TAKING BACK [THE KNIT]

FINISHED: Fiery Bolero from IK Summer 2005

 needles: US #3s and 6s

 yarn: LB Cotton Ease (the old knid) in white

mods:  none. (weird! i almost always change things)

 check my ravelry page for it.

I am SO happy with this. It's definitely the most wearable thing I've ever knit. I love it. So simple. It can be elegant or casual, and pretty much goes with everything. Yay!  

Kool-Aid was 4/$1 at the grocery store, so I couldn't resist! (I think it's always 4/$1 but I don't often go to the grocery store.) Long story short, I've now got some lovely Kool-Aid dyed yarn.

I used grape, strawberry, black cherry, and lemonade plus some yellow McCormack food dye. There are some more pictures on flickr. I love all the colors, especially the grape. I just don't know yet what I am going to make with all this. Maybe a Calorimetry or Panta, with the grape. I'm just not sure yet, but I really can't wait to use it. And to dye some more! I wish I had a ball winder and a swift because things would be a lot easier, but I can get by the old-fashinoed way.

Now I've got the Misfits in my head! I apologize if you do too.

I ordered earrings from Pam a while ago, got them, and then was too lazy to take pictures of them. So with no further adieu:

 I love them. And I loved the flip-flop/beachy stationary, Pam! I was totally expecting something black or something subculture-ish in some way. I actually laughed when I saw it.

I was planning on going to the zoo this afternoon, and then I found out it costs $8.50! Too expensive for me right now, even as much as I love the zoo.

I forgot to put up the picture of my crocheted octopus! Here she is:

   I love her! She's so cute but such a pain. I'm just not a fan of working in such small spaces. However, she's so darling that it's worth it. She's being made with Caron Simply Soft and a size G(? I can't remember!) hook. Pattern from someone on craftster.

A couple of really good bead pictures: (If you liked the other one's you'll love these!)

The one on the left is all the beads I have made from magazine ads/catalogs over the years. There is a big group of unfinshed ones towards the top, as I've found it's easier to roll a bunch and then Mod Podge them all later rather than rolling them and immediately Mod Podge-ing one-by-one. The close-up is of some of my favorites. I LOVE the brown ones, and I don't even remember what they're from. They're originals, from when I was making these in high school. (Although, the real originals are the ones I made when I was about 10 from the Americal Girl craft book.) A lot of the newer ones are teal and purple out of a Pottery Barn teen catalog. They've turned out well. 

 There have been a ton of butterflies in my yard lately. I took some pictures today and they turned out awesomely.

 There a literally a TON more pictures in my photobucket, so if you like these there are more there. (beware that they're not really separated by album or subject so there is random/weird stuff in there!) 

There will be some more knitting content soon, I promise!  

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.