Experimentation

How often is crafting an experiment? Often you don’t know quite how a project will turn out, because it’s always a new combination of variables. If it’s something you’re knitting/crocheting, there’s always a unique combination of needle/hook, yarn, and pattern. Even if those three are constants from another project, there’s always the intangible amount of tension – how is the humidity affecting the movement of yarn through your fingers? How is the rough day at work making you knit tighter than before? Or the really good day making the yarn loose and quick around the needles? It’s always an adventure, and hopefully a fun one.

Then you get into the completely new projects, and it all becomes an experiment. My task this time, if I chose to accept it, was to turn these perfectly lovely but very purple sandals (worn for the wedding in Texas, and quite spotted by the rain we had) into perfectly lovely black sandals.

Anyone who’s had to get dyeable shoes knows they’re crazy expensive for what you’re getting - often oddly stiff, uncomfortable, one-time wear shoes. In order to beat the system I wanted to make these a bit more color friendly, so I could use them again for another wedding and possibly more regularly after that. So the next challenge – how to make them black.

Helpful fact – fabric covers all parts of these sandals but the soles. Any kind of fabric dye, or something that permanently stains fabric should work. I contemplated using Rit dye and some sort of applicator – a small brush, cotton ball, something like that. Problems? Messy, and no great way to set the dye. Next thought, at the suggestion of my mom, was shoe polish. She had some liquid shoe polish, in a bottle with a dauber-like applicator, which just might do the trick. And did it ever.

The dauber helped control the mess, although I still wish I had a glove for the hand holding the shoe. Wrapping my hand in a plastic bag just wasn’t quite as easy.

I still had to keep paper towels handy to wipe off the inner soles of the sandals, and the inside of the straps. A couple of q-tips helped get the inside of the bows, and around the fiddly bits of the straps. I can still tell where there are purple spots peeking through the black (which, pre-second coat still looks a bit on the navy side).

Overall, though, a success! Even my supervisor approves . . .

Yarn yearning

Yarn yearning – I’ve got a bad case of it. I ended up taking a bit of a break with knitting, right around the time it started getting hot. Yet now that we’ve been in the 90s for what seems like way too long, all of a sudden I just want to do nothing more than play with yarn.

Projects on the needles right now:
Rainbow socks – about 85% done. I pretty much just need to figure out how tall they need to be, do the cuff, and these puppies are done. I cannot wait to wear them.
Wrap sweater – about 25% done (I think). This is almost to the armpits, and I got stalled out. Too hot, the concept of an adult-sized sweater is still a bit daunting, and other projects distracted me.Like this finished project! Turkish bed socks (Sorry, this post is Ravelry-link heavy, and picture light). Yarn: Mini Solid from Crystal Palace Yarns in a brilliant, bright purple. Needle size: 3. Alterations to pattern: Added an extra 5 rows on the foot (so had 29 instead of 24, and in the end I think I could have added at least 3 more) to account for my big, size 11 feet.

Other than a big problem with this yarn laddering (I had problems adjusting my tension properly to avoid that), I love these and think they will come in very handy this fall. I think I’ve even got a solution to the laddering, but it needs a bit of testing – I’m going to try and weave through a contrasting color of yarn to add a bit of a stripe. We’ll see how it goes. Plus, I have quite a bit of yarn left, which I know just what to do with . . . that’ll be some future post.

Projects I want to do:
Yoda hat
Viking baby hat
Mug jacket
and one (or more) of these stoles:
Tudor stole
Autumn Arbor
Juno Regina
Tibetan Clouds

Whichever stole wins out – and each has parts that I like and other parts that I don’t – I’d like to try to mix in a bit of beading. Coming up this fall I’ll have three weddings to attend in four weeks, and I’ll be a bridesmaid in one of those. So I’m looking for something that can be a bit dressier, but can also go with a variety of dresses/outfits. Color will probably be something in the cream/oatmeal/brown range, with maybe a bit of metallic, depending on what yarn grabs my attention.

I see a happy, fibery future in store!

Books Make a Difference

If you're like me, books are your friends. The sight of a familiar spine sends an entire storyline straight to your brain. You can flip through a few pages and remember everything in a rush. This year I'm challenging myself to keep track of what I read, and to read what's ready and waiting for me on my giant to-be-read pile (now approaching its own bookcase). So far I'm at 42 books, or 12,095 pages. The last two months have been slow, if you can believe it - I can only imagine what the summer will bring.

