Irish hiking wristwarmers, updates

Made for my partner in the recent Swapbot Wish Swap, a pair of Irish hiking wristwarmers:



Knit in KnitPicks Wool of the Andes, which isn't as skritchy as I'd feared, woohoo. ;D I'm trying to decide if I like these enough to make myself a pair that I'd actually wear.

Updates on other projects: In Sock Wars news, I haven't been killed, but on the other hand the pair of socks that was supposed to be coming to me from my first target/victim seems to have been eaten by the mail. New yarn is on its way soon. (I seem to be getting a lot of sock yarn in the mail recently; the other stuff is from the Socks for Soldiers donation basket and is thus going to charity efforts. So none of the sock yarn I'm getting in the mail is for me. ;)) Also, some Halloween jewelry pics should be coming soon. Spoooky.

January calendar art finished at last!

It seems like I'm eternally a few days behind, but you know, I remember a time when I wasn't, so I know it's possible. ;) And a couple of days late on a project with a lengthy turnaround isn't a killing offense, so I don't feel too bad ... Anyway, this is the January calendar art for the Eccentric Pastiche calendar project:



I hope it's up to par. It looks like a lot of things I do -- aren't I generic, with my deep blue backgrounds and metallic silver swirlies? ;) Oh, well. As long as people like it, and I like it...

Now I must go and get orange clay so that I can fulfill other obligations. Today seems to be the Day of the Universe Laughing and Spurning Me, but I defy it with the two grams of energy I have left. ;)

Lacy altar cloth/stole and a handwoven thingie

Finished these the other day for a Samhain fiber craft swap on Swap-bot:



The top one is supposed to be an altar cloth, but it looks quite cute as a mini scarf/stole thing, and the bottom thing was going to be a hand-towel, but who knows what it will actually be used as? ;)

My Sock Wars socks are away!

As of yesterday, I haven't been killed by sock yet, and I even managed to send my socks. Woo! Le Socks de Doom:



WIth some handspun I sent along as a present to my target. :D

Today I'm attempting to skein the mountain of yarn I have for Brian's Duel sweater (a.k.a. the "I challenge the boyfriend curse to a duel" sweater). Yarrrrr. Winding yarn into center pull balls and then skeining them on the swift is faster than skeining them by hand, but still annoying, especially when the yarn disintegrates into a big fat tangle. We'll see how far I get on that...

Also on the table for today is an altar cloth for a swap. Whew. Although I was hoping to have it significantly done before leaving to go to Brian's, knowing me? I probably won't work on it at all before I get there. ;) Oh, well.

Yarr ... I'm apparently a lover, not a fighter.

Because I'm certainly not a very good sock warrior. ;) The pattern contains a grammatical unclarity (it says to knit in pattern for the length of the victim's foot, as opposed to knitting in pattern until the foot of the sock is the length of the victim's foot), which screwed me up so that I knit too many rows in the foot. Not too too many rows, but still more than my patience is capable of unknitting neatly so that the knitting may re-commence. Chances are I'm going to end up waiting tomorrow so I can make Ben unknit the, like, three rows that are screwing me up. Curses on men with more emotional repression and thus more patience! Except not too many curses till after he unknits the sock for me. ;)

So, fortuitous victim, through circumstance and lack of patience on the part of one unskilled sock-wielding assassin, thy first sock remains yet unfinished and likely will remain so till at least the morrow. Thou art safe ... yet.

Or mayhap I'll put this sock on other needles and knit the second sock first! Wahahahahaha! Then I shall have but the toe to finish and sock-induced death shall fly with winged feet!

;D

(Woo. Sock Wars.)

Italianesque scarf, mittens, and Sock Wars impatience

I made my sister a scarf like this for her birthday, and this one will hopefully go into my Etsy shop shortly:



Floofy!

Lately I've cast on my mittens for the Swapbot Mittens Swap, and am pondering whether to rip them to the cuff and alter the pattern to add a little fancyfancy, or to just knit them plain ... ponder. Ponder. And now I'm waiting along with everyone else in the Sock Wars army to see if the hurricane-spawned storms beating on Ireland are indeed what's keeping (Belfast-based) Yarn Monkey from posting the assassination assignments and sock pattern. The delay might even be useful to me if I want to finish those mittens, especially since I appear to need the needles I'm using for the mittens to get the Sock War sock pattern gauge ... I have a vague idea that double-knit weight yarn in Ireland might actually be sport weight here, because contrary to all past experiences, I've had to go up two needle sizes to achieve something close to gauge, and usually I'm at least one needle size below the posted/published one to get the same tension. Hrm. Oh, well. I've also discovered that I like DK weight yarn, which I don't think I've used before; I particularly liked the Matchmaker (is it Jaeger? Thank goodness it's not Jaegermeister -- bleh ... ;)) Merino DK on size four needles. Must knit something with that someday...

