knitting and a puppy!

November 27, 2016 by 2 Comments

Zero finally has a little brother and I’m super excited!

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They look like they could actually be related, don’t they?  But he’s actually a half beagle, half pit mix that we found at a no-kill shelter thanks to my boss, who brought in a girl from the litter to work on Monday and told me that there were still boys left.  He’s 12 weeks now, and his name is Roll (keeping with the Megaman theme Chris started with Zero).  It’s hard to get a picture of him awake because he’s in constant motion, but here’s my best shot:

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Only thing is, he’s not housebroken yet, so that’s been frustrating.  He’s starting to figure it out though & he makes up for it with cuteness and cuddles.  He even helps me with knitting (although he’s already mangled one of my wooden cable needles that I foolishly had just sitting on the daybed beside me):

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As seen in the photo, I finally got started on the bulky weight version of the cowl I’m writing up a pattern for.  Really I just have to finish this one, block it, & take photos for the downloadable version that will be available… well… whenever I get it done.

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The yarn is The Meri Wool from We Are Knitters and it is SO soft.  Can’t wait to wear it!  And I didn’t know how much yarn I’d need for the cowl so I’m going to have a fair amount of leftovers for other toasty items!  Maybe I’ll make a set — I don’t usually do that.

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I’m loving all the colors, and I don’t think it takes away from the texture at all.  The colorway is called Sprinkle Fantasy, I believe.  Mmmm… makes me want ice cream with sprinkles.  Only it’s too cold for that right now.  Boo.  But I’m actually happy that I’m finally getting to wear some of the new items I’ve made since last winter.  My fave to wear so far is my Arlequin Shawl — the yarn just makes it.

OK, I’m done for the night, gotta get back to knitting!  Thanks for stopping by, see you soon!

 

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Finally, some crochet!

November 21, 2016 by 9 Comments

Knitting has sort of taken over lately, but I’ve been missing crochet and have been searching Ravelry for the perfect crochet pattern or idea.  Inspiration came instead from Instagram, and I started a simple granny triangle shawl:

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It’s more rainbow-y than what I usually go for in terms of the wide range of colors — usually my ombre yarns are more subtle and just shift through the hues and tones of two or three colors.  I think this looks great for fall and winter though.

The yarn is Lion Brand Landscapes (new Aran) in 204 Desert Spring.  It’s 100% acrylic & each ball is 147 yds.  I have 4 balls but I think I’ll need more to make a decent sized shawl.  If you are interested in getting this yarn, go to Wal-Mart, if there’s one around you, or order it on their website, where it’s under $5 per ball.  On other online sites it can be upwards of $6.

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The yarn is soft considering it’s acrylic and I hope it’s warm too — it’s finally starting to get cold here, at least in the mornings.  It dropped below freezing for the first time this season last night!

Well that’s all for now.  This is working up quickly so hopefully I’ll have an update soon!  Hope everyone stays safe traveling if you’re in the US and celebrating Thanksgiving!

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Aspen blanket: ta-da!

November 12, 2016 by 12 Comments

First I want to say a brief thank you to everyone across the world who commented on my last post.  I no longer feel so alone and afraid and have been brainstorming about things I can do to make a difference.  Your support and kindness are so much appreciated.

In knitting news, I finally finished my Aspen blanket and I LOVE it!  I started it in January but due to a yarn shortage I had to put it on hold for a while, but I got it back out a couple of weeks ago and thoroughly enjoyed finishing it.

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It’s a great size and is nice and stretchy (which also makes it hard to take a good measurement).  I do kind of wish I’d just made up a similar pattern on my own because to me it turned out to be a very simple pattern for $6, but oh well.

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I used 24 skeins (2520 yds) of Garnstudio DROPS Andes (super bulky, 65% wool, 35% alpaca) in 0100 Ecru.  The pattern actually calls for 2 strands of bulky weight held together but 2 strands of the super bulky held together was fine.  Actually, even with the recommended needle size (US 50/25 mm) it still looked pretty loose, so I went down 2 needle sizes to US 19 (15 mm) and added 2 pattern repeats to make up for the change, and I like it much better.  I used the long-tail cast-on & Elizabeth Zimmerman’s sewn bind-off to keep things nice and elastic, and I slipped the first stitch of each row purl-wise to make a neater edge.

