blanket

Hiya from a.,

Sorry that it has been two weeks since the last post, I do try to keep at a 7-10 day pattern, but it took awhile longer to finish the blanket for a couple of reasons.  One a certain four legged creature believed that it was done already so he would sit on it while I was working, thus impeding the whole process.  The other reason is that I told myself that I would finish the blanket in a week.  Now of course that means that I had to start 3 other different projects instead.  So I have a finished blanket and got about halfway through a sweater, which will be finished at some point.  I have also learned a valuable lesson from this blanket.  Doing the blanket that just gets bigger in one piece as you go takes forever.  It starts quick and small, but it just feels like it never ends.  With blankets you do in pieces at least it is transportable and easier to break from.  You can feel small victories with a pieced afghan in a way you can't with a bigger work.  Anyways here is a crocheted log cabin blanket:

I stuck to a cool palette on one side, and a warm on the other.  There isn't a specific pattern to the colour blocks, more that I wanted to avoid stacking the same colour on top of itself.
 Here is a close up of the center of the blanket so that you can see the stitch a little better.

I've heard the stitch called by a number of names, granite, tweed, even seed.  It is a single crochet, chain 1, single crochet, where in the following row you always work in the chain.  I love this stitch.  It gives a beautiful texture and can look so different depending on the size of hook and type of yarn (this will be demonstrated to you next  post).
So there is the blanket finally done.  Which of course means I've already started another blanket, which I promise you is going to be totally awesome.
Take care.

Gothy Gothicness and the Gothy Goths who Goth it

r: Today you get a two'fer as I actually have a few things done and have the time to post about them. I'm going to blame the time between my posts on learning the harmonica and Mass Effect and not that other thing (rassemfrassem dissertation, you'll be the death of me!). My first project is a gothy/faux Victorian (the best kind of Victorian) frame and image. It came about as a matter of necessity. I have this beautiful picture that I'm clipping from a comic book--the back cover of the most recent issue of Usagi Yojimbo which is not a series I collect and was acquired for cheap so I'm not eyeing my collection with scissors--and I don't have a frame. We have no frames. We are half a dozen things behind in the framing game. A. may have a scarf problem, but collectively we have an art/print/poster problem. Mary Shelley is a practice run at the solution to my Usagi Yojimbo problem. The frame is made out of old Amazon shipping boxes. Simply cut to appropriate size, mount the object to the back piece with (elmer's or craft white) glue, cut the window so it overlaps the original and decorate as you like. Then apply an ample amount of glue to both sides of the frame and stick'em together. The downside is that what you frame can never be unframed so be aware of the that, but the plus is that it comes out super cool and can look, as Mary Shelley does, old and funky. The second item is a pretend wrestling poster. The two wrestlers--the silhouettes came from a photo of El Hijo de Santo and Fray Tormenta (I think)--are stenciled onto a loteria card with acrylic paint. The words are scripted on with a great and wonderful invention that probably makes street art very easy if you're into that kind of thing: the paint marker. Buy these things if you need to letter objects, far more control than a paint brush and less hassle than cutting a stencil. They are available at Utrecht Art Supplies, Loteria cards which you should have too are available on the internet or in Mexican shops.

For your viewing pleasure something delightfully goth:

And something I just find awesome, tell your friends:

Spun Out

Hiya from a.,

So I did a lot of spinning this past week.  It came about for a couple of reasons.  One is that I made a new spindle (picture will be shown shortly).  Two is that the fiber festival that the FLBs go to is only a couple months away and I wanted to get through some backlog so that I could buy a ton more fiber.  The other thing is that I wanted to try to dedicate a week to a specific craft.  I still did crochet at night during Conan, but wanted to focus my energies on one specific thing (this week's focus is going to be finishing that crocheted log cabin blanket I've been working on, and then next week is sewing central I think).  This way I could see a lot of progress, or at least some.
To the first then.  Here is the new spindle.

This is Wanda (one of the FLBs immediately knew that was for Wanda Jackson).  She is fast and can really hold a spin well.  Almost all the fiber I spun this week was on this spindle and I am pleased with the results.
Now here are the singles that got spun up this week:

From top to bottom we have a shiny pink synthetic that one of the FLBs gave me (as I am the one in crew who likes shiny and pink).  Next is a really strong red that is a Merino blend.  Then we have Colonial Top which has a really subtle tonality that I adore.  The last is one of the sheep that I dyed.  It also has a bit of tonality that is hard to see in a cute little stack like this.
Finally, I didn't just do singles this week, I also actually plyed a colour as well.

This a wool blend fiber from copperpot on Etsy.  I did a thin two ply to best show off the three different colours that were in the fiber.  I'm pleased with last week's work, let's see if I can maintain this level of productivity.

The Scarf Problem

Hiya from a.,

So this week has been more about starting or working on a million things, with little being finished yet.  Seriously, why I thought it would be a good idea to do an adult size log cabin blanket, I don't know.  I'm 3/4 of the way through band 7 and am hoping to do 8 or maybe 9 bands if my yarn holds out.  I made the problem worse by counting how many stitches the first band was versus the band I'm working on now (eg band 1 each strip was 300 stitches, in band 7 there are around 1400).  Still it is looking neat and I hope to have it done in a couple of weeks.  I've been spinning some, and working on projects for other people.  I also frogged a shawl I had made.  It came out well, but I have since decided that I look like a prat in a shawl.  The yarn was gorgeous though so I undid all my work and am turning it into a wrap, because those I can handle.
At this point I am sure you are wondering why I've called this post the scarf problem.  No I don't have another scarf to show you.  The FLBs like to gently tease me about how many scarves I make.  This is fine, I do really like to make scarves.  Even complex ones are done relatively quickly, they are pretty, and very practical where I live.  Plus with me having gotten into handspun yarn, I regularly have somewhere between 2 - 4oz, which depending equals 80-250 yards.  This isn't a huge amount of yarn, it means hat, scarf, mittens/gloves.  I like to show off the handspun, and a scarf allows that to happen best.  So no big deal.  But I ask you dear readers if maybe I do have a scarf problem.

This isn't even all of them, 2 had to be left off, but otherwise this is me wearing all the scarves that I've made for myself.  Here now is a picture of them laid out side by side on the ground (including the two that I couldn't fit on).

left to right we have: pretty pink cowl, cotton purple spring wrap, the infinity scarf, my first scarf made, squishy squishy scarf, pink mesh, neutral spiral, noro bricks, first of my handspun that I worked up, noro lace, bamboo aqua wrap, dark purple queen anne lace, big brett marble mesh wrap, and the black and red flowers. 14 in total for myself.  That isn't so bad when you live in a climate where when it warms up to 26F it feels balmy.
Now you do need to remember that these are just my scarves.  This doesn't include r., the moms, the dads, grandparents, friends.  But I wouldn't classify this as a problem.
Do you know what is a problem that affects us all?  Cats who won't let you put luggage away because they are too damn cute.

take care.