Aha! Problem-solving when you've either knit a hat much too small or a have a head much too big.

This season I knew I wanted a new hat. Something fluffy and soft enough to warrant wearing but warm and big enough that it would hold to both the American midwest winter as well as not smoosh my hair out of whack or give me a helmet head in transit to work but cute enough to wear over to the boyfriend's place for a hot date. Tadaa! I decided on one of those chunky knit tams.

I finished the chunky cabled tam from Fall/Winter 2008 Knit.1 of yesteryear in a luscious red Lustra yarn that was not only an incredibly fast knit (as I started late last night) but also deliciously satisfying. I came across one small problem. The brim. I should have been skeptical to begin with. The pattern calls for 50 sts cast-around for the brim in a p1-k1 ribbing in sized 7 needles double-stranded. I should have been more wary but I decided that perhaps the effort would be worth it as my gauge did match and perhaps it would come out a bit larger in the blocking. Blocking, as I took it, was the miracle worker of most wooly fibers and perhaps could perform a miracle once more beyond my shawls.

After binding off and sewing in loose ends, it went in for a dunk. A bit later I took it out its blocking bath and tried to stretch it over my head a bit to see how it fit. Ick, it was more snug wet than when it was dry and by snug I mean headachingly tight. I heard of two methods of which similarly liked-minded optimistic ravelry users have used post-bind-off to fix a tight brim on this pattern. One was to cut off the brim and knit it from the bottom (eep) and the other was just to stretch it over a small soccer ball. I've no heart to cut it at this hour so I opted to stretch it...and for once soccer would have been useful in my life but no dice. We are a non-soccer household and thus no soccer ball. Drats. I did a little impromptu substituting and fitted the whole thing over the largest measuring cup in the whole kitchen. It's a pretty huge measuring cup, I assure you.



Tadaa! It took some wedging down but it worked and now I've got it blocked to fit my head.



It's a rather huge muffin top of a hat and looking at how huge it is over the measuring cup makes me wonder how it will look by morning...hmmm.

Spoiling Me with Lace!

Going through work has been rougher the first week and a half than I would have liked that I felt the urge to splurge with my first paycheck. After all, I deserve it!

So let's bring it up to my spoils....I went online asap when I found out that Knit Picks has a week long sale on their lace yarns. I picked up three skeins each of Shimmer Lace in a pink color called Lipgloss and a rich red called Sherry. I saw how the Sherry looked on Ravelry and even though it looks darker red than what I'm used too, it looks like it lightens up after a dunk and block to a prettier shade. I also popped in my bag a Zimmerman book and a small bottle of Kookaburra wash to try instead of my usual Eucalan wash. People seem to swear by Kookaburra so I figured I'd give it a whirl for three bucks...well, that and I was three bucks under the free shipment deal so I ended up saving eight bucks by just popping that tiny treat in.

Give it 5-14 business days and I will have my goodies by my next paycheck. What an awesome present to look forward to! I'm really excited too for mid-September because Knitty's fall issue is around the corner. I've always wanted to order something off Knit Picks because they tend to have some really great deals but I was usually so hesitant to order because I like to feel and see the yarn up in person than by picture but my female knitting pals swear by Knit Picks and the knitters on Ravelry have the most gorgeous shawls for less than what I pay for at LYS in the colors that I rarely find when it comes to lace yarn. Sad to say, lace yarns are harder to find at reasonable prices in diverse colors than your worsted, sock, or DKs at my LYS.

In knitting news...naughty Aeolian is still hibernating. I'm defrogging a black scarf that I started a few years ago and never finished so I can reknit it up into a pair of ankle crew socks for my brother. He always clamors me for a pair since he saw my knitting progress over the years but I've always been hesitant since guy feet tend to be big and he still had a lot more growing to do during high school. His feet finally stopped growing senior year that I feel comfortable enough to knit for his tootsies and I get to free out my stash of an old project and yarn so my new skeins have a little room to squeeze into in the yarn tote box.

Aeolian Knitting

I've been taking far too many breaks to other knitting projects away from the Aeolian Shawl so finally the past two days (with minor break to attend to the Candy Cardigan) I've finally buckled down to on Aeolian's Transition Chart. I finished the Yucca Chart repeats a while ago but was rather intimidated by starting the Transition Chart quite so soon so I figured I could take a break in between to tide myself with smaller projects.