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One thing I really love about my blanket is that there are no knots in the entire thing.  I used the spit-splicing method to join new balls of yarn so that there wouldn’t be messy sections of sewn in ends.  Basically you just cut a couple of inches off of half of the plies (in my case, 1 ply, since the yarn itself was just 2 ply) on both the tail end of the current ball and the beginning of the new one you’re joining.  Then you dampen the ends with spit, wind the plies together, and rub it quickly between your hands or on a sturdy fabric.  It sounds gross (and kind of tastes gross and fuzzy), but there’s something about spit that works better than just plain water.  Essentially you’re felting the ends together (making an undetectable but very strong join), meaning that this method only works with yarn that has a high content of animal fiber.  Because it’s feltable, though, it has to be laid out to dry after washing, which will be fun (I have no idea where I will do that).  It will also be heavy, and it’s heavy already without being wet!

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All in all I’m very happy with this plush, toasty blanket!  I just have to be careful not to leave it lying around when I’m not using it, or the dog will likely lay on it and snag the yarn with her claws.  Maybe felting it in the wash just a little teensy bit might not be a bad idea.

Also, I got a haircut yesterday.  This week has been so terrible (on top of the election, I also immediately got sick afterward, and I was so despondent that I’m not sure the two aren’t unrelated), so I figured I’d pamper myself just a tad.  I love it.

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OK, that’s all for today.  Thanks for stopping by everyone, see you soon!

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No.

November 9, 2016 by 49 Comments

I’m ashamed of my home state, my current state of residence, and the electoral college representatives as well as about half of this country.

My husband says I may be overreacting to the results, but I am very scared for so many reasons it’s ludicrous, and I think as a woman I might just have cause to overreact in fear and anger.

This is the only place I feel safe talking about this even a little bit — facebook is a disaster and I don’t want to divide myself from friends and family even if we do have different views.  Here I hope you’ll forgive me for having this convo but I’ve got to get out at least the basics.  This is not a place for details because this is not a political blog and I don’t want a huge nasty argument because there’s no point now.

So the basics: I’m offended (and no, not just because I’m a millenial), I’m hurt, I’m scared for myself in many ways, I’m scared for the kids Chris and I want to have some day, and I’m scared for other women and people of color and people with disabilities.

I can sit here and not do anything and try to ride it out and hope that things get better in 4 or 8 years, but when does that attitude help anything?  Action makes change.  This is my second small action (my first was voting, in the primaries and yesterday’s election), just expressing myself a little bit.  I want to take more actions and maybe I will, but that will not be documented here.

I want my readers, especially the ones overseas, to understand that I do not support what has happened.  I do not want to argue with anyone, it wouldn’t do any good on either end.  I just want to say how I feel because how I feel matters.  I matter.  No matter what other people say.  And I will fight to make sure that other people understand that my voice matters.

OK, that’s all I can handle, thanks for stopping by.  Back to our regularly scheduled happy crafting.

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November WIPs

November 8, 2016 by 7 Comments

On this very scary Election Day I’ve GOT to focus on something else until the polls close.  Enter ALL THE WIPS!  (Actually, I’m just going to talk about 2 of the 10 I’ve got laying around.)

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This is my version of the Aerie cowl that I posted about (that post has since been removed since I was using their photo to ask your opinion on what stitches were used).  I figured out what the stitches are thanks to everyone here and on Instagram.

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I didn’t have a single ply chunky yarn like the original but I had a single ply worsted yarn so I just used that (KnitPicks Preciosa Tonal Worsted in colorway Stormy — 100% merino).  Since this test run is turning out nicely I’ll probably get a chunky yarn and write up a pattern for it, but let me ask you a question…

Is it OK for me to write up a pattern & distribute it?  I figured out the stitch pattern through reverse engineering almost exactly (it may even be exact), but of course there’s not a pattern already available for it, nor will there be.  The way I started and will end my project are slightly different than the original, but is that enough for me to be able to ethically distribute a pattern for what’s basically a copy of a large clothing chain’s item?  Please let me know what you think — I don’t know what to do!

I’m also working on my Aspen blanket again (fondly dubbed “the blanket everyone wants” due to the current popularity of chunky cable knit throws).  It took forever but I was finally able to get the rest of the yarn I needed and bring it out of hibernation.  It’s great to work on now that it’s cooling off some.

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That was a few days ago, actually, so I’m farther than that — I only have 2 balls of yarn left to attach to the ends of the 2 balls I’m working with now.  Because I’m using the spit-splicing method (yes, it’s what it sounds like) I’ll only have the beginning and end tails to weave in, which is REALLY nice, and no giant knots in the blanket, which is also REALLY nice.

Not Your Average Crochet's Aspen Blanket

Hopefully I’ll have it completed by the end of the week because like I said in my last post on my recently finished projects I still have about 5 Christmas presents to make, and it also just feels great to get projects done, doesn’t it?

OK, I’m off to work on those things to distract myself.  Maybe I’ll watch some nice whimsical anime movies while I work, or binge watch a TV show.  Thanks for stopping by, see you soon!

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