The magical 20-minute tripod stool!

Tripod stool, originally uploaded by JeweledClaws.

Altogether, I think this took about 20 minutes to make, and that's including the time it took to have the dowels cut for us.

Wooden dowel rods + cotton canvas + leftover cotton warp yarn + fudging = tripod stool for this weekend at FlaRF. Huzzah!

The sides of the triangle are somewhere around 15" long. The entire thing is fairly jury-rigged: No clue how long the legs are, as we just had the dowels cut in half, and I fudged the triangle seat measurements with a Sharpie and a yardstick rather than actually measure angles. The wood could use some sanding and the legs could use a neater and more secure tie, and the edges could be hemmed under, but it works! I am amazed at making a near-instant replica of the squeaky embossed leather tripod chair I loved as a kid.

I could even add embroidery and padding and prettify the legs, and it'd be quite decorative. Maybe I'll make a horde and see if anyone wants to buy 'em. ;D

Hats for nuns!

I love it. A charity that's knitting hats for Buddhist nuns. Must ... knit ... hat...

Because the knitqueue always needs to be longer. :P

Regnbagsull!

Regnbagsull Merino.jpg, originally uploaded by JeweledClaws.

Whatever that means. ;) That's on the label that was on this happy fiber that I spun up yesterday. This is part of the birthday fiber, the bit I bought specifically to use as a learning experience on the spinning wheel. (Hugs to my Kromski Sonata! Nom nom nom!) I've been eyeing this stuff at Uncommon Threads for months, but didn't really have the funds to spare for a colorway that didn't jump out at me. Once I started spinning it, though, I liked the colorway a lot more. Ha. ;D Now I want to dye some more yarn like this. Also: pencil roving is pretty cool. Huzzah.

This weekend, and the next five after: Florida Renaissance Festival. Considering bringing my oh-so-unperiod spinning wheel. No one will notice it's not period-accurate, right? ;)

Oh, and I just noticed that this is my first "Look at this yarn still on the bobbin that I just spun isn't it pretty" picture. Hee. ;)

Note to self: blocking is good

There are a couple of steps along the way to a finished product that I always dislike. For sewing, I dislike having to pin seams before I sew them -- but sometimes it reeeaaally helps. In knitting, I dislike blocking. Annoyingly, it looks a lot like pinning pattern pieces for a sewn object, which I kind of enjoy ... but pinning pieces to block takes me like four times longer than pinning pattern pieces. Oysh!

I can hear Brian outside, sawing wood for my tri-loom. I hope it doesn't frustrate him too much. ;) If I'm super lucky, maybe I'll have a tri-loom by the end of the weekend. If I'm super realistic, I should have a tri-loom shortly after the end of the Florida Renaissance Festival ... which ends in March. Yeah.

Well, at least I'll have one...? ;)

Next up: sewing seams. Which I really enjoy in sewing, and rather dislike in knitting. But not as much as I dislike blocking. ;)

Birthday stash enhancement

Stash enhancement: birthday 2008, originally uploaded by JeweledClaws.

Happy Quicksilver Crafter new year! Yesterday was my birthday, and in honor of my birthday, I bought myself some yarn, including this Debbie Mumm Traditions.

Realization for this week: I think I managed to yarn diet all of 2007. Neither Brian nor I can remember me buying any yarn all year, and I'm pretty sure that if I bought any, it wasn't much. The kind of sad thing is that I didn't get through that much of my stash, either, because my knitting output kind of went *poof.* I wonder if that's related. (No yarn shopping = no inspiration? ;))

Adding some color with the test knit

Test knit wrap top, originally uploaded by JeweledClaws.

This is what I'm working on today: the test knit wrap top. The photo doesn't tell you too much, hopefully -- *I* don't think it does, but if someone out there thinks it's too revealing of the yet-unreleased pattern, let me know. :D

Silver lives!

Having a full-time, brain-draining, sometimes demoralizing job does not a productive crafter make. ;) There is hope, however: I have lately resumed my delayed-by-gauge-mishap test knit, and am aiming to take out a good chunk of that this weekend. I've even created a knitqueue, kind of like Ravelry's, except this is organized in terms of which project comes first.

Knitqueue:

Cable sweater test knit (Feb 3, 2008)
(Byron’s costume)
Brian’s Duel sweater
Licorice vest
Paula’s convertible mittens
Keri hat - see Keri hat notes
Brandy Calorimetry - cobalt
Andrew hat - brown?
Moonlight Mohair capelet
BBS
Virginia’s chenille cable scarf
Leisure socks
Anne’s socks
Mom’s shawl
Branching Out
Mystery Stole 3
KYOAMPi (garden)
Felted pumpkins
Tinker shawl

Now, off to eat breakfast, and then go thrifting (oh, dear -- I verbed a noun) for a nightstand for Brian.

Quick knitty knitty

Loom-knit hat.jpg, originally uploaded by JeweledClaws.

My first loom-knit object, voila! It's the pattern that came with the Knifty Knitter round loom set, and it's made from some acrylic stash yarn. Mmm, experiments. Loom-knitting is good for acrylic stuff, because I don't have to touch the fabric or yarn anywhere near as much as I do with needle knitting. I could probably get away with wearing gloves to knit angora on a loom, as long as I wore a mask so I didn't inhale too much floaty angora fluff, too. ;)

OMG. Yarn stashage impending. I shall never go home.

