beginner no more

oh, i almost forgot.

remember that one time when i wrote that i'll consider myself a beginner 'til someone thinks something i made is store-bought?

well, it happened with the little pink penguin. and he actually said, "i mean this as a compliment, though it may not sound like one, but that looks store-bought."

yay.

knitter's block

k2, p2.
k2, p2.
k2, p2.

and the project never gets any bigger. i can't see my progress. the pattern is boring. it's one of those simple patterns that one ought to have on hand so that one can knit in a group and chat without having to either screw up your project because you're talking and you lose track, or be unable to chat because you're concentrating on counting.

i'm not sure it was such a great idea to start this project in the first place. i still haven't decided how i'm going to replace the big giant ribbon bow. needless to say, this project really isn't going anywhere.

somebody give me a summer project, quick. hats and scarves are for winter, darnit.

penguins

you remember penguin, right?


well, lookit! it's penguin's little sister.

(pattern from knitty.com)

tears of a clown

hey, madeline. some circus clown called. she wants her handbag back.

today being laundry day yet again, i found my forgotten felting projects at the bottom of my laundry baskets. i didn't really give it too much thought, knowing by now not to get my hopes up.

wait, do you even remember that far back? well, if not, in my felting queue are two madeline bags. (the booga bag i've put aside for now.) one of the madeline's is made of noro kureyon. the other madeline is of cascade 220. the bags were done with the same pattern, same needles, same number of felt cycles. i did make the kureyon's handle longer, but the bag part should still be the same size. check out the difference.


thus reinforcing my ever-growing disappointment in kureyon. the thing looks like a color-blind circus clown's makeup bag after it's been through the dryer.

but look at the madeline out of cascade! if i may say so, i think it turned out to be sooooooo cute! (i say it that way, with tons of "o's" and an exclamation point, because it is pink.)

i feel a bit sheepish admitting that it took three tries for me to finally get madeline down right. the trick was, evidently, to use the kind of yarn suggested. (although kureyon was mentioned in the instructions as an alternative, just so ya know.) but this time that i did it right, i nailed it. may i direct your attention to the cream-colored edging i added on my own. i knit this bag in the round and did the pseudo-edging as impromptu intarsia, knowing that it would probably felt differently because it is so close to white. for that white-trimmed look that was so popular-- last fall. oh, well.

in any case, it's done. my first successful felting project is done, and i'm pleased with how it turned out.

now what to do with my booga and madeline mishaps of the kureyon kind?

gah

to celebrate another one of my friends getting knocked up,

i mean, the miracle of bringing a new little life into the world,

(which is actually a good and wonderful thing, i don't mean to sound harsh)

i am making a little something. not that it's not taking effort. as a matter of fact, it's a good thing i have today and tomorrrow off.

it's pink. it's all baby-y and pastel.

i'm fretting about my color choices, my little plastic eye choice, my technique choies,

and then it occurs to me. this family is moving away; i will probably never see this child out of her infancy; the toy will probably get chewed on. or peed on. or worse, the latter, then the former.

i don't mind those things above, and thinking about them reminds me that it's okay if this little toy isn't the ultimate in perfection, and maybe white-with-little-hints-of-color will work out better than plain stark white after all.

i do really really hope my friend enjoys it (it's for her, after all), but now i don't have to stress so much about it.

hedgehogs!

"you knit what??" made fun of them, but i think they're kinda cute.

fiber trends' bunnies are pretty cute too. howEEver (rhymes with cleaver) i've not had much success with the whole felting thing so i'm not sure i wanna do one of these.

i find that i really enjoy making stuffed animals. they're little, so they don't take long, they progress right before your eyes, and when you're done, they're so cute!

Irish Hiking Scarf

Yay, it's done. The binding off? I decided I could live with the edge produced by the grafting technique. As a matter of fact, it looks remarkably similar to the cast on edge, which I like. As the yarn settles it'll be nearly indistinguishable.

Photos? Did I mention this one is difficult to photograph? It will not drape gracefully over anything, for some reason. Surprisingly enough, it looks just like it did in previous photographs, only now it's longer.