Fingertip towel

Yesterday: finished knitting a fingertip towel for part of a girlygirly exchange on Swapbot. I like the way it turned out, and now I'm considering making one or two for myself...



And thanks to an unforeseen delay in the processing of my yarn order from Jo-Ann, they didn't have the green yarn I wanted, and only shipped the white. Phooey. I might just end up ordering more of the white, since at this point I might as well dye it all.

Next two knitting projects in the queue: my eyelet skirt and Beth's shawl. Today I'll probably finish a fuzzy scarf to (gasp) go in my Etsy shop. Whoaaaa, stuff that might get me some money in...? ;)

Back from Dragon*Con, back in the groove

...or at least trying to be. Mostly for my own reference: today I made three purple and silver polyclay pendants, measured the gauge swatch for Brian's hoodie (even with size 5 needles rather than size 6, the gauge is too large ... eep!), ordered the yarn for Brian's hoodie (they didn't have enough of the spruce color for the entire thing, which stymied me for a second, but then I remembered I could make the pocket and the hood in a contrast color and so I ordered some white for me to dye, probably a darker green), and started knitting a small bag to go along with the non-fie necklace swap package, using an acrylic (whiiine ;)) yarn that I got from a Swapbot swap. Even if it's (whiiine ;)) acrylic, it's doing this cool swirly stripey color pattern thing, so I may be forced to make another one for me, or something. Laaaa. More craftiness tomorrow, and, as usual, pictures Someday.

Reddish orangish goldish spectrum: knecklaces and a ribbon scarf; plus incoming soap swap!

Photos at last! Still no photo of the blue knecklace I knit for myself, but hey, you can't have everything. The pale pink necklace is Mystery Yarn from the thrift store, some kind of plant fiber(s) -- cotton? linen? -- and possibly something synthetic like rayon or polyester. The orangey necklace is a crochet yarn I picked up from Jo-Ann that I can't remember the name of right now. ;) The diagonal ribbon scarf is from a pattern in Odd Ball Knitting and is knit from Moda Dea Fresh in color Wheaty.







And here's my received handmade soap swap! It's uberlate, but that actually pleases me, since now I know I'm not the only one fulfilling swap obligations on a rubber-time schedule. ;D



Am now in the process of knitting a mini Christmas stocking from a rather annoying fuzzy thick 'n' thin Mystery Yarn; can't wait till I'm done with the thing ... and then maybe I'll be able to finally send the uberlate indie swap that it goes with. Woo. Yet more slow accomplishage...

The quicksilver luck field strikes again

Except that this time it's struck Brian and stressed me by extension rather than the other way around. Oysh. I should apologize to him.

Anyway, I've cast on Beth's wedding shawl and a scarf for the Uberlate indie swap, but there are still no pics of anything relevant because of the aforementioned luck field (to rehash, the weekend was good so I expected that the beginning of this week would probably be crap to balance it out ;)). Both new projects are going fairly quickly, but I may run out of steam tonight and not finish anything ... oyysh. I need to take my Superwoman pill.

Yarn yarn yarn and a kitten

Put in that Jo-Ann order today with the convenient free shipping code -- woohoo, I remembered. Finished two more of those Knecklaces over the weekend, pictures forthcoming. (Pictures of the washcloth and shower scrubbie currently in use at Brian's are theoretically forthcoming someday, but I'm too lazy to go photograph them now, so who knows when that will happen?) Have acquired random kittenage at Brian's as well, so knit cat toys will likely appear soon ... cackle. ;D The KnitPicks order apparently arrived at the house while I was away for the weekend, so there's also that to look forward to ... Hopefully the yarn overload will help lighten the contrast between what turned out to be a nice weekend and what I expect will be an annoying next few days. Not that there's anything particularly stressful scheduled ... My life just tends to work that way -- good weekend, crappy week; crappy weekend, good week, etc. Maybe Brian's luck field will interfere with mine -- it would be lovely -- but I'm not putting any money on it. Watch the glass ... It may be dropping shortly. ;D

Okay, some gratuitous kitty pics while I'm at it:



  

  

  

One necklace down...

