d probably be Homespun. I think I’d be Lion Brand by association.

I also feel like I’m not exclusive enough or hard-to-find or unique to really be fancier yarn. Although I guess since I’m born and raised in Chicago I could be Lorna’s Laces. ♥

I had fun trying to decide which yarn(s) I am. :3

6th Annual Knitting and Crochet Blog Week 2015

I’m planning on taking part again for 2015! ♥

I’ve gotten out of the habit of posting, and I’ve been very intimidated about starting again… so I have to just get back up and do it! Following some prompts is a great push in the right direction.

Details about the 6th Annual Knitting and Crochet Blog Week 2014 are here.

Topics and post tags for the 6th Annual Knitting and Crochet Blog Week 2014 are here.

Time for Christmas Knitting

I don’t knit for the holidays every year, but I’ve decided to do so this year! I already got a head start with a hat and cowl set, and I’ve mapped out that I needed to create the following:

1. 5 ladies’ hats
2. 3 men’s hats
3. 2 men’s cowls
4. 1 ladies’ cowl
5. 1 blanket
6. 3 unknown ladies’ items

I took advantage of a yarn sale to pick up super bulky yarn (Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick) for 4 of the 5 ladies’ hats. It’s one of the acrylic blends I dislike the least, and ease of washing matters for a few of these recipients. I used the pattern Free Rapunzel! because I had so much fun making one for me. Whipping up these hats wound up being just about as entertaining as the first one was. It’s so quick and easy, and I love the look of the all the braids. It’s really only cutting through the pompoms that I don’t enjoy; the scissors hurt my fingers. x_x

Vogue Knitting Live! Chicago 2014

I was very excited to attend Vogue Knitting Live! Chicago this year~! ♥ I was able to attend in 2012, but it was not in my budget last year. That’s particularly a shame because the location of the event is very easy for me to commute to–not too far from my office, and thus super simple for me to travel to from my home. It’s nice to not have to make actual travel arrangements or book overnight accommodations. In 2012 I was lucky enough to win entrance and one lecture, but I really wanted to be able to take a class. Thankfully, this year my mother arranged for me to attend and take 4 classes as a birthday present! (Registration opened up juuuust around my birthday.)

A coworker and friend of mine also registered to go, so we were able to enjoy the event together! (She totally outdid me as far as number of classes, though. XD)

My first day was Friday. Registration was a *SNAP*; I showed up bright and early and my badge had already been mailed. All I needed was a lanyard and a brochure from the express registration table. My friend had a morning class, although I only had an afternoon class, and as the marketplace was not yet open I sat around in a lounge area in the gooooorgeous hotel and chatted with other knitters! Both years that I’ve attended, it’s been really fun to be a part of such a welcoming atmosphere. I’ve been talked to and joined by all sorts of people I don’t know, and everyone has been very pleasant and cheery!

I Love Many Forms of Afternoon Tea

I first saw the Afternoon Tea shawl pattern when I first realized that Knitty existed. At the time, shawls seemed like crazy, complicated projects that only the most extreme of knitters could successfully complete. My skills barely encompassed knitting and purling, and any time I caught a glimpse of a chart I was sure it was something I could never learn to decode. The stitch pattern and design of the shawl didn’t capture my attention as much as the name did–I love tea in general and especially formal afternoon tea at hotels or tea houses. I imagined myself wearing such a shawl, graceful as the heroines of the novels I’d grown up reading, sipping my tea and chatting blithely with other frilly maidens. Then I returned to my slow study of simpler projects.

In late July I thought often of shawls, having seen some particularly lovely patterns come up in the “Most Popular” selections on Ravelry. When I stopped into a yarn shop and ambled through the yarn (as my patient friend and husband lounged in the seating area clicking away on their phones), I was thinking of some of those shawl patterns. I spotted a pretty pale pinkish brown flecked with paler creamish tones and knew it would come home with me. I wasn’t sure which shawl pattern it would work out for, but I knew that shawls made of fingering yarn were common enough that I must have at least a few in mind ready for this yarn.

WIP Wednesday: Striped Cranberry Socks

On my last yarn-purchasing excursion, I requested that my husband select a Zauberball or Crazy Zauberball from the shop’s selection. He’s always game for more socks, and I was really interested in working with a yarn that had the gentle colour changes that the aforementioned yarn is known for.

Initially I planned to knit a fingering-weight adaptation of the pattern Rye by Tin Can Knits. That’s what I had in mind when I cast on these socks and started with the ribbing. As the yarn started to transition into a darker colour, however, I didn’t feel at ease with my pattern choice. Even with the garter stitch section of the pattern (and I do adore garter stitch), I worried about being bored with the look of the socks. I browsed through a few patterns, specifically searching for those designed for or completed by people using Zauberball, and found the Magic Zauberball Stripe Socks by Tofutrulla. This pattern is not complicated or exacting, and the sock is stockinette, but the colour-changing stripes really appeal to me. I was just about finished with the ribbing on the sock I had begun, so there was no need to rip anything out, only to do something different going forward.

I dragged out the scale, separated the yarn into two balls of equivalent size, and started striping…and I love it! I’m sure there will be an area where both stripes are almost the exact same colour, but hopefully that won’t really bother me. I feel like the stripes knit much faster than a plain sock; there’s something about being able to track the progress in terms of visual queues that helps avoid that sinking “endless project abyss” feeling that I dread. I’m curious to see how the pair looks when both socks are finished, since they won’t match in much more than spirit.

Hats and Hats and Hats

The green yarn that made the first green hat was ultimately enough for three green hats. I was really glad to use up all of that green yarn–for a little while it started to feel endless, as though I had miles upon miles of green yarn and would be knitting green yarn until I was old and gray. Not having that be the truth filled me with relief.

After the hats I focused on a star-shaped blanket made of the yellow acrylic and the blue possibly-acrylic. I toyed with the thought of buying more yellow to make the center yellow star larger, but there was no real need to do so. It was more important to finish it before attending the party at which it would be a gift, so I hopped onto it with the navy blue and crocheted until the yarn was gone. I didn’t manage to get any pictures of it, because it wasn’t even 100% finished drying when we attended the party. Hopefully it will be dragged all over the place by the child who now owns it; that’s the best thing I could hope for a star-shaped blanket.

And then, another hat. Hats forever, apparently. At least with this hat, the yarn that was given to me was officially used up~ It’s really lovely and soft, but the yarn was very weak and had been balled with numerous breaks in the yarn. I was constantly stopping and there were so many ends to weave in that I’m glad I did it while I was knitting, instead of waiting until the end. This hat and the green ones are going off to various causes where hats are wanted, but I’ve been delaying on dropping them off at the yarn shop to avoid the temptation of yarn. XD