I'm knitting the Aeolian in a really rich red with the my stash of Jade Sapphire Lacey Lamb that my sister got for my birthday a year ago. She got me two skeins of it which amounts roughly to 1650 yards of it. Some of it I tried to use for a Muir shawl but decided against it and the line snapped when I was trying to frog the yarn back. So there is probably a 100 yards less in the final stash but I can still use the rest of this hefty amount to make a formidable shawl.

The Aeolian Shawl pattern comes in three sizes. One is a dainty 27 arm-length by 64 back-bone long shouderette, another is a 23 by 48 shoulderette, and the final is the 38 by 90 inch shawl. I'm using the large shawl pattern but the original needle size was for a size 2 needle with 1100 yards and I bumped it up to a size 4 needle and will pray that the extra 500 yards that I have will be enough. This shouldn't be too much of a problem though because I've seen plenty of Ravelry users who've worked the shawl size in the larger needles and finished in under the yardage that I have with plenty of leg room.

Still, as an added precaution, I'm going to make a life-line at a specific point before the final edging because the designer of the pattern released a special modified edging for the design that just so happens to use up 12 rows less yarn which will mean a world of difference given that the shawl's rows can grow to 983 stitches before the bind-off.

I've only two rows left in the Transition Chart before the Agave Chart. I'd finish it now but at 3 in the morning but realizing that each row just takes longer and longer to finish than the last...perhaps it's best to get a little shut-eye for the morning.

Candy Cardigan Remains Unsweetened

I blocked or at least attempted to block it and tried sewing in button snap tape today and it refuses to yield to my attempts at making it better. After a good soak in Eucalan, I had that Candy clunker pinned out to size on the floor over some towels. A day passed and I unpinned it and realized it stretched to mammoth mammary proportions. The bustline could fit Dolly Parton. I was most sad so I let it dry unpinned in the hopes that it would shrink back a bit before the rest of the moisture left the garment.

It shrank back to a more manageable size after some tweaking that I thought it would be wearable. Today I went to go get snap tape and sewed them by hand. It looked great when I was done so I went to try it on and...well, I should have figured that a snug cardigan will not behave with snap tape. The cardigan is meant to hug curves by its design but snap tape isn't built for that. I don't know why the designer thought snap tape was a good idea to recommend as an alternative to buttons. It stretched and warped along the snap tape edging. Worst idea ever. I hastily removed the snap tape. *long sigh* Well, at least the cardigan fits me well enough now but doesn't have any closures for it. If I ever find the stray white ball of Karabella Aurora 8 then I may think about doing a button band instead but from the looks of most of the results on Ravelry, I have small hopes for this cardigan. The ultra-sad part though is that the yarn for the cardigan actually got softer with the blocking! It feels just too good for words to wear. It just sucks about the fit and finishing. :/

Candy Cardigan Catastrophies...

You ever have those horrible knitting accidents when you first started out knitting and figured you would try moving up from scarves and stuffed animals to suddenly full tops? Mine was dubbed as the innocuously innocent Candy Cardigan from knitty.com's 2004 winter edition. I saw that delicious little cardigan in all its lusciously sweet light pink and fuchsia combo and candied striping as a must-have for my first cardigan years ago. That dream became a reality when I was at my local yarn shop in my hometown one weekend and found black and white yarn on sale and figured that now was as good as any to divulge in good yarn so off I went with that yarn back to my college apartment and begun work on it in between watching episodes of Firefly courtesy of my summer roommate.

Early on I made sure that I had the right gauge, picked out the right size, had just the right amount of yarn, and certainly enough patience to try to make something fitted for myself. I thought that this would be so cute to wear over a skirt or paired up with jeans and in mainly white with a black and white striped corset middle it would look classic enough to wear out on a date. I was highly optimistic given how cute the cardigan looked on the model. I forgot, however, that the designer/model in the pictures had a perfectly petite hourglass figure and I, unfortunately, have just a wee bit more curve around the middle. Still, at the time, I remained optimistic.

Weeks of knitting later I was finished and before figuring out if I wanted to do buttons, clasps, or a zipper to tie the piece together, I clipped it around my body to see how it would fit. My gauge was perfect, the yarn was super-soft, and the coloring worked well....the size around my middle....significantly less so. What I saw in the mirror not only didn't look deliciously cute but wasn't even the least bit flattering and so off to the back of my closet did the piece disappear for years to come.