...one to go. Well, almost. I'm supposed to steam block this one, but I think I kinda like the frothy look:



Not sure yet, though. And technically it needs a button for a fastener. Haven't decided yet what yarn to use for the second necklace, but I do like this pattern (Knecklace from Knitty). Yay for more to-do list reduceage!

Recon pics!

To make myself feel better after the mini fiber fiasco of earlier, I did some quick 'n' easy reconstruction stuff ... which means I get to cross stuff off my to-do list, too. ;D Tricksy, I am ... anyway, pics.

First, the "princess" top with empire waist and side gores, taken from 99 ways to cut, sew, trim and tie your t-shirt into something special, in which it is idea #40, "river" -- I'm just calling it "princess" because that's what it reminds me of. ;) It's really dark purple and not black as it may appear in the photo, but that's what I get for having eternally bad lighting and a Nile-sized lazy streak when it comes to photographing stuff I have no intention of selling. ;) Oh, and for using the built-in camera. I did try to take a photo with the Real digital camera, actually, but then the batteries ran out and I'm charging another set and wanted to post in the meantime. So the appearance of laziness ensues. ;D This shirt was originally a V-neck t-shirt with lovely fabric but which, like most V-necks, looked horrid on me. The new look is ... slightly nonstandard but at least not generic V-neck crap. Moderate improvement. ;D



Next up is the "Parrot-ise" shirt, reconned from an old blood donor shirt found in a bag full of old clothes my sister didn't want. Imagine the usual ridiculously overhuge L/XL type "one-size-fits-all" t-shirt. This is the reincarnate version, idea #20, "miriam" from 99 ways again:





Exciting? Kinda, anyway. There are probably a million other things I "should" be doing, but it's nice to be able to cross more little things off the list immediatement...

Ughness

I need a real niddy-noddy, or better yet, a reel ... with a yardage counter, if possible. The slapdash thing Ben made me wielded its jury-rigged power on me today and tangled a skein of freshly spun yarn I'd intended on trying to set so I could make a Magic Yarn Ball out of it ... but of course the yardage is too short, too, and I'm not entirely sure the weight of the yarn is consistent enough for me to inflict it on someone else. Bleahh. I'm currently in need of food, so my brain isn't feeling particularly cooperative in coming up with a response to this. Should I spin up another full skein, making sure I go over the required yardage this time, and since I won't be pausing in the middle for a while the weight won't change suspiciously in the middle of the skein? Or should I spin up some more of the same wool and join it onto the stuff I've already spun, if I can manage to find the ends of it in the semi-salvaged skein shaped thingie?

I was having a pretty good spinning day -- no annoying weak spots, good control over drafting, all my joins were coming out decently, decent success with the cone-on-cone wind-on to the spindle, and spinning from the pre-split roving was going well ... meh. I know what I really should do is go eat something and then come back to this, but in order to do that I have to answer another question: what the heck should I eat that will actually nourish my poor demanding brain? ;) Possibly a harder question to answer than the other ones...

Also: International Scarf Exchange

I'm interested in the International Scarf Exchange despite the fact that I live in Florida and don't need any more scarves to add to my unrealistically superuntropical collection of said items, but I do like knitting scarves and making things especially to people's specs ... yarr. I'll have to think about it while I catch up with the stuff I'm supposed to be doing and if I get far enough along I may let myself sign up. ;D At least I do have a good scarf-delivery success rate ... Come to think of it, I have a pretty darn good knitting-delivery success rate. Figures. It takes so much less time to make a pair of earrings or a necklace than it takes to knit, like, anything, so of course I'm better at delivering knit items on time ... That's just the way I work. ;)

Summer Holiday swaps finally out

Packages went out today to both internationalites and Statesiders -- fly on thy way, each little package, and speed to thy recipient safely and happily! Fly, fly! ;D

