13375

Thirteen thousand, three hundred and seventy-five people are ahead of me in line. I will not obsess.

I will not obsess

I promised myself I wouldn't obsess over this waiting list thing. But I've already checked 3 times today. (btw, there are 13,528 people in front of me) But I just realised something awesome: I'm number 20660 on the list, but that just means that I'm the 20,660th person to sign up, there's not that many people in front of me. It's still a lot, but it's 7,132 less than I thought yesterday.

The shawl is done. It looks the same as it did yesterday, but bigger. It's not as big as I'd like, cuz I only had one ball of yarn, but as I was admiring it in the mirror, I realised that it's the perfect size to turn into a shrug with just some ribbon. I feel so smart. Pictures later. I'm off to cut up some more bags.

The Wait Begins

I have just joined the legions of knitters and crocheters waiting to join http://ravelry.com/, and at the moment of this writing, I am number 20660 in line. Dang.



Something I can't believe I forgot to show you last time: a recent FO, Accidentally-on-Purpose, a drop-stitch vest from Stitch n Bitch Nation.

I absolutely love it. It's very easy and pretty quick to knit. You just knit 2 stockinette rectangles and drop the stitches as you bind off. The neck shaping on the front was a little tricky, but I pulled it off and it's wonderful.

This is a patternless gossamer shawl made using the first yarn I've ever gotten from an actual yarn shop instead of a craft store. The yarn is Karabella Gossamer and the needle is a US 17 circ.

This Sunday we went over to our friend's lake house to fish and grill and hang out. Our other friend, Peanut, the one that asked me about the BagBag, was also there. I brought the one in progress with me and finished it there, so I don't have a picture. She loved this one too, and we agreed that I would make some more and she would sell them at the craft fair. I said that I could also make lots of purses out of yarn instead of bags. She liked the idea and I've been churning them out ever since.

Emily the Doll is seen here modeling and hoping Thing 1 will buy her one. In rows from top left: dainty bow tote; on-the-go shoulder bag; roomy knapsack; cary-all tote; slightly smaller carry-all; fair-isle shoulder bag. And that's just in 3.5 days in between other projects! I do think I should start making some BagBags now, though.

Guess what came in the mail yesterday!

"The Museum of Kitschy Stitches: a Gallery of Nototrious Knits" by Stitchy McYarnpants. Hilarious! I definitely reccomend it for your own bookshelf.

My grandparents on my dad's side are getting on up in their years and recently moved into an assisted living facility. A few weeks ago, my dad and his siblings were up there helping them get settled and sort through their stuff. They got rid of a lot, but he brought back lots of old pictures and some things for us kids.
This is a crochet doily that my dad's dad's mother made. I love it to bits(metaphoricaly, of course. It's a priceless family heirloom and it's staying right where it is, away from the hands of destructive little Things) and as a crocheter myself, I can fully appreciate how much time and work went in to this.

Just a warning, beware the edges of open tin cans. However docile and harmless they appear, they are viscious and think nothing of slicing open an innocent and well-meaning thumb.(The resulting cut will render the thumb 75% useless, which, strangely, is a whole lot more annoying than a 100% useless thumb.)

I'm Not Dead

I'm sooooooo sorry I haven't posted in forever, but I was always forgetting or not having time or not having the camera, but now I'm back! And I've been knitting(and crocheting).

This here is part of a rug I'm crocheting with a very large hook and cut-up fabric. It's not even half the size I'd like yet, but I'm out of fabric. The colors are pretty basic, however, so I shouldn't have trouble finding some more. It's very comfy to stand on.
These are socks knit using the basic recipe, but with a k2,p1 rib. They're knit on US 2(2.75 mm) dpns, the smallest needles I own or have ever worked with.
This is part of "Knit Your Own Rock Star" from Stitch n Bitch Nation, but it's not gonna be a rock star. It's gonna be a doll for Thing 1.