Growing up, I was blessed with books. My parents started reading to us immediately, and every night before bed, we were read to or snuck a book under the covers and read to ourselves. I learned to read fairly young and never looked back. Summer reading programs and Book-It lead to thousands of books, and an English degree (and more) later I cannot imagine what my life would have been without libraries and that exposure to books early in life.

Yet many do not have that world available. Cities are shutting down libraries due to budget cuts (Philadelphia, I'm looking at you, and you won't be the last); and families need to buy food and secure housing before such luxuries as books can come into play. So I'm supporting the Books Make a Difference campaign, and by spreading the word I'm donating a book.

Happy reading everyone, and enjoy all of the wonderful worlds available.

Odd reactions to stress

Have you ever been waiting for news about something, and then when you finally hear – hopefully good results – the sense of relief is just exhausting? What usually gets me is that I didn’t realize I was so worried. It’s just boom, the elephant is gone, and I feel like I fizzle out for a bit.

In various points in my life I’ve been tested for skin cancer. Even with pretty much every major risk factor (light hair, eyes, and skin; freckles; a history of bad, i.e., 2nd degree sunburns; and then the whopper – family history), I don’t have a sense of doom. I don’t have a feeling that at some point in my life I’m going to be screwed. It’s just another step I have to take in caring for myself and I’m okay with talking about it, especially in a venue like this, because I think everyone should have that level of self-awareness. You should be comfortable with the health history that you know about, if you’re lucky enough to know the health issues in your family, and then take steps to keep yourself healthy.

So, sunscreen is my best friend, and I use it liberally – even my chapstick and foundation have some level of SPF in them (actually, that’s pretty easy to find now). I take my vitamins, I try to eat right and also exercise regularly, and I just keep an eye on what my body is trying to tell me. Questionable spots get taken out and tested, and I may get to sport stitches for a time. Friday morning I got some stitches taken out and the latest results – clear, again. And then the sense of exhaustion hit – more intense relief than I’ve had for awhile, and I’m not quite sure why it hit me so hard this time.

I’m guessing it’s just the crazy round of things that have been happening lately with my car, the trip to Texas, my tooth (a crazy sequence of redoing a root canal and getting a new crown – I’m at the temp crown stage right now, yippy skippy). For whatever reason, I’m just extra relieved and now very tired. And very happy to have those stitches out! Now I’ve got nifty steri-strips, but I think I’ll be far less likely to bump those on every surface I pass, and they don’t catch on or get tweaked by jeans.

Oh, and fun fact for any other redheads out there – it’s not in your head that your reaction (in pain levels) to some medical/dental procedures is stronger than the rest of the population. We’re genetic mutants :) No, no Wolverines or Jean Greys here (but how cool would that be!), but instead there is a shift in our MC1R receptor. Things affected? When you need to be numbed at the dentist, going under general anesthesia as well as local anesthetics at the doctor’s or a hospital, and everyone’s favorite – pap smears (neither one of these articles mentions that, but the NP who took out my stitches Friday morning did).

At least with all of the crazy stuff going on lately, I really am knitting! With soft, squishy, happy yarn, which will eventually turn into a sweater for me. It's the Emerald pattern (I think) I linked last time. The picture doesn’t give a great sense of the color, unfortunately. It’s a soft, heathery sort of green, with some silver and a bit of brown mixed in. Working with a bulky yarn is great, because it knits up so quickly. This project is taking me a bit longer because I’m tackling an adult sized sweater for the first time, and figuring out how to do the waist and neckline shaping at the same time (even though the pattern lays it out very nicely) is mentally throwing me for a loop right now. Plus, getting to work on it in spurts during lunch is cutting down the productivity. But I'm finally knitting more at home now (got some cleaning and rearranging done) I can’t wait to finish the sweater!

To wrap up, another beautiful view of Spring, which I am absolutely loving!

Crazy train

So, I’ve been productive lately. No, really, I have—just not on here. Last week I got the proverbial kick in the behind, when a not so mini maelstrom of craziness hit my life.