Pointless dramatic badly lit washcloth photos

Finished Brian's reverse mitered washcloth, too, so eventually there will be a boring and probably equally badly lit photo or two of that. ;) The cotton skirt is about, say, a quarter done not counting seams and all that, and I cast on the second half of the skirt tonight ... Let the countdown begin to the finish line of the Skirt For Me. I really want to knit Allusion next, and it's actually because of the Brian washcloth -- I tested the look of that plain ol' white cotton garter stitch pulled out tight like it is in Allusion, and I likes. Since I have a bunch of white yarn that I bought for $1 a ball just in case I didn't have enough yarn for the eyelet portion of the skirt, and I think the white yarn would look good ... I really should finish the skirt before I start Allusion, even though the top may take way less time to finish than the skirt. Laaa ... A million other things I should be working on, but for the moment I think I'll go to bed and try to have happy Brianful dreams. (Can anyone tell what I'm considering making the subject of my next 'zine? No? Hint: It starts with a "B" and it appears on this page possibly as many times as the word "yarn." Yeccch, I'm one of Those people ... one of those sickening people with an SO who gets mentioned constantly in a positive light ... ewwwww. ;) I think I'm coming up for a Misanthrope Guild reassessment, but at least they can't take away my Young Spinster card, because now I literally am one. ;D)

Aspiring sock warrior foiled at APC!

That is, the automated postal center was being whingy tonight and first refused to register that I was entering my PIN (on the very same keypad that registered me inputting the zip code ten seconds before...), then proved incapable of printing out postage (as opposed to postage labels, which it would and did print for me). So the Summer Holiday swaps are all going out tomorrow, apparently; the Handmade Soap swap did go out tonight, though not Priority as I'd intended because there were no darn Priority mail stickers to put on the package. Phooey. Anyway. Something got sent.

In other news, I think I'm going to be insane and participate in Sock Wars! I ... just can't help it. I like the idea of becoming one of the fallen because someone sent me a pair of socks. ;)

It's kind of funny, too, since I've only ever knit one pair of socks with actual sock-weight yarn, and they were tube socks, a.k.a. socks with no heel. The other pairs of socks I've knit have been worsted-weight yarn, and while they've had heels, they haven't had toes (meaning, they were Knitty's pedicure socks ;)). I hope the pattern that gets sent out doesn't require grafting or something like that. ;) On the other hand, I do have several sock patterns sitting around waiting to be knit, and this may give me the excuse I need to finish the socks for Shari, which use Magic Loop as Yarn Monkey recommends we practice ... or possibly a pair of socks for myself, which I have conveniently provided myself with yarn for already. Hmmmmmm...

Outgoing! and the Spin to Knit exchange ... yum!

Some swap boxes will be outgoing tonight! The uber-late Summer Holiday exchange packages to partners in America specifically, and then tomorrow the international packages will go out, so I'll finally be able to check that one off my list ... excitement! And once I weave in the tails on that washcloth, I'll have the hand-made soap swap ready to go, too. Here's a crappy photo of the latest batch of soaps (just melt 'n' pours, but hey, I'm a soap newbie):



Speaking of washcloths, I cast on the mitered washcloth pattern from Strings and Sealing Wax today just to see how it works. If it comes out looking nice enough, I may give this one to Brian and thus be able to check another item off my list. (Not that I'm going for all the small ones at the moment, or anything. ;P)

Also: Interweave Press is doing a handspun yarn exchange to celebrate the publication of Spin to Knit ... oooo. I want to play! I hope someone reminds me of this when it comes around, or maybe I'll manage to somehow remember it on my own. ;)

The ordering of yarn

(Kind of like the ad-dressing of cats.)

Put in a KnitPicks order today for the yarn and needles for Beth's shawl, and I also ordered a ball of Shine Worsted to see how light it is and whether, indeed, it is too shiny. ;) I'm considering using it for Brian's hoodie since it's a cotton blend (like all his current favorite sweaters) and it's not insanely expensive. I'm not sure whether the color range is going to have what I need, but heck, I can always overdye the yarn a darker blue. I also really kinda want to make him a wool or wool-blend hoodie for the, like, two times it might be cold this Florida winter ... "really kinda" meaning I know it's random and I want to make sure he likes handknit sweaters before I go and do that. Oh, yes, and I still challenge the boyfriend curse to a duel. ;D Oh, and note to self: should check yardage and prices on that fluffy cotton/wool yarn from Jo-Ann. It would definitely need an overdye (while Brian might wear a pastel hoodie, I think I'll avoid that for now ;)), but it is all light and soft and appealing...

And checking out Jo-Ann.com, the TLC Cotton Plus looks promising. I almost put in an order today, but neither of the free shipping codes in my sales flyers applies to today's date ... drat. If I can wait till the nineteenth, and actually remember (which is the real kicker ;)), then I can put in the code from the latest flyer and get free shipping on several balls of Cotton Plus in different trial colors. Wooo. I'll probably lose any mental notes I make, so I'm making a note here in hopes it will somehow manage to help.