These are squares for a blanket for Thing 2(current placement has nothing to do with final placement). I'm having fun with this project. I have no deadline and no pattern, so I can take it at any pace I please. I can also use a variety of techniques. The top middle square is my first intarsia, and it's not nearly as scary as people think. With only 2 colors, it's actually pretty easy.
This is a BagBag, a purse made of cut-up shopping bags. I've made one of these before, but bigger and at a tighter gauge. My mom showed it to a friend of ours, who has a booth in our local semi-annual craft fair. She loved it and told my mom that she was sure people would buy them. The one she saw took me forever, but I could make a bunch of smaller ones with bigger needles and they wouldn't take nearly as long. I'd really like to get a profit out of my knitting, so I'm gonna take her up on her offer.
This is my new and improved circular needle holder, made of a leg from an old pair of jeans. I've labeled it with both US and metric sizes, so it also serves as a conversion chart.
Did you know that today is World Wide Craft Books Day? No? That's cuz it's not. I just felt the urge to show you my knitting library.
We have here, from left to right:

+A binder full of patterns I printed off the internet(the blue folder is not knitting-related)

+Donna Kooler's Encyclopedia of Knitting

+A pattern booklet published by the Lion Brand Yarn company.

+the May and July 2007 issues of Creative Knitting

+Fast Knits, Fat Needles and Quick Crochet, Huge Hooks, both by Sally Harding

+Charmed Knits by Alison Hansel
+Simply Fabulous Knitting by Montse Stanley

+200 Knitted Blocks by Jan Eaton

+Stitch n Bitch Nation and Stitch n Bitch Crochet, both by Debbie Stoller(I have The Knitter's Handbook, but I'm letting a friend borrow it)

+1000 Great Knitting Motifs by Luise Roberts

+All 4 of the Yarn Harlot's books: Stephanie Pearl-Mcphee Casts Off; Knitting Rules, the Yarn Harlot's bag of knitting tricks; Yarn Harlot, the secret life of a knitter; and At Knit's End, meditations for women who knit too much. These four are my favorites.
+Knitting Tips and Tricks(expanded), contributed to by a whole bunch of people and edited by Pam Hoenig

What's in your library?

An aside note, why is nobody commenting? I know people have read my blog, but I've only gotten 2 comments! Please, if you read this, drop me a line. A single sentence will make my day.

PS: y'all go over to the sidebar and take my knitters poll and my Harlot quiz, pretty please with chocolate chips.

Wing It

Cozy Shawl(aka "Wing It") is finished! This is my first shawl, first lace, and first project in wool, and I've learned a few things:
#1: Wet wool has a mind of its own. It will stretch as far or as little as it wants and there's not much you can do about it.

#2: Thursday is a bad day to block because A, the sink and tub are dirty and B, I can't vaccum with a large piece of knitwear taking up a large piece of the floor in my room.

#3: My bathroom sink has indigestion again and it's not my fault. It's not the shawl's fault either.

#4: Because the shawl(according to the pictures in the pattern) is not really supposed to be blocked, mine is substantialy bigger than the one pictured. It's several inches longer than I am tall. I'm 5'4". You do the math(this is not a bad thing at all. I love the biggness)
#5: Sticking pins in the carpet brings me a bizarre happiness.

#6: I need to get some kind of gridded blocking board so I can block in straight lines more easily.

#7: Lack of a gridded blocking board can sometimes induce a lovely design feature. Example:

I was unable to get one side to go in a straight line, so I pinned it out into a swooping pattern. I'm glad I did.

#8: Lace is not really lace until it's blocked.

#9: Wet wool is incredibly heavy and does not smell very nice.