First, my car stalled when I was going 70+ mph down the highway, trying to get home from Easter at my parents’. Somehow I managed to muscle the steering wheel to the right (dead engine means no power steering, yay!) and I coasted to the side of the highway, where my car turned into nothing more than a big hunk of metal. I called my parents, and my dad became the rescuing hero of the day, saying he would come down to help. Although we tried to jump the car and even to replace the battery, the car was toast. Trying to figure out anything else at the side of the highway was dangerous (heck, what we were already doing was dangerous, and not a little scary). So my dad got out his tow rope, hooked my back bumper to his front one, and off we went – going backwards, up an exit ramp, to the parking lot of a gas station. I was in my car attempting to steer and break as needed, and have never been quite so unnerved in my life. My dad tried a few more things as we took a closer look at the engine. Who am I kidding – I know cars run, and the basics of an engine, but beyond that I’m stumped. My dad, too, was bewildered. Once they started putting computers in cars, fixing engines became exponentially more complicated. I know dad gets frustrated not being able to say exactly what the problem may be, since problem A doesn’t necessarily lead to solution A anymore. We called up my brothers for some advice, thinking by now that something was wrong in the fuel system. After the odd suggestion of thumping on the fuel tank came from both of them (thinking I had at some point gotten skunky gas, or there was a buildup of sediment or whatnot on the fuel filter), we tried that . . . and it worked. But I got barely a half mile back down the highway and the car was once again a pretty hunk of ornamental steel. After an expensive tow back to my mechanic, I finally got home to my apartment more than six hours after my car first died. When I finally talked to the mechanic late on Monday, he told me the final verdict: a dead fuel pump and filter . . . and because they were shorthanded that week, I wouldn’t get my car back until Friday.

Let me tell you, I have some awesome friends and coworkers. The moral support alone was amazing and kept me going through the week. There were also immediate volunteers to take me in to work and back home, and other offers to take me for any needed groceries or other supplies. I only missed two half-days of work, as I was able to work from home part of Monday while I was waiting for news, and then on Friday as I was waiting the “it’s done!” call and a handful of other calls.

Some of those other calls? They had to do with the other madness that was going on that week. This coming weekend, an old friend is getting married in Texas. We haven’t been able to see each other in years, but have been keeping up on Facebook and in a fantasy hockey league and I can’t wait to see her again. Originally, I wasn’t sure if I’d even be able to make the wedding. Things worked out to find a flight, though, so the trip seemed meant to be. My friend had asked if I could do a reading during the ceremony, and now I could actually say yes. Finding that flight turned out to be extraordinary good luck because about a month before the wedding one of her bridesmaids had to unfortunately step down, and I was asked if I’d be willing to step in. There was a flurry of details to think about–not the least was trying to find a dress and shoes and see if they could even arrive in time. Luck was with me, and the shoes were a snap. I was able to find a dress immediately and order it, and it was supposed to come in just before Easter. Well, yeah. That didn’t happen. So while I was waiting anxiously for news about my car, I was just as nervous about the dress. The calls about both came within half an hour of each other. So Friday was definitely starting to look up.

A definite bonus was additional good news from on the wedding front. Another good friend had also been trying to get to the wedding, but life and car troubles were fighting her too. Going into Friday, it seemed like something might just work out for her to make it to Texas. Finally on Saturday everything was settled and we found out we would be flying down and back together! I can’t wait for the trip, it will be great to have a mini vacation, and a great reason to celebrate.

Plus? I get to escape any more weird calls about bills. Both Charter and Sprint (who I dropped at the end of last year in favor of Verizon) have had major problems with their computer systems and think I owe them money. With Charter I was immediately able to prove that they screwed up, but they still couldn’t tell me how it happened or promise that it wouldn’t happen again. With Sprint, who had the nerve to send a collection agency after me, the waters are a bit muddier. Somehow, although the agency managed to get my address right the first time, Sprint somehow never got the message that I moved – even though I changed my address with them! Their two reminder notices about my last bill somehow magically got lost in the mail – neither was forwarded to me nor sent back to them as undeliverable. At the very least, at least that’s settled now, although Heaven help Sprint if that affects my credit rating in the future.

To end that long and rambling tale of craziness, some happy crafting news: my rainbow-like socks are almost done! They’ve stalled out for the moment, as I needed some soft and fuzzy yarn last week for anti-stress related fiber therapy. But that means I’m working on my first ever adult-sized sweater! I had been going to try for the Anthropologie knockoff, but that seemed a bit complicated for my first sweater. So I’m trying for the much simpler Emerald Sweater, in a heathery green yarn. It has a bit of detailing, with cables at the shoulder, but it’s still a basic cardigan. Spring time appears to finally be here, so I may have to wait awhile to wear the finished project, but I don’t mind that a bit.

