Been a While

So yeah, I haven’t exactly been keeping up with my updates /understatement.  I’ve been busy getting my life in to order, and thankfully that I’ve been able to incorporate crafting into it :D

One of the things that happened is the hiatus (yet again) of my Godmother Shawl I dropped some stitches and had no idea how to pick them up.  To be specific they were “sl 1 k2tog psso” stitches and I figured it was a nice time to learn how to pick those up, just in case.  Turns out my lys person just fixed it for me while I wasn’t paying attention :/ lol.

Something else I’ve been doing, I’ve seemed to have acquired a collection of Japanese craft books and I have no idea if I’m even going to get around to doing anything in them.  Anyone who crochet’s seriously knows Japanese patterns are probably the most modern, cute, and wearable today patterns anywhere.  They also tend to be in the small hook sizes.  Unfortunately I’ve been mostly shopping at BookOFF and crochet patterns for clothes are rare, most of the ones I’ve found are dated :(

What I do have are miscellaneous crafty books and two books my brother brought over from Okinawa when he went to visit some friends.  I asked for an amigurumi book but he misunderstood and bought me a doily book and a felt gurumi’s.

• NHK おしゃれ工房 2008年 02月号 [雑誌] [雑誌] – NHK magazine, has a how to on kimono’s
• スカーフ・ストール・マフラー―“自分らし... 高田 恵美 - different ways on how to tie a scarf, tie or cravat
• フェルト羊毛で作る かわいい仲間たち – the feltgurumi book
• のんびり気分で作りたいもの―handmade ZAKKA – a Zakka book (duh~)
• かわいいレース編み (Let’s Knit series はじめてかんたんできちゃった!)– teeny hook book, kind of a doily zakka book, everything's really cute and pretty.  I even bought the teeny hooks to make something in it :D
• ホームクチュール+手芸をプラス 茅木 真知子- nice skirt and dress patterns (included), I just worry about shaping since I have latina hips (bust is fine, as in I don’t have one lol)
• 栗山武子のビーズ刺繍でドレスアップ―基礎... 栗山 武子 清水 行雄 - awesome beeding book, great for ideas, although I won't be doing any full lengh beaded dresses
• 基本からはじめる手ぬいのバッグ 高橋 恵美子 – cute bag and purse book
• アートクレイシルバーで作る純銀製のアクセサリー – precious metal clay book, bought it mostly for mom who want to start doing jewelry
• あみぐるみsweets―かぎ針で編んで作... (レディブティックシリーズ no. 2846) – super cute amigurumi sweets book, I especially like the Dango and Bon Bon rings
• 伝承のちりめん細工―明治・大正・昭和の女... (ハンドクラフトシリーズ 128) – Gamaguchi (kimono coin) purses from persimmons to lobsters to swaddled behbehs!
• かわいいフェイク・スイーツのつくり方 氣仙 えりか – similar to the sweets amigurumi book but this uses air dry clay, I’m going to try it with paper clay and see how that turns out.  They look super real in the book, makes me want to break a tooth on one of them…

Picked a Pattern!

Technically my mom did :p  And the winner(‘s) is(are):

Falling Leaves Wrap by Dory Brown for my Godmother, because it’s a large lace pattern and because I fear teh lace D: I have a backup pattern, which is the Eva’s Shawl by milobo.  Judging from some of the comments and looking at the time it takes for people to complete, I don’t think I’ll have a problem.  I also really want to do the lace one, just to get the “OMG LACE!!!  I made it!!! and I LIVED!!!” moment out of the way.

Mom picked out her own pattern, which relieves me because she’s such a picky person to please :p  I don’t really mind making her things, but I don’t really want to spend a couple months making something when she probably won’t want to wear it.  Long Open Shawl by Bernat Design Studio is the winner for the Mommeh, and since she picked out her own shawl I think pick out a nice color for it all by myself :D

I still love Doris Chan's Chrysanthemum Tea Shawl, I might just make it to lay on the back of my reading chair, or a kind of table cloth for the kitchen table :3

Finished Evangeline!