I hadn't the heart to frog it since it was my first cardigan and on top of that, because the yarn was just so awesome, I couldn't bear to gift it to someone smaller than me. I already had to do THAT with the first sweater I ever knitted and giving my mom two knit garments in one summer because it didn't work with me seemed less than desirable. After all, she just might get a wee bit suspicious to the fact that the only reason she got knitted goods was because of my knitting failures.

Now to the present...after many years of that cardigan sitting in my closets, hidden away at the bottom of bins and moved around every year, I found it again last night in my hamper basket. I retried it on to see if maybe I lost weight to make it look good and realized that no matter how you cut it...a 30 inch just won't look good on my 38 inch hips. Just before I was about to banish it back to the knitting depths of my stash...I realized I never, ever blocked it. Huh...so today I dunked it in a Eucalan bath and stretched it out. The 30 inch waistline bloomed to a 39.5 inch waistline and I managed to stretch out the length to go at a very comfortable level to cover my hips. For realz? For realz.

So tomorrow I'm going to unpin the cardigan and take it to Joann Fabrics to see about getting a closure for it. Me thinks clasps or snap tape, after all, I've got a 50% off coupon for Joann Fabrics that I can use.

Nausea replaced by Complete Squee

Two hours of trial and error later and using less than three dollars worth of beads and clasps...I've made the most awesome bracelet I could ever imagine and it actually looks professional. It reminds me of one of those bracelets you get at Francesca's Boutique or Anthropologie for thirty or forty dollars. After I finished the final crimp, I showed my mom and sister and now they want me to make ones for them too.

Before I strung and tweaked all those beads together...












And after...





I'm certainly no longer feeling bad about how much I spent. I think before the night's through I'll have another bracelet strung up and ready to wear for tomorrow.

Oh, how I feel nauseous...

Dear gawd, I feel utterly nauseous and want to throw up...why pray tell do I feel this way, you may wonder? I'll tell you. Today I've decided after my recent paycheck for subbing for a tutor, to go into beading and jewelry making. I never knew how to bead and have no idea how to make jewelry but after slapping down a little less than sixty bucks on materials and tools since my local Joann Fabrics was having a weekend sale. Sixty bucks on the whole set-up and it makes me want to throw up rather than jump immediately into the joy of beading and jewelry making!

I wondered to myself why I would do this to myself and all I could think was the set of gorgeous jewelry that a friend of mine made for me a while back in exchange for my knitting goods. It was a mutual craft exchange that allowed her the indulgence to make extravagant jewelry with freshwater pearls while for me it meant I could knit with the softest, most buttery wool imaginable in this utterly gorgeously cabled Marquis gauntlets. We both felt less guilty by our gift exchange because we had the intentions that it was for another rather than for ourselves so we couldn't feel too bad about spoiling our crafting selves if we thought it would compliment another. I didn't realize at the time how expensive beading was but because I didn't know how to bead and make jewelry then the exchange was mutually good for me regardless of how long it took for me to make arm-length gloves.

After buying the whole setup for these things, I realize exactly how horribly expensive and pricey jewelry making can be. This is rather funny to me because I feel utterly excited and giddy to slap down eighty bucks at a yarn shop and I realize that the Aeolian shawl that I'm making costs almost about fifty bucks worth of lace yarn and materials for what would take me months to make. The concept of spending sixty on a new hobby seems ghastly to me though since I've no idea if I'll be good at it. I've resigned that if this turns out to be a horrible undertaking then I will call up my crafting buddy and see if she'll buy the beads off me for half of what I paid for or if she would like to engage in another craft exchange and make me something out of the beads since I've got it all purchased in advance for her.

Currently I'm experimenting with how my body reacts to the materials that I've purchased. Beads I've no worry but it's the metals that have my skin irked. I ended up buying a set of sterling plate ear wires and a set of sterling silver that was 40% off to see how my ears react. If they react poorly then at least I know in the future what to spend my money on for myself and leave the bad earrings for people with less sensitive ears. My first lesson with the experimental two dollar earring clasps that were sterling plate is that my ears are too sensitive to it and are itching like crazy. The silver is surprisingly good and I at least know what to do with it.

I also picked up some cool snake clasps, a variety of inexpensive beads, beading needle, stringing wire, head pins, toggles, crimps, a plastic compartment box, a set of tools, a really cheap instructional booklet, and a cheap jewelry bead kit with instructions to practice on without having to use my experimental beads. *long sigh* Having to start a hobby from scratch just seems so dauntingly expensive even though I've spent less on this hobby than my knitting.