Not satisfied? Fine. Here.


Pattern here.

Grrr.

I'm binding off on the Irish Hiking Scarf. Ought to be exciting but it's kinda ticking me off.

See, I did an alternate cable cast on, and I don't want the other end to look completely different. I did start with the usual bind off method, and it wasn't stretchy enough for the k1p1 ribbing I've added to each end of the scarf.

So now I'm doing that thing where you slip the knit stitches onto one needle, and the purl stitches onto another, and kitchener graft them together. The end result is rather funky looking; kinda sloppy.

Any suggestions?

What I did at work today

I'm okay with the fact that this one is dark and out of focus.


But it does look like it'll fit.

I didn't do all this today; I just added a few rows. This one's been dormant in my knitstuff bag for weeks and weeks.

what i did at work yesterday

okay, not all of this. just the knitting for the pink one. i did the stitching and stuffing yesterday evening at home. it came together much more quickly than i expected.

there's something different about the baby yarns that make the bunnies look a little more laid back. i think i may prefer the perkiness of the bunnies made with the yarns that have more body. i don't know.

i think this is proof that i sort of dislike making and attaching appendages, considering that i finished the body of this camo-coloured bunny over a month ago.

Pattern

Eeeeee hee hee hee!

I bought a pattern.

I know, I know. There are so many patterns that are free online.

BUT. There are some cool ones that are not free. This one cost me (gasp) a dollar!

Do ya wanna see what I ordered? Dooya? Dooya? Huh? Huh?

(giggle)


(It's one of the prizes for winning PricklePoints™. Play Contest #5 to win some of your own.)

HA! Ha ha ha!

That picture makes me laugh.

Ghet-to pho-tos

I did it. I knitted some.

Had trouble photographing it though.

W.I.P. Irish hiking scarf.

One stitch.

Literally. One stitch, and my beeper went off.

Of course, now I'm writing on my blog about it. So now there must be time.

I'll give it another try.

Superstition

I was never superstitious before. I'm still not really superstitious. But.

I've started half-jokingly participating in some superstitious thingies at work. For example, at work, you do not, repeat, do NOT say the full name of a chronic patient out loud. Do so, and within a few days that patient will be admitted, and you will probably have to take care of him/her. You also never talk about how well the night is going, and you NEVER say that it is (whispering) "quiet" (shudder). All hell will break loose if you do. But if you knock on wood (we usually use our heads), the effect will be mitigated somewhat.

The superstition I'm thinking of is a mild one. It's more like a Murphy's law type of thing, I guess. It is that if you expect it to be slow and bring something to do, it will be extremely busy. "Busy" in a hospital is not good, because what it means is that people are very sick.

And so I was going to announce that today! Today's the day I bring my knitting in to work because I'll probably have some down time, meaning I can make some significant progress. Last time I did watch all of "Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit" without being interrupted, after all. Complete with commercial breaks. And not a single page. Not a one. (Loved the movie by the way. Mostly because I am a sucker for movies about kids getting interested in music. Oh, and I loved it despite the fact that I am completely trounced upon by the fourteen-year old boys who can sing the same solos I do and do it way way WAY better, with improv, mordents, whistle tones, and an incredible amount of soul.)

BUT.

NO! I am not going to make such an announcement. I am going to say, no, it will probably be insanely busy and I probably won't be able to even eat or sit down or even go pee, not once during the entire sixteen hour shift! Because sometimes (read: often) that actually happens. And this way if it doesn't happen, I can be pleased. And if it does, I won't be disappointed that I didn't get to knit.

Fits and starts

I knit in fits and starts.

So I've just come through a fit. When will my next start be?

nobunny reads this

right?

i am still a knitter, but i haven't knit anything in a long time. why? because my house a mess and if i have free time i OUGHT to be cleaning it. i ought to be finished cleaning it before i pick up my knitting again. but no. i can't finish my cleaning. so that's why i haven't knit anything. that and the fact that any time i get on a plane i am incredibly sleep-deprived (i'm talking 32-36 hrs here folks) so i just pass out.

i still have projects going stale on my needles. this is not good.