Granted it took me way longer then it should have, but they’re done lol.  It think I started in like March or April, frogged, frogged, frogged, knit, frogged, forgot about=, buried it in under yarn, took out in August, knit, frogged, knit, frogged, frogged, knit, knit, knit, went “oooh, that's not as hard as I’ve been making it!”, knit, frogged, knit, knit, knit, finished, and posted 8D

1. Gloves and Hand, 2. Cabled Fingerless Gloves, 3. Fingerless Gloves, 4. Evangeline Gloves III

Aren’t they purty~  A little fuzzy but that's because I haven’t washed them yet lol, but there they are :3  My first gloves (although fingerless), my first knitted gusset, and my first cables, the one thing that caused me the most problems.  Actually the cables weren't really that bad.  I think I might have overcomplicated things, and they got in the way of the double pointed needles, so Evangeline might not have been the most ideal project for first cables, but they’re cute~

Project Info:

• Yarn Name:  Naturally Caron Country
  • Weight:  Worsted / 10 ply (9 wpi)
  • Fiber:  25% Merino Wool and 75% Microdenier Acrylic
  • Color:  Deep Taupe
• Needles:  Size 6US / 4 meter DPN’s
  • Pattern actually calls for 7’s but I didn’t have any when I started
• Pattern:  Evangeline (off of Ravelry)
  • Designer:  Michelle Szeghalmi-Shirley

Now that I know my way around fingerless gloves the next time should go just a little smoother (just a teeny tiny bit).  And I’ve actually picked out another pattern for my Naturally Caron Spa in Green Sheen (bamboo blend), these will be for a friend, so my first project I’m not going to keep, unless I decide I hate said friend between now and when I finish :D.  Considering how yummy the color is, I might decide to do that lol.

 

I will eventually (next day?  two?  week???) post a review of the Evangeline pattern and the Naturally Caron Country yarn :3.

Cross Postage, I Wants, and I’m Gonna Kick In Your Face You Cheap Bastard!!!

Since this is a craft blog I thought I’d cross post a paragraph or two from my other blog since it’s pertains to the craftyness… ness… *ahem*

… godmother crocheted for me when they brought me home from the hospital as a newborn.  In fact the requisite baby blankie every child has, and makes threadbare, is a baby blankie I now use as a throw (as in blanket, not “Here, catch this ball of cotton!”).  It’s just a simple quilt blanket, the perfect size for a baby born on a  little South Pacific Island, but it’s special enough that my mother put it in storage before I got so attached to it to the point where I would have made it threadbare.  She knew what it would have meant for me to have it when I was older, because she knew what it meant to the person who made it, see my godmother hand stitched every single square.  Something, in a society where we tend to take things like blankets for granted, most people don’t really understand what it means to make something like that by hand.

 

Knitters, crocheters, and sewers have a saying that “I knit/crochet/sew every single stitch with love”, as someone who does all three, and as corny as that that saying is, I understand what it means.  So even though I never grew up knowing what she looked like, or knowing the sound of her voice, I still know who my godmother is.  Because I have her hand stitched baby blanket she made, her hand crocheted baby clothes she made, her hand crocheted “baby’s first x-mas ornament” she made…

Going along those maudlin lines, I never really get why people would prefer store bought baby stuff (blankets, clothes, toys), or just stuff/presents in general, instead of handmade items (items not stuff, hah!).  I hate the fact that people will automatically assume the handmade items (hah!) are cheaper and that store bought stuff is better because they’re expensive.  Or they think the sentiment of “It’s a better presents because I made it with love” is somehow an excuse for “I’m actually a cheap bastard so I made this macaroni elephant instead, that and I have a ungodly urge to kick in your face”.

First of all, in most cases handmade items are in no way cheaper then store bought ones.  Do they have any idea about how much money actually goes into buying those supposedly cheap things?  Good yarn if freakin’ expensive!  So is nice fabric, not to mention the patterns, and the actual thought process that goes into making a handmade quilt, sweater, bag, dress, hat, scarf, hell even doggy doodoo takes some thought to make (and a pooping dog is a perfect complement to those thought).

When someone makes something for someone else they’re usually thinking about that perfect something for that someone (… or something like that…).  My point it that its something individually made just for that person (you ungrateful macaroni elephants!!!).  Plus, tell me if you can find these things in a gift shop: crochet spermies with condom pocket, crochet Sandman Helms (eee do want!), knitted tangible something to worship  (hint: its a monster :D), a Giant Knit Squid Hat, an awesome Nintendo NES Plushie, or um… this thing in all its freaky cuteness!

… Well maybe the Nintendo if and when they get around to it >_>  I’d still prefer the handmade one (so neener neener neener).

Side Notes (Bottom Notes?  So You Actually Read Everything Till The End Notes?

• I’ve been thinking I want Valerie Van Arsdale Shrader’s Sweet Nothings book, things look sweet lol
• I’m hungry for a cupcake
• I have an odd urge to make a macaroni elephant…

No, U!!!