At least the kit that I got has three little projects to practice with from a set of of necklace, a bracelet, and two types of earrings. I'm looking at the bracelet and necklace set that I got from my craft exchange just to see how it's made and I can recognize some of the techniques in regards to what the booklet lists. I realize that it uses up significantly less beads than I thought it did because of how expertly spaced everything is with hoop rings and metal doo-hickeys and teeny beads. Trying to figure out how my current jewelry is made has certainly taken the edge off my initial nausea of how expensive the hobby is. Well, I'll certainly update on the progress of this craft.

The Unthinkable Has Happened...

I've picked up another lace shawl project now that I've grown out of the month long rest from extreme adventures in lace shawl knitting. Digging through my stash of lace yarn got me into considering doing something with the 1600 yards of red Lacey Lamb yarn that my sister bought me two years ago for a birthday present. I've opted for the super delicious Aeolian Shawl on knitty.com for once again another lace sensation after I finished my Fountain Pen Shawl a month ago.

By the way, the Fountain Pen Shawl, when blocked, ended up gorgeous! I've been wearing it out to dinner and on sunny days feeling like a Victorian lady regardless if I'm in a sundress or in a tank top. Lace shawls end up making anyone feel like a real lady. I should get a picture of me wearing it one of these days. It's so light and fine that when I wear it wrapped up tight around my shoulders, the lace looks so delicate that it almost appears like tribal tattoos down my arms. I adore this shawl! I found the pattern in the Spring 2009 Interweave Magazine.

And then there was Knitting Light!

I discovered a small socket on the front of my laptop (you know, the front that I never look at except to plug in my ear buds). Gasp! There is a socket for my digital camera's memory card! Now I can upload my camera pictures without worrying about finding the camera cord that I invariably lost!

Here are some of the highlight projects I could never pop up. Here is the Juno Regina pattern that I knitted up from Knitty.com with a really pretty lace yarn in a pink that I thought was discontinued.



Before I left Madison, I revisited the yarn shop on Monroe Street, "The Knitting Tree" and refound the yarn in the same color that I once thought was lost. I managed to snatch up the last skein of in this luscious lace in my shopping bag before I left town.


The original project for the Juno Regina pattern is actually one of my favorite scarves and it was certainly the easiest pattern to do because once you get through the intricate diamond intro, you get lulled into a sense of peace with the repeat pattern in the center that goes on and on into knitting zen. Eventually you'll get to the diamond closing but by then it will be a welcoming. This project ended up being my sanity project when I was tutoring at Shabazz High School for their library study class. I kid you not, some days it was mostly sitting around doing nothing when the students didn't need help with their homework so I needed something to keep me busy during those lapses in activity. The trouble with knitting was that I couldn't bring anything TOO complicated or else I'd be in a load of pain in trying to put the project down and repick it up later when my tutoring services were needed by a student. The repetitive rows then became an excellent project as it wasn't too demanding on my attention in between helping students but at the same time still provided some challenge outside of the brain death of garter stitch.

If you want to knit up the Juno Regina scarf/stole for yourself, you can find the FREE pattern here from Knitty.

A Knitting Book

Well, given the look of summer season drawing closer and closer to the inevitable autumn season and of course the new academic school year with me sans a teaching job, I've decided that in between job hunting and non-academic working, I will write a book on knitting. I don't know if I'll ever finish or if I'll ever get it published but in the very least I shall try to be productive with a non-knitting activity. Okay, writing a book on knitting may not be exactly non-knitting in the general sense but at least in the literal sense I'm writing rather than...well, actually knitting.

My goal is to devote at least an hour a day to the project regardless if it's productive writing or not towards the book. This sort of means I'll have to actually do some knitting patterns as well. I kind of like doing a theme of patterns. So far all my personal dabbles with making up my own patterns involves taking an attempt at knitting something useful in regards to my nerdier things. I kid you not. I'm not sure a book made of multiple styles of dice bags, Nintendo DS covers/cozies, and pouches will really make a marketable book but at least this will be a challenge for me to really focus on design work for a while and expand what I can do. Here's to me being ambitious, I guess. :/

Baby got Back...Well, Back Section, Anyway.

