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.

First Quilting Foray

Hiya to all,

So yesterday I decided I wanted to sew something pretty.  Now I had gotten a couple quilting books out from the library, because I'm interested in sewing patchwork and applique kind of stuff.  Again remember that there are people who take classes to learn how to quilt, and read the books from cover to cover.  Those people aren't me.  I say I'll just figure it out as I go along, with the pattern I'm using vaguely open beside me.  I did learn some important lessons, the main being if I am going to work on a sewing project for 8 hours I should sit on a cushion to avoid a numb butt the next day.  My first result isn't perfect, the edges aren't even, but considering my lack of space and that it is my first time doing this, I think it came out pretty decent.

It is a wall hanging quilt.  As you see I wasn't silly enough to try to make a people sized quilt for my first project, but rather something that can be hung up more as art.  It is called a coin quilt (or something to that effect).  Here is a close up of the squares:

You are supposed to use a bunch of complimentary fabrics for the strips/squares but I decided to go for just 4 different patterns that were a little more contrasting/dramatic, and I like how it turned out.  A couple more patterned strips would have added more variety, but again first project didn't want to fuss and match too much. For the back I used one of the fabrics that makes up squares.

There was no real way to show you, but I went with the tying quilt method so at regular intervals there are embroidery floss knots holding everything in place.
This is what I did, I like it.
Take Care

Back to a Regular Schedule

Hiya to all,

We should now be back to a regular schedule of posting our amazing craftiness. Holidays are done, travel is done, we are both calmer and more relaxed and able to focus on making things. We are big believers in "keep calm and carry on" but a friend has said she prefers "get excited and make things" and that is a good idea to.
Of course our first back for regular scheduled program must be about scarves.  I have two to show you today, and both are a little different.
First up is what I call my -20 scarf (and that means I'll probably be wearing it tonight).  A friend gave some some gorgeous merino wool malabrigo and I did a basketweave stitch and then she idly mentioned that the yarn felts amazingly.  A little light in my brain went off and here is the finished project:

The textured stitch really held up to the felting and it is a solid piece of fabric now.  Whenever I have it with me, people have to squish it because it is really squishy and neat.

The other scarf I have to show you is neat as well.  I had received amazing birthday yarn from a friend and had many thoughts on what to do with it, but couldn't quite find the right thing.  Then in a recent magazine there was the perfect pattern.  The one alteration I did was to sew the ends together is that the scarf is a long loop that I can wrap around a bunch.

Here my lovely assistant is holding the scarf so that you can see that it is one big loop.

Here it is looped around my neck.  I can loop it around two or three times, which means again extra cozy.  A close up will show the stitch a little bit better.

It is this great mix of chain and single crochet that it has drape and these neat gaps that show off the different colours in the yarn.
Finally we close this day with a picture of b.b. reading a crochet magazine.  Seriously I was looking for a pattern and got up to get a drink and this is what I came back to:

take care.

Hat

Hiya from a.,

So, back from Christmas, and working on stuff for my own household again. Now I'd love to show you everything that I made for Christmas for the family, but that would imply that I took pictures of everything that I made for the family. I did not. There are photos of the dad hats but everyone who reads this saw those on facebook. Instead I will show you what I made on Christmas day.

I took a mitten pattern and was able to extrapolate it into a hat. I did this because I really wanted to use the celtic knot pattern. See my rather awesome mother in law, as a part of my Christmas gift, gave me yarn that she got me in Ireland - pretty cool, right? So I wanted to do something appropriate with it.

I also totally finished a sweater this week, but I'll show you that another time.
take care.

Merry Christmas

Just want to wish our faithful readers a very Merry Christmas. We haven't posted in the last couple of weeks, because we were working on gifts, and can't really put those up before people see them. So we will be back with regularly schedule craft awesomeness after the holidays. Everyone take care.

r: It's been awhile since I last posted, I know, but I've been busy or--more accurately--highly stressed. I have completed two projects however and thought I'd share them with you. The first image is of a tryptic I painted. It was inspired by b movie Go Go girls like Tura Satana  and, in the case of the quotation, Cherry Darling (Rose McGowan) in Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror. "It's Go Go not Cry Cry" isn't just a pithy line in a fake grindhouse film, it's a life philosophy. The Go Go Girls are done in silhouette because it's an easy stencil and I wanted to see how it would work out. I'm pleased with the result but choosing an image that conveys "Go Go" is harder than your would think. If you try it for yourself make sure to find an image that conveys motion. The figure on the right (green) is Lori Williams from Russ Meyer's Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! A source of constant inspiration. The two smaller paintings are a lot of acrylic paint on canvas board. A lot of acrylic paint. I purchased a set of loteria cards for the purpose of making something out of them and hadn't really figured out a use (other than as a border on my painting of the Blue Demon, how I love Lucha Libre) and had these Uncle Wiggily game cards and the same problem. So I decided to use them in a painting experiment where I exploit my natural tendency toward impasto along with acrylic paints supposed similarity to glue. Death and the Devil makes the text creepy, eh?
So that's what I've been up to. My next art project may be coming in the mail for some of you and I'm sure we'll put pictures up (bloody B&N selling out of the Edward Gorey Christmas cards I wanted).

It's Time for Some Cozy

Hiya from a.,

Winter seems to have settled in here, and I actually managed to finish a couple of blankets.  Blankets and I have a weird relationship.  It usually takes three, or even four, iterations before I am pleased with how a blanket is turning out (plus it turns out that if you are following a pattern, maybe you do want to in fact check the gauge).  The first I have to show you, though, actually was the first look for this particular yarn.  It is a small lap blanket for r. for when he is sitting on the cube and playing video games:

It's a v stitch which made it fairly soft and moveable, it is an irregular/regular stripe.  It works well for keeping legs warm when sitting somewhere other than the couch.  Now though, I will show you the more common use for this blanket:

This other blanket I have to show you makes me really happy.  I have tried in the past to make a blanket that is one giant granny square but I have never had enough yarn.  I finally though had collected enough Caron simply soft to pull this off.  I also had always tried to use a K hook, but found my N hook, which made it work up much faster.  I was able to get the granny square blanket made during the watching of all the Harry Potter movies:

It's great because I am usually the person sitting in this chair and I can completely curl up underneath and be all cozy.
That's all, enjoy.