Dear Left Fingerless Glove,

I understand you have a desire to be just like your right handed twin, but its better for you to be an individual. Just because Right Fingerless Glove lasted a month for me to painstakingly knit does not mean you have to give me the same problems. Just because I ended up with five perfectly fine cables on Right by no means makes me some kind of expert on knitting cables. I frogged Right so many times that Right started to fuzz, so many times that it crossed my mind on several occasions to just scrap the entire project! Do you have any idea what would have happened if I had?! DO YOU!!?!

You would have never existed Left! You would have remained a lonely ball of yarn! You would have remained in the bowels of my yarn basket to be forgotten and lost forever. I have frogged you twice thus far, once because you had the audacity to have a messed up cable, and once again because you ignored the fact that without a thumb hole I’d have to chop off my left thumb in order to wear you, and I do NOT want to chop off my left thumb just to wear you. You can get away with a couple frogs but don’t you dare for a Bob-loving second assume I’m going to forget your ungratefulness. I created you and I can un-create you! You don’t want to end up as a large pile of yarn barf, do you? Or be used to create an off colored pile of doggie doggie caca, right? I didn’t think so.

With Love and Understanding,

Your Maker

Started Knitting again :D

Soooo~ It’s been awhile o_o ahem…

KNITTING~ I haven’t knitted in almost two months TT__TT One of the reasons is because my fingerless gloves have been frogged so many times I just got tired of them. Buuuut~ after 2 months I decided I was finally going to finish them :p and I’m halfway done, I already got through with the right hand (minus the thumb gussets) and now I’m starting on the left. These I’m probably going to keep for myself (so selfish :D). They’re made from naturallycaron.com’s Country (Acrylic and Merino Blend) in Deep Taupe.

Yay :D first time doing cables~ I think they actually came out better then I was anticipating. I’m planning on making another pair of fingerless gloves for a friend in naturallycaron.com’s Spa (Acrylic and Bamboo blend) in Green Sheen :3 it has a nice soft green color.

On a side note~ I’ve been trying to wean myself off of shampoo’s with sulfate and conditioners with silicone since I heard its better for curly hairs. So far its working fine~ But since my hair is prone to dryness I’ve been trying to figure out how to retain nice defined curls without having to shell out money for anything expensive (yet :p I’m going to eventually buy a nice curl friendly conditioner). Sooo I’ve been looking at some of the recipes online, on both the Naturally Curly Crafters group on Ravelry and the NaturallyCurly.com site. I’ve just put on some warm honey and extra virgin olive oil and I’m waiting to see how its going to turn out :3 Also I feel like vomiting because I really hate the smell of honey x_x

Because I'm Lazy :<

So I missed a couple of days in my NaBloPoMo quest, the first day I excuse myself because I made a post on my personal blog :p *points to post title* but yesterday I just wasn't feeling so well and totally forgot NaBloPoMo :/ ... and because I'm lazy.

So now onto some of my WIP's. For some reason I tend to start and finish crochet projects more easily. Maybe its because its what I started out with and what comes more naturally to me, but there you have it. It tends to be a lot easier with me to finish, even if its making me grow grumpy-angry-person-beware horns on my head I'm more inclined to finish it, no matter what. It might also be because if I'm having a problem with a pattern its easier for me to fix on the fly then with knitting, I have to think more when I knit and I don't think that's good for my brain :( poor brain. Plus in keeping with this posts theme, because I tend to be lazier with knitting then with crochet.

So its no surprise the that an easy project like the Cozy Doctor's Mask one from Pearl of Civilization is taking me forever and a day to make. It's not that I'm having any real problems with it, its just that I tend to be really lazy and neglectful with my knitting o_o;; I also modified it just a tweak, nothing big (because of my poor brain) just used a different yarn and needles so I had to adjust it since the gauge was off, I'm also doing it with moss stitch :3 because I thought it was prettier lol.

And tada~, will post photos once I start along with the project more. I decided not to use any of the three scarflette pattern I was going to use for my new project :D I'm such a flip flopper. I'm going with this one (ravelry). Only problem is I was too lazy to go back to Jo-Ann's or my LYS to get some size 8 circular needles so I just barely managed with 9" straight needles o_o and I do mean barely.