I've managed to somehow finish in since the 15th the whole back section. There is an error in the pattern somewhere for the right section so I have to go and print that off before I go to Madison tomorrow to visit Greg for the weekend. I plan to knit up by the end of the weekend either two sleeves or the right and left sides of the pattern if time permits before Monday. Notice that I said, "if time permits" because as we all know with most knitting gift deadlines that shit happens. If there is some cosmic being out there devoted to all things knit then you can be sure that the cosmic being to delays and tribulation is not too far behind.

In any case, I've at least a good, sizable chunk done so that if the birthday deadline comes by and it isn't done yet then at least I can prove my knitting love with at least something to show for that won't look like I'll put it off for Christmas. Case in point, Greg's Christmas scarf which almost ended up as Greg's Valentine's Day scarf. In that particular situation, when we exchanged our Christmas presents before break, he gave me mine and I showed him his. He saw the scarf, he loved it, he nuzzled it, and he met face to face to the circular needles at the end of the scarf with just a quick warning from me to watch out for needles just in the nick of time before someone lost an eye along with my promise to finish it for him AFTER the break. Besides, lucky him he was going to North Carolina for break. What need of a scarf does he in weather that reaches sixty-three?

PS, Lakeside Fibers off of Park Street is having a huge summer sale starting Friday!!! It goes until a week from now and if you're on their e-mail list, they've sent out a double-punch coupon to get double-punches for your purchase! I'd prefer an actual discount but hey, I'll take what I can get and if the sales are as awesome as I think they are then I'm definitely going to dig up some yarns. I'm bringing in a list of projects I want to gather up yarn for so I know the yardage and gauges ahead of time. Last thing I want to do is stock up on clearance yarn that I'll never knit a thing for. I JUST managed to downsize my acrylic stash to my mom a month ago.

Rethinking the French...

After trial and error and constant froggings, I've decided to rethink my earlier review of French Girl Knits based on failed attempts at knitting the Sophia cardigan. The amount of effort that Kristeen goes to avoiding seaming goes beyond just basic knitting in the round for the body or for sleeves to such a degree that not only does it make seaming seem incredibly easy in comparison but also more soothing on the knitter's sanity.

Picture this, an optimistic knitter (moi) with an overabundance in both love and appreciation for her mother that she attempts to knit up this cardigan as a thoughtful present for her dear mother's upcoming birthday. The knitter carefully picks out the yarn in just the right blend of creamy white and earthy brown for a heathered color that calls to mind the the warmth and comfort of a hot bowl of oatmeal on a winter's morning--yeah, it's a lame attempt at visual imagery but the yarn label said the the color was called 'Oatmeal' so I played with Cascade's color name...oatmeal...exactly the kind of color you just want to wrap yourself up as a fashion statement! Next, the ever prudent knitter researches exactly the right pattern with enough challenge for her skill but still beautiful enough that her mother would love--it also helps that her mother thumbed through her pattern books haphazardly one morning and picked out the pattern that worked the least well for the yarn. In any case, fast-forward to weeks later after failed attempt at failed attempt to try to sort through the provisional crochet cast-on that requires picking up and knitting on BOTH sides of the same row with yarn-overs on both sides. Be very careful not to pick up the wrong stitches, kiddos! You might just be crying a few rows later when it all unravels.

Now, my knitting kiddies, I'm off to knit the birthday cardigan in an eyelet cardigan pattern that I have in my stash. The birthday deadline is no longer the month away project that I would have hoped for at the beginning of July...now I've only got four days away until the big birthday. Whoopsies. Here's to at least getting something for show to mom. :)

Book Review: French Girl Knits

Given my summer knitting has drawn into full gear BUT I've still not managed to find that blasted camera cord to upload my current knitting pictures after all the packing and unpacking in between moves, I've decided to do a little book reviewing of some knitting books.

My first review is French Girl Knits by Kristeen Griffin-Grimes. I got this book a few months ago and just recently have begun to dive into the patterns with my summer knitting. What originally drew me to this book was its aforementioned subtitle for "Innovative Techniques, Romantic Details, and Feminine Designs" on the front cover and Kristeen definitely delivers in this respect. She's managed to carefully introduce several types of unique constructions for seamless knitting that is definitely invaluable for any knitter wanting to experiment outside the box. Likewise, her designs and attention to detail not only create a smooth, seamless finish but also plays with cables and lacework to create pieces that draw your mind to a dreamier place with clothing that not only appears flatteringly light and airy but also layerable--something to consider when knitting given that layering clothes seems to be incredibly popular with clothing today and which Kristeen plays up to with her dainty peak-a-boo lacework in several of her tops and tunics.