#10: Dry wool smells very nice(unless it's fresh off the sheep and hasn't had the smell of sheep excrement washed out of it)

(It's wider than it looks here. Some of it is scrunched up at my neck)

In Other Knitting News:
"Dobby Hat," found on a blog. A lovely, quick, easy knit, good for scraps. Contact me for a link to the pattern.
"Calorimetry" from Knitty.com. This is an alternative to a hat that's designed to be buttoned under an updo. But going by the fact that it's long enough to tie under my hair, there's a teensy possibility that I maybe might have had a bit of a guage goof. It's not a terrible mess-up, since I can still use it. I'm going to make one on smaller needles and/or fewer stitches for Thing 1.

I had a gloriously small amount of yarn left over from the shawl, so I didn't save it. I put it in the bag with the other tiny scraps that I'm saving for stuffing toys and stuff. But later I decided to try out hand-felting, so I pulled it out and knitted up a weensy swatch.
I held it under warm running water(running water is not nessecary, I should have just filled the sink) and rubbed it in my hands for about 10 minutes, and this is what I got:
Felt. The process of felting fascinates me, and it kinda freaks my mom out. I can't wait to do a whole project in felt.

Quizilla Rocks

According to Quizilla quiz "What Yarn are You?" I am merino wool. I am "very easygoing and sweet. People like to keep you close because you are so softhearted. You love to be comfortable and warm from your head to your toes." I'd say that's a pretty acurate description, though it leaves out many key details.

Things Do Pile Up

How much stuff does a family of five need to survive for a week in a rented house?
This much.
And this much. That there's 2 suitcases with all our clothes and all the rest is food and beach chairs and stuff. Can you find the knitting in this picture? No? Good. The knitting is behind the seat. I see come crochet, though.
And how much lovebug guttage does one SUV acquire after 7 hours of driving through the American Southeast?
A whole lot. This was the front of the car AFTER I scraped off the worst of it.(Just imagine how bad it would have been if we had driven the whole 11 hours without scraping.)
The beach was worth it, however. These were the clouds on the first evening. I thought they looked kind of menacing, but still cool.

The sunsets along made up for most of the bug guts.
We were virtually alone on the beach the whole week. The only people we could see were way down the beach and not many people walked by. That's just the way I like my beaches.
That's my feet and my crude drawing of a flipflop.
My foot and a monster foot.

This is the drip towel on the floor of the bathroom. I just had to take a picture of it because I think the design would look great as fair isle around the edge of a square skirt and I knew I would never remember it otherwise.

Contrary to popular belief, I have been knitting. I just haven't been able to post about it. So I now present: A List of Stuff I've Been Knitting in a More or Less Chronological Order According to Cast-On Date
A stocking cap knit from the leftovers from my Log Cabin Blanket. I did all of this on my school trip.
A halter top of my own design(translation: making it up as I go). I don't have a lot to say about this except that it's a lot bigger than it looks. I'm having some mixed feelings about it and I'm not sure I'm going to continue.
"Dashing" from Knitty.com. I had fun with these. They were very quick to knit, really cool looking, and will keep me snuggly warm when the cold comes back.(Did I mention that I'm kind of in denial? I continue to knit wintery stuff, seemingly oblivious to the fact that I live in South Carolina and it's the beginning of June. Anybody know a good summery knit?)

"Kate" from Knitty, just finished half an hour ago. It's the power of the blog! I was about to post, but I just couldn't post when I had a project that just needed sewing up. Thing 1 loves her.
Unfinished "Cozy Wrap" again from Knitty. I love this wrap so much! I can't wait to finish it. Yeah, summer, I know. But it's lace(MY FIRST LACE!) so it (hopefully) won't be sweltering. And there's always chilly restaurants and evenings and such.
This is a shawl/scarf(more scarf really) that I whipped up from some fuzzy laceweight and a US 15 circular needle. I'm not sure if this is wintery of not, but I refuse to feel bad about it. I love it.
This is a hat for Thing 2 made from the rest of the scraps. Yeah, I know it's kinda pointy. He doesn't care.

I changed my blog settings so that anybody can comment, blogger or not. If that's why you haven't been commenting, don't hold back. I really appreciate your input. Peace out!