Long Weekend Lots O' Craftin

I wove! I wove something wearable and I'm impressed (you probably should be too :P )


The warp is Brown Sheep Worsted and the Weft is Universal Yarns "Jewel." This was a present to my sister for her birthday which occured while she was overseas in France. The entire scarf is like 9 feet long (I know I went a little overboard) but it was fun and easy (completed start to finish in a single night) and my mother has already requested one in white.

As for the FO I was talking about last week
Pattern: Corazon from Knitty Winter 2006
Yarn: Frog Tree Alpaca Sportweight (2 skeins; 1 Green, 1Tan)


The colorwork is hard to see in photographs because the yarn is a bit fuzzy but it came out well. The pattern calls for DK weight yarn but I couldn't get gauge and Frog Tree Alpaca yarn is softness in yarn form, soft and warm these mittens are already well worn. I guess I got better as I knit because the second mitten was snugger then the first but blocking took care of that issue. I love this pattern and recommend it to anyone looking to try colorwork. It was a quick knit taking only 3 days from start to finish and the end results are lovely and impressive.

Currently on my needles is Excuses from Magknits which is proving to be a nice mindless TV knit. I'm hoping this is a sweater I'll finish. I've finally completed the body of my kauni and I'm procrastinating on casting on the sleeves. I kind of feel like the close I get to finishing that knit the closer I am to steeking and I'm not sure if my heart can take the stress.

I took a trip to Knitty City yesterday to buy more yarn (cause I really need more yarn) I actually have a good reason this time. My mother wanted me to weave her one of those scarfs and my cousins are in from Boston and begging for some thick yarn socks to wear with UGG type boots. I use a Lion Brand pattern that escapes me mind at the moment but is used with "thick and quick" to crochet these wonderfully squishy socks. I'm using Brown Sheep Bulky instead because wool is nicer on feet then acrylic. My sister then requested another pair as well but stupid me, I calculated the yardages wrong so I will have to stop by the yarn store again.

While there I picked up some sock yarn, I figure I'll give sock knitting another go round. Rob's birthday socks (which he'll never get cause he's an ass) are still on needles somewhere but I figured I'd go for a nice basic pattern and knit a small size so they would finish faster. If I can complete these I'll dig out the Rob socks finish them and give them to my dad or another man who isn't an ass.

And once again I'm still in the running (but badly losing) for February's knit girl. C'mon people this is good practice for the presidential election so get out there and vote (for me)!

Shameless Self Promotion

I'm in the running to be a Bad Knit Girl (think suicide girls plus knitting and minus cooter)

Go vote for me I deserve your vote because February is my birthday month so I should be February's girl. That and I'm kind of awesome and totally dorky and us dorks need love.

A Study in Color

So I promised a crafting post a dammit I keep my promises (well most of the time I have broken promises in the past but I assure you they were probably broken for a good reason and not because I can be a lazy cow!)

I dyed up some roving for the etsy two weeks ago but I just got around to taking pics. These are interesting because they are both from the same dye bath, dyed at the same time but the color results are very very different due to the nature of the wools in question.

Roving number 1 is a superwash merino. Superwash is well known for its dye sucking abilities, most people recommend letting your protein fiber soak in a bit of acid before dyeing so it takes the color better but I don't recommend doing this with superwash. There is something that happens to the wool during the process that makes it superwash that causes it to suck up dye like an alcoholic at happy hour. I soak my superwash in water only before the dye bath to avoid splotchy dye spots and uneven tones. This particular roving started out a hideous shade of yellow and was begging for some color to make it a bit less puke worthy. Here's the final result


I'm going to call it "Swamp Thing"

The second roving is 2oz of cormo that appears to have been pin drafted. I know a lot of people have issues with cormo, but it is super lovely to work with and so springy and smooshy, I would sleep though the night in a bed made of cormo. Cormo's trick is to not over process it, its elasticity makes it difficult to card but if you tease the locks open and comb it looks/feels wonderful. If you want to card cormo I reccomend teasing open the locks and spritzing them with a bit of water and fabric softener to beat them into submission and prevent the static from making you crazy. Here's the roving I'm calling it "Think Pink"



Now I know you're probably thinking, these two rovings could NEVER have come from the same dye bath. Well you're wrong, let me explain what happened here. First the dye bath was made from black Wiltons food dye. The black food dye breaks very easily because of all the colors used to make it appear black. I like using the black food dye exactly for this purpose, it gives a tie-dye effect to the finished product. Second, one must remember that superwash absorbs dye much better then cormo so the superwash roving took most of the color. Thirdly red and pink must reach a higher temperature before they will penetrate a fiber so as a result all the pinks were left in the dye bath for the cormo to absorb. And thus we have two very different colorways created from the same dye pot.