Why go through all the trouble you ask? Because I'm lazy... :<

FO to you too o_o;

So I finally finished my creativeyarn puff hat :3

It took me a while but Tada~ I'm still not %100 sure about how it would fit on my head but. I still need to get a hair cut, my hair is just too afro like for test fitting right now XD But I'm happy I'm done~ all those puff stitches ate up the yarn lol so it was super annoying to unravel, redo, check, unravel, redo... well you get the idea... So now I just need to carve out some time to get a haircut, I really want to see how it looks on :D

Onto other news, I decided to add an old scarf I made when I first started knitting. Well not exactly old since I only learned around 4 years ago, but seems so long ago~ All done with one skein, long, and garter stitch, so knitting 101. I'm also adding some photos of the Doctors Mask I've been knitting off and on since like August. I'm using some soft baby acrylic yarn, soft enough to not irritate my face, but acrylic for heavy washing. Why am I making a doctors mask you ask? I have no idea, hooray! I just kind of felt like it lol. Instead of the stockinette stitch I'm using moss stitch, just because I thought it looked nice, and just wanted to try moss stitch.

And onward to another project :D I have some bulky yarn that I had no idea what to do with, so I was thinking of a scarflette, one of these (warning, ravelry requires username/password) uno, dos, or tres.

Baibai~

Why God WHY!?! /melodrama

So I realized my head is abnormally big :D

Rather if you were able to felt my hair into a ball it would be equivalent to an adult sized head, with hair to spare (creepy visual o_o).

I ended up finishing the Hat Numero Two hat and realized how cute it was. So I decided to try it on only to come to terms with the fact that it doesn't fit my head ;_; More then that, it didn't even touch my head, the hat just kind of floated at the back of my head hanging onto my hair. It was literally something like 3 inches away form my scalp and sitting on top of nothing but crazy frizzy hair. Which made me sad ;_; (pity me) and made me realize I really needed to get a haircut :D, I'm thinking of going super super short again :3

So in the meantime, I adding another row of decreasing puffs and starting another project with some bulky yarn I have. I plan on either making some cute fingerless gloves or a scarflette, and I have to decide on knitting or crocheting.

Work in Progress

So I started another hat a while back :3 I got the pattern from creativeyarn so cute~ And a lot of her other stuff is nice, the cowl neck capelet is on my to-do-NOW list.
I of course have to modify things a bit, considering my head size, and the shear amount of hair I have (I swear its about the size of my entire head right now x_x). I'm making it bigger my using a larger weight yarn and a larger hook, that seems to work for me, in fact while I'm working on it it kind of looks a little larger then it should be >_> if that's the case I'll just make it an oversized beret ^^;;

Pretty color yarn~ It's Lion Brand Wool-Ease in Rose Heather. Easy yarn to considering this is my second hat and I have to modify hat patterns, its 80% Acrylic and 20% wool. I had the hat partway done when I saw Lei last month, only I had to unravel everything since I had started with one hook and then at some point I switched hooks. Why you ask? The hell if I know @_@ I just noticed it was looking a little too huge and I knew my head wasn't THAT big. So I had to unravel and start all over XD

On a side note, nice fabric? I guess you can call it vintage :D it has that 70's look to it keke. It's actually the underside of my baby blanket my godmother made me when I was born. My mom hid it away so I wouldn't become overly attached to it and make it threadbare lol, so now I use it as a throw.

The Background

Since I already have a WordPress
blog I decided to use this one as a crafty blog, and the WordPress one as a personal blog.
Lately I've been really into making crochet items, and since I just started sewing I've been looking at things to sew XD A several weeks ago I decided to make a hat from a pattern I found on craftypants' blog site. Since this would be my first hat I decided to use some extra acrylic I had lying around, if the hat came out really bad, its just acrylic. I did make a couple modifications though, since I have REALLY thick unruly hair and a big head (o_o) I had to enlarge the pattern a bit, I also added three rows of basket weave stitch (front post back post).

This is what I ended up with :3

Yesterday I just received my invitation to Ravelry, which I was really excited about. I didn't realize they had like an organization area for your account with a database of patterns, which is great for me since I had pdf and notepad files scattered throughout a couple CD's and over my hard drive, now all my patterns are in one place <3 They also have a current projects area where you can post what project you're doing and how far along you are, which would come in handy when you get stuck at a certain point and aren't sure what to do. And the patterns are awesome, I found a couple that are already on my to do list and some new ones that made the list longer then it already is.

One of my favorite categories is the naughty one XD mainly because the typical picture you get of a crafter is like granny types. Then people realize there are patterns for anatomically correct genitalia, unconventional cozies (for... yeah), and amigurumi sex toys with faces and all. Which reminded me of the uterus plushies on etsy.com, I actually thought the idea for the healing uterus might be something lighthearted to give to someone (with a twisted sense of humor) who had/has a gynecologic cancer like ovarian or cervical cancer, it even comes with its own band-aid :D the idea for the happy uterus is kind of weird though o_o I'm not really sure I'd have wanted one of those when I was younger.

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