I just found out that The Talked About Yarn Shop (a.k.a. Knit 'N' Knibble) is like A MILE away from the building my new job is going to be located in once they move. Right now we're on the Air Force base because the computers need to be government-installed, yaddayadda, but at some point they're planning on moving back to the triangular shiny tall building by the Mall of Doomful Traffic ... and Knit 'N' Knibble, which I've been hearing about for years, pretty much since I started knitting regularly, is SO a mile or two away. As in, turn off the street that the triangular building is on, and go a mile, and there you are. WHOA.

I have totally passed this yarn shop twice in the past week without knowing it.

The Cheeriness shawl

Mom's shawl in progress 2.jpg, originally uploaded by JeweledClaws.

Another variant on the Sunday Market Shawl, this one is for my mom. I love the way this stuff drapes -- yet another example of how good yarn makes even basic stockinette scrumptious. Now I want to design a skirt pattern with a similar weight and drape...

Scarves From the Heart needs donations

They just donated their last batch of scarves at an event, and they have an event coming up in October. Anyone with scarves sitting around, on the needles, or in their heads waiting to be knit up lickety-split can go here for more information.

Delicious yarnage

Mom's shawl yarn ball 1.jpg, originally uploaded by JeweledClaws.

Note to self: Knitting is not sewing. I should therefore start knitting my mom's shawl; after all, if I don't like the way it's turning out, I can rip it out and try something new without losing a bit of yarn.

I used to remember this about knitting. In fact, when I first started knitting regularly, that was one of my favorite things about it: I didn't have to suffer the dreaded First Cut syndrome, which is particularly marked with super-nice fabric.

This is super-nice yarn: hand-dyed, recycled/rescued cashmere and silk. Mmm. It's even a great weight for a real shawl*, or a lightweight cardigan, which is what's keeping me from casting on: what if I find the shawl pattern I've chosen to be inappropriate? Hence I must remind myself: I can always rip out.

I can always rip out ... I can always rip out ... I can always rip out...

*Not to degrade the shawl I've chosen as a non-real shawl. ;) I'm just being sloppy with my phrasing. Ahh, the leisure of not writing a Blog of Substance.

Art for Cures

I'll be participating in Art for Cures (which will be located here in the future soon ... as soon as I figure out what I need to be doing for it and I can unbury enough of my art stuff. ;)

A-testing I will go...

Just joined the test knitting group for Gardiner Yarn Works -- hurrah. :D I found them through Ravelry, which is teh cool.

I need to revamp the blog look. I was lazy when I started this thing, as I just wanted a place to blether immediately, but if my luck pattern holds, I may have time to revamp sometime in the next week. Yay, I say, again.

OMG! Marzipan knittings!

I must acquire marzipan and decorate edibles with knit things.

Knit for abandoned gas stations...?

The International Fiber Collaborative wants YOU! Submissions due in March 2008.

Saturday market shawlette, fin!

Sat market shawlette crop.jpg, originally uploaded by JeweledClaws.

I look like a freak in this shot (this equals photos at three a.m. plus sleeplessness while watching boyfriend play video games), but this is my latest finished object: the Sunday Market Shawl, which I think is just lovely. I'm going to make another for my mom. :D

I've also been playing on Ravelry a lot lately, and worrying about a potential new job. Almost done with Sahara, although not close enough for me to be in the gung-ho must-finish-now-come-hell-or-high-water stage.

Financial troubles hopefully at an end soon. If I get my security clearance for this copy editor job, I should be in the clear for a while yet. Whew. Poor Brian really needs the help right now, but once he's at leisure to look for a new job instead of just grabbing the first (crappy, but less crappy than his current) one he finds, he should be more at ease and more capable of finding something that doesn't need me to help for him to pay all his bills. ;) (Our bills, maybe, but I didn't have to acquire them ... so they're kinda still his. ;D)

More knitting updates

Duel sweater in progress 1.jpg, originally uploaded by JeweledClaws.

Six inches on the Duel sweater, and seven inches (so far) on the BBS. Here's an in-progress shot of the Duel sweater. The yarn is really less shiny than that (and hence, looks darker in reality), but I needed a picture for the Duel sweater's Ravelry project page, and setting up a decent non-flash photo would have cut into my valuable knitting time. ;)

Progress on the knit objects

At about 4.5 inches on the back of the Duel sweater, and I'm really enjoying the texture, drape, and shine of this yarn, not to mention the hand-dyed forest green. ;) There's a vague possibility that I may acquire a 9-to-fiveish job sometime in the next couple of weeks, which won't leave me much surprise time (that is, Secret Ninja Knitter time to make things without the recipient being around) for the Duel sweater, so as much as I can get done now is great ... plus I'd like to get as much done as possible before my erratic gauge changes again due to some arbitrary life event, or the lack thereof. ;)

I'm also at probably just under six inches (I'm too lazy to go measure right now) on that first BBS sock. Woooooo. I have some evening errands to run with Brian that will cut into my charity knitting time, and phooey on that, but I'll try to get some more done afterward.

Semi-speed-knitter, go!

Finally finished a Warm Up America afghan square

Ben left one partially done in my stash, and I've finally finished it for him, freeing up a pair of size 6 needles. Woooo. ;)