Something to certainly consider when picking out your next knitting project from this book, you will definitely want to layer the lacier items over another top unless you don't mind showing up your bra. At least six of the tops have just enough lacework up and down the body that may have you shying for an undergarment underneath just to avoid a few awkward stares. This shouldn't deter you from wanting to knit them though. This may just have you experimenting with a contrasting tank top underneath your knitted masterpiece for some really neat outfit ideas which the models in the book certainly play out for your own closet such as pairing either gorgeously long and lacey Anjou tunic or the delicate Niobe pullover layered over a one-piece dress.

There is one pattern though that seems to glare at me with ugg-factor, and I don't mean the boots although those can be pretty hideous at times too. I speak of...the Cybele lace-up tank. From the front it looks like this deliciously gorgeous, almost Ren-Fair like cardigan top with its earthy brown and beautiful cables leading off to a sexy lace-front. Wait 'til you get to the back of this piece, though! This top goes from Beauty to the Beast from front to back. It's literally a split back with only three toothy-like wooden buttons holding it in place at the top but allowing the bottom of the back to splay out unevenly while the garter straps hold on in a haphazardly attempt to the cabled body above the buttons. The back just appears uneven and sloppy which makes this ONE pattern out of the whole book stand out like the red-headed step-child that it is. I would remedy this pattern by just knitting it fully connected and whole in the back without that funky, uneven split backing. Despite this majorly fugly pattern gripe, the rest of the book is wonderful!

For the price of the book, the patterns and the prescribed methods of seamless construction, the book is certainly WORTH IT! There are a variety of wearable patterns for cardigans, tunics, tops, tanks, sweaters, and even a skirt that will certainly appeal to your fashion wardrobe. Do not pick up this book if you're looking for socks, hats, scarves, purses, or shawls though. Also as a warning, this book is NOT a take-you-by-the-hand beginner's knitting book. You won't find detailed lessons in knitting and purling here. The designer expects that you have at least a moderate understanding of knitting construction and technique.

Regardless, Kristeen's designs are not only gorgeous, they are awe-inspiring for your wardrobe. I've actually gone out to buy an extra skirt and sundress to go hand in hand with these patterns. I've never had a knitting book actually tempt me to buy non-knitted clothes to go along in with a knitted project before! Since when does knitting books caused you to buy more clothes along with more yarn?

In any case, one of my current projects right now is the Sophia cable-edged cardigan that you see on the front cover of the book for my mom. After that, I definitely want to knit up the Niobe pullover. :)

New Dice Bag Ideas...

I considered knitting up a new dice bag since I recently nabbed up some more dice. Nothing fancy at all but just a new set of the same blue dice I had previously and my old dice bag sorta grew old on me and it's clearly gotten a bit bulkier with the new dice in there with the old and I'm tempted to pick up more in the future from either Pegasus or Misty Mountain. You know, for some diversity in my dice.

I'm thinking between either to knit up one of these following pattern ideas...







Overall some pretty cute, knitted patterns for potential dice bags, eh? I'd have to use self-striping sock yarn for the flower but it may be too girly. Otherwise there is the lacey one too but again, a bit girly. The other option is the neat as all hell acorn. I may end up doing that one if I have the right colors in my current stash.

Finally the Weekend

After what felt to be the longest week ever in student teaching last week, I got to the weekend and relaxed it to the greatest extent I could possibly go. I crafted all Friday night after I took home all the grading for this weekend. I've decided to work on this super-blindingly bright crochet afghan made up of entirely granny squares. I've just learned how to make these little bastards...the granny square...and because they're so tiny I figured I'd just work them up in tiny bunches here and there and sew them up together for a weird patchwork afghan of colorful delight with this really-really-REALLY super bright yarn. It literally looks like a Kool-Aid acid trip of acrylic yarn that my sister got me for my birthday a month ago in the hopes I'd crochet up more dollies but I've actually grown so fascinated with all the colors that I decided to crochet them altogether. I really should post up pictures when I'm done.

Here's the website that I gathered the knowledge-know-how to making granny squares. Granny squares are these bite-sized little projects that takes minutes to make and just toss to the side so every so often when I'm done with a bunch then I sew in all the loose yarn ends and tuck away for sewing together later.