Onto spinning


"Snow Day"
130 yards Merino/Angora/ Angelina 55/40/5
Spun from batts I carded using the long draw method. I fulled the final yarn to create a fuzzy, soft, and strong yarn. I find that angora tends to want to break when I knit with it and fulling helps it hold its structure.

I also have an FO to share but I'll save that for next week!

One Door Closes

I have been waiting for a promotion for 6 months now. It was promised to me, and I was given the work that I would be doing once I was promoted. For 6 months I have been working two jobs waiting and hoping that the promotion would just happen already. I was told this week that I would not be getting the promotion, and to make matters worse my current employment is now being questioned because so much of my time was spent doing the other job. I feel used and foolish, somehow I still believe the grade school saying that "hard work will be rewarded." It won't, at least in the corporate world it won't, the new saying is "shady dealings and backroom deals will be rewarded, all others will be cast aside as their usefulness runs it's course."

Enough griping....I'm starting to bore myself with all this complaining...Onto the crafting. I've finished a pair of mittens and I cast off the body for my kauni, lots of knitting to be featured soon I promise.

80's Prom Dress NYE Pics

Before:

After:

Action Shot:


I had surgery last week so not much to write about. I got a ton of knitting done (recuperation and knitting go well together) watched another Degrassi marathon and sat through all 3 seasons of arrested development on DVD (my love for Micheal Cera is most unnatural.)

I'm Hooking Again!

Get your mind outta the gutter, I'm just crocheting. I had some time to kill and the closet re-org helped me discover old yarn that I forgot I had or spun. I found this alpaca, which was my first attempt as spinning and prepping from a raw fleece

Its a bit over spun and thick and thin but damn it was soft and alpaca is warm. Jon bet me I couldn't finish a hat in a night, and I knew that I couldn't if I knit it, so I broke out the hooks and The Happy Hooker by Debbie Stoller and 2 hours later I had this.



Pattern: The PDQ from The Happy Hooker
Yarn: Handspun Alpaca worsted/bulky weight 250 yards
Notes: I finished the hat in 2 hours and then tried it on. I almost cried because the flaps stuck out funny and I forgot how inelastic alpaca can be. I threw the hat aside in a tired cranky rage but this morning I attached braids to the flaps and now I like the hat much much better. Because alpaca is so warm the holes really don't let my head get too drafty.

Onto the story of the dress. I was asked out by a friend to a New Years Eve gala. I don't really own any fancy schmancy clothes and lets be honest, how often am I gonna need a really fancy party dress? I had an idea that I sprung on Mollie who was totally into it. First we went thrifting for the ugliest 80's dress I could find. (Mollie has my pics and I will post them later) then I bought a ton of tulle and a pair of scissors. The gown was black and gold with a corset bodice and black long skirt (down to the floor), it had a gold stripe made from that awful 80's metallic fabric across the top and lace over the bodice. It looked very Madonna in her material girl phase and I knew it could be great. First we cut the skirt at the knees (the skirt material was acetate so I didn't feel guilty about ruining it) and then sewed the tulle underneath to give it a poufy look. I removed the gold stripe and added a halter tie. I loved the dress and everyone thought it was a Betsy Johnson. When I told my date that I was wearing an 80's prom dress he freaked (and maybe whined like a 7 year old girl) but even he told me it looked good. With shoes and a light jacket (both from target) I spent a total of 32 dollars on my outfit, 8 of which were spent on the dress itself. I've never really reconned an outfit before but I loved it.

Something New

New Year, new craft...This is not a long post but I just wanted to show you what I've been up to



Weaving. It's like knitting but a bit more mindless (not mindless in a bad way.)

New Years day I cleaned and organized the craft closet, I now have only one crafting closet. I used to have one crafting closet, one box in the clothing closet and another box in the middle of the bedroom. Yeah I collect way way way too much crap. But look, organization in all it's glory


I knitted another Scraptastic Stashbusting Scarf

This one is for sale on the etsy I've also listed a few supplies that are still in their original packaging which I never used and probably never will.

New Years Eve was, overwhelming, I now have a reason for staying low key in the future. Much fun was had and the tale of the dress will be rolled out in the next post. Let's just say the tale revolves around a hideous $8.00 thrift store 80's dress and the determination of my ability to make anything nicer.