TAKING BACK [THE KNIT]

You know what I am sick of as a crafter? It's one thing that really gets my goat, or 'grinds my gears', as Peter Griffin might say. I am SO sick of hearing and seeing crafters complain about people calling them grandmas for knitting/crocheting/whatever. YEAH, WE GET IT. There is a stereotype that only old ladies do this kind of stuff. I know it's frustrating, and I often deal with it myself. If you're hearing it so often, shouldn't you be used to it by now?! I just laugh when people call me a grandma when I knit in public. If your grandma knits garter belts, parties every weekend, and is obsessed by Futurama then she must be pretty rad! And I am taking it as a compliment. So why get butt-hurt every time someone doesn't realize that knitting is the hip new thing to do? I just figure in the end, when I'm knitting sweet gifts for everyone but them, they will realize their error. I'll have the last laugh.

 

I did a little photo shoot today. Mostly pictures of paper beads and flowers (of course!). I managed to forget to take pictures of my Betty, which is coming along swimmingly so far. I am in the process of uploading things at the moment, and will add pictures as they come. I'm downloading the new photobucket drag-and-drop thing at the moment, so expect a report on how that works. (It's taking forever! I'm starting to get frustrated.)

 

More about the Betty: I got my package from White Lies Designs in the mail last Friday. Due to an incredibly busy weekend of dance competition and craziness, I didn't get to swatch until Sunday. I got gauge on the first try and cast on. I love the Cascade Fixation! It was awkward to knit with at first, because I didn't quite get whether I was supposed to be knitting tightly, with it stretched or loosely. Then it clicked: hello, this is a tight-fitting garment that is meant to stretch, of course it's supposed to be done tightly. I like that the pattern is very clear. It's obvious when you get to the YO columns and when to increase. Also, the purl rows are all plain, so it's easy to get in the zone and get through them. I love simple and beautiful! Also, I was really happy with how quickly I got the pattern, and that she emailed me about the little delay. I definitely recommend White Lies, and will probably shop there again. Perhaps for some stockings to match my garter belt. And also she's in Sacramento, so I have to support that. I've got Sacto pride!

 

I'm crocheting an octopus. The pattern's from craftster, and it's way too cute. Fairly easy as well. I did a bad job sewing on her legs (tentacles!), so they are awkwardly spaced. We'll see if I can cram the next 4 on without it looking too weird. I don't want to have to redo them. I'm lazy.

 

You know, I really wish YahooPhotos had a way to view the image in its original size. Some stuff just sucks when it's scaled down.

 

I knit under the influence for the first time the other day, and I'm glad to report no major mishaps. The next morning while working on Betty at some friends' house, someone asked me what I was knitting. When I showed her the pattern her response was, "That's a project!". Agreed. It is a "project". The real "project"-y part will be sewing on the ruffles, rosettes, and attaching the hardware. Anyway she went on to tell me she knits, but only scarves because they are so repetitive(!). That's the reason I dislike scarves. She's a prospective member of my prospective knitting group, though. I just recently re-taught a friend to knit (she learned as a kid and just needed a refresher) and we are thinking of starting a group. However I also just recently joined the Sacramento SnB group, so I might be going their instead. Or maybe as well. My point is, it's exciting to find out friends are knitters! After seeing the Betty pattern and hearing our conversation, her boyfriend commented, "I think someone's going to be the president of the knitting group!" and smiled at me. Hilarious!

 

I was my own 100th comment on this blog. Kind of lame.

I am really considering switching to some other hosting service. I am so unsatisfied with blogspirit, and although it hasn't shit out on me lately I am sure it will soon.*** I just don't want to go through the process of transferring everything over. What a pain!

This drag-and-drop thing is going well so far. It seems faster, and I like the browser. Of course, this is after only about 20 minutes of using it.

 

With no further adieu: BEAD PICTURES!

They're way blurry. Apologies.

    

The paper these are made from looks like this:

   

Some more made of scrapbook paper:

  

While looking for paintbrushes, I found a bunch of these I had made in middle school using magazine ads. Here are some that just got one coat of Mod Podge and strung simply onto elastic cord:

     

There is a tutorial for these over at being natasha fialkov (link at left.) More pictures should be up or in my photobucket soon, but I am DEAD as it is 2:40 am.  Sleepy time!

 ***Just asI thought, blogspirit lost part of my post as I was working on this. While I now have the drag-and-drop awesomeness, if I hadn't and had been doing it by hand I would have been rather upset.