Tonight I took all the loose ends and sewed them all up into this length of fabric that, for now, covers up my keyboard. The best part of these granny squares is that they're instant gratification for me. I just crochet up a few rows in one color and then drop for another color and then another to build up an individually different technicolor rainbow. For now with the large variety of Caron Brite acrylic yarn, I've got just enough colors to literally make each granny square as unique as possible and so far not a single color pattern has repeated with what I've been working with. It sorta gives a clue to how many colors my sister gave me for my birthday. I've a total of eight different colors and to each granny square there are three rows of colors to work with so eventually I'll hit that mark where the exact color patterns start to repeat. So far I've got seven done. The cool thing about this project is it's really small too to work on the go so I just need to put three or four skeins in my bag and churn a few out over my lunch break. It'll be really cool when it's all done and sewn up. I want to take the afghan and throw it over my bed when it's done. My favorite type of blankets are quilts and patchwork blankets with a lot of bright colors so having this afghan thrown over my bed during the day leaves me something bright and cheery to come home to.

In other notes...I also used Friday to drink wine and work out a crochet Cthluhu doll. I worked one out and it was supposed to be palm sized but because I used an HDC stitch and not a SC stitch...it sorta blew up to a full doll size. It's sitting on Greg's desk right now as a welcome back present from his road trip. It has little wings and I threw on legs to it since the original palm-sized doll didn't have feet. I need to go shopping around for some red buttons for eyes. For Cthulhu, he's adorable as can be. ^_^;

Saturday was just chilling in coffee shops and tea shops with Greg. We finally went to the Ma-Cha tea shop on Monroe Street. It was relaxing but a part of me still prefers the Dobra Tea Shop for the sake of not just variety of teas but also overall Dobra seems more open to "public" people while the Ma-Cha is too private and it seems entirely too secluded. It would be neat to tabletop at the Ma-Cha teahouse though because of how separate the rooms are but overall if I'm going to work on papers or just talk then I'd rather go to the Dobra. It just feels that because everyone at Ma-Cha separates them off from each other so much that it almost discourages you from being comfortable to talk without feeling like you're "disrupting someone's zen" in that place.

Knitting Again!

I seriously had a much too long hiatus from my knitting blog. Student teaching can sort of do that to you but this doesn't mean that I stopped knitting altogether when I started my student teaching placement. Far from the truth! I got involved with my middle school's local after-school knitting club. One of the students from my class is in it. His grandmother, gasp-it's a boy knitter, runs the program and is also one of the special education aides in our school. She's a huge help to my second hour class which has a wide variety of students with various educational needs. I end up in return helping out at her after-school knitting club teaching and helping kids with their knitting.

Everyone is in their casting on and knitting stage as beginning knitters go but we had one male knitter actually cast-off a few weeks ago on his project. He was knitting a purple scarf for the past few weeks and then suddently two weeks ago he decided that purple wasn't a manly enough color for him so he opted out with a cast-off and now he's got a potholder. In the end it worked out for him although with his potholder made of acrylic he may consider using it as just a very large coaster.

We have a surprisingly large number of young male knitters at the knitting club. Even though most of the members are girls, there are about 6 girls and about 3-4 regular boys and they all are very fast learners. I hate to say this but the boy knitters are probably better knitters as a whole than the girls but that's only because they've already got on their side a boy who has mastered casting off among his other mates...which for all their knitting prowess between boys and girls combined that is saying quite a bit. I've also had to correct more times than naught the mistakes of the girl knitters than the boys. If those boys stay with knitting as a hobby I think it could change the gender knitting dynamic of the school.

Most of the kids are knitting scarves except for the two boys I managed to snag to knit up wallets. They're really just knitting rectangles and when they're done I'll show them how to fold and sew or crochet them together in half for a make-shift wallet but it's a lot like the girls' scarf projects but smaller. The weather is getting warmer and with warmer weather comes shorter student attention so having them knit up a smaller project might keep them interested in knitting longer than the girls. You can already see in some girls their eyes glazing over at their projects' progress because they only come in once a week to knit for forty minutes.

I end up bringing in my current knitting projects to the club to show the girls what they can work themselves up to beyond scarves. I've got my cabled Relm hat from the winter Knit.1 mag along with the ever-slowly growing Muir shawl. Well, the second growing Muir shawl. The first was a Mother's Day present that is lost somewhere in my mom's closets either in Florida or Wisconsin. The Mother's Day shawl serves to the girls as a reminder of being careful who they gift projects to if their recepient isn't very knit-friendly. I'm just glad she didn't throw the shawl into the wash for a good felting by accident like my last boyfriend did with his hat.

Other updates...I'm working on compiling a pattern book for the middle school before I leave for student teaching at the high school. I'm trying to find all these quick to knit patterns on straight needles because none of my students are really apt to knit with more than two needles. One girl was going to faint when she saw how many needles I worked on my cabled Relm hat and my socks. It was as if she thought I was going to stab myself any minute! In any case, I want to give the young knitters patterns to whip up other than the staple garter stitch pattern. It may include purls to open up to a world of knitting ribbing and wonder but if there is a knitter in there who wants to expand their repetoire then I've provided an answer. I've got in there already one tiny dpn knit heart to knit up quick, a ribbed headband, a straight knit hat with a pompom, a basic scarf, and a straight knit teddy bear with some sewing involved. Over the next week or so I hope to expand this pattern book with more freebie patterns I've printed off the web for them. :)

PS...the knitty.com has just released their new spring edition. While this winter wasn't all that thrilling for me I managed to wet my knitting appetite with the Knit.1 magazine with their cute projects along with buying up a few new knitting books like "French Girl Knits" but this recent knitty spring edition actually has a lot of different things for me to knit with. I love the spring shawls and the fingerless gloves patterns in this edition.

One unconventional pattern (at least unconvention for me) that I fell in love with is the old baby bonnet pattern. Just looking at that pattern makes me yearn for one of my friends to pop out a baby ASAP for me to knit that bonnet for. The bonnet is just so perfectly cute and cozy looking but I know if I start knitting it up right now for no reason then my boyfriend may think there may be a bun in the oven. Let's be honest...while the joy of knitting this bonnet for fun would be a blast...giving the bf a bit of a heart attack to see me swooning over the baby pattern may give the boy chills.

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEspring09/FEATspr09SIT.php

Decisions, decisions, decisions...

I've finally put aside my knitting projects from the holidays with everything I've ever done finished and gifted. All that is left is my regular knitting which for now is surprisingly just my shawl. Since my project list has diminished I opted to try and pick up another project. I've already got my second shawl project set aside in a bag along with the pattern for after I finish my Muir shawl. Nothing against multiple projects but two shawls can be a bit hectic. I sort of like the break in types of knitting so I can bounce around from one lacey-fine project on the long-term to a few shorter projects that offer instant gratification for myself. This actually has brought up the choice of the Marlene socks from the recent winter edition of Knit.1 Magazine.

With that said, I ended up spending this weekend over at the Flat watching movies and overall revelry with the visit from our buddy Pumpkin. This resulted in perhaps one too many glass boots over at the Essenhaus but when a man-friend comes to visit then one must put on our best show for a night out. Sunday ended up being much more laid back with some girl time with my gal Sara over at Borders for coffee and books. We considered doing a girl's night out with the Kara and Sadie when both get back to Madison. This girl's night may involve anything from chocolate to Disney movies to crafting depending on what's on everyone's mind by then. I think it would be pretty neat to do some crafting and movies PLUS chocolate. Sadie does some mild knitting and crochet, Sara does jewelary making, and Kara does what Kara does...making us all smile. Maybe she can cook something! Yum.

My main agenda revolves around this week between writing up a paper for my legal class and getting my portfolio snuffed up for review this week. It's a main hassle to go through my portfolio but at least it helps that a large chunk of the work was done in bits and pieces over the past couple months. In between classes I shelf in anything that I've written or gathered that seemed appropriate into my portfolio ahead of time so I wouldn't have to dig for things later in a rush. With that said, the porfolio, while already bulky as is, could be sifted through again to take out unnecessary articles. I guess for show it looks impressive on the outside but after the past couple classes I've sorta realized some of the older articles have become obsolete or more appropriate to other sections in the portfolio.

In a side note...youtube up Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. I stumbled across him when looking up old tap dancing clips of Shirley Temple. Also, found hilarious youtube clip of Fred Astaire dancing combined with "Smooth Criminal." I adore triple-threats in the entertainment industry and Fred Astaire is my favorite classic triple-threat. Oh, oh, and America's Best Dance Crew starts up this coming Thursday night! I'm so gonna call a night-in for that. It makes me honestly glad that our tabletop game got moved now to Mondays for unrelated reasons now that I know that ABDC is opening up for Thursdays.