I’ve also been doing some sewing, knocking out a pair of pj pants from my favorite pattern. I have another set all cut out and ready to sew too. In the interest of deconstructing in order to construct something new, I’ve begun to sort out some old t-shirts to make a rag rug or something. Due to the heft of the “yarn” I may crochet this rather than knit, but either way something fun is in store. Depending on the range of colors I end up with, I may make a couple of trips to Goodwill to flesh out certain tones. That, however, is a step for the future.

There’s nothing better to end with than a few shots of a recent beautiful sunset, the cats in a rare moment of cuddling, and Spring!!

Finished projects galore!

Somehow a couple of weeks escaped and we’re in mid-March now. How did that happen?

(Long post alert, I have some serious catching up to do!) The Ravelympics really made February speed by, and I realized I never posted that I finished my shawl! It was just in the nick of time, as I cast off just as the closing ceremonies were starting, but it’s finished!

Last night I finally got brave and blocked the shawl. Although I don’t have any blocking wires yet, I have plenty of knitting needles so I improvised away (while trying to keep the cats safely away from the shawl). Usually they keep away from finished projects, but their curiosity can get the best of them – and sharp front claws can do amazing snagging damage. An intrepid catnip mouse even tried to help as Portia was supervising me.

I’m hoping everything will have made it through the day safely and the shawl will be dry by the time I get home today. I didn’t get time to check it this morning, but the protective sheet cocoon was still in place from the night, so odds are good.

All in all, I’m really happy with how the shawl turned out. It was the first lace project I’ve ever done, and I really didn’t know what to expect. The sock yarn was a good choice - it helped with speed, and was wonderfully soft. The pattern was easy, coming both as a chart and written out directions, and memorization came pretty early in the project. Although I got a bit bored towards the end, it was still a fun knit. Plus, I learned a new way to cast on and bind off, which will be handy for future projects.

Now I’m finally getting back to my rainbow socks and thinking about a new first-time project, a sweater for me. The pattern I’d like to tackle is Star Cross’d Love, but with some pretty heavy alterations for sizing and fit. For anyone on Ravelry, the original is here, but I’m going more for a look like this. The first hurdle is figuring out how much yarn I’ll need, for which I’ll have to do some initial math on the pattern upsizing. Wish me luck!

In the meantime, I may do a bit more sewing. For Christmas, as a combination birthday and Christmas gift from my parents, I got a sewing machine. The story of why I don’t have my grandmother’s machine is a long and complicated tale. For now this new machine will do wonderfully well, and I'm excited to get to know it better. It’s nothing exotic or complex, just a simple Brother ES-2000. It does all I need, covering the full range of basic stitches and buttonholes, and has a nifty needle threader to boot. The first thing I used it for was to finally hem some curtains and do a bit of decorative stitching on the bedroom curtains (I'll try to post pictures of that soon). Then I tackled two very different projects: a DPN case and a sewing machine cover. The sewing machine cover is a necessity with two so very curious cats (both to project paws and the machine, and to cut down on the buildup of dust and/or cat hair); and the DPN case was becoming a necessity with my rapidly growing collection of DPNs and the about three different places I was stashing them. I could never remember what I had or where it was, but now everything is wonderfully together.

First up: the sewing machine cover. About two months ago I went to the fabric store with some friends, and they helped me pick out two fabrics. I had found this pattern (a PDF of the pattern is in the left sidebar of that page), and wanted two complementary fabrics so I could alternate them in the different panels. I didn’t want to mess with any quilting or piping or anything complicated, so I got some double-sided, iron on interfacing so I could layer the fabrics. Then the cover would be stiff enough to sit over the machine instead of draping over it, and would theoretically be a bit more doable.

Before I go any further – I would never, ever do this the same way again. Nice idea, the pattern itself is wonderful and looks great done, but it was a real PITA to do. The first step, ironing the layers together, went beautifully. I had to do some careful cutting and positioning of the interfacing, because I got two yards of it – which came in a two yarn long strip, and my fabrics were each a yard square. I also had to do some repositioning and removing of a cat or two doing the process, and that slowed things up a bit. Melted whiskers (and Portia’s a pro at that, as all lit candles, hot tea, etc., must be investigated closely) are not a fun thing to smell or deal with.

Cutting the pieces out was a snap. I made some templates from newspaper, used an old soap sliver to do a quick outline, and presto – five double sided pieces ready for sewing. Then, oh then, came the sewing. I should have stopped immediately when I read the giant warning on the interfacing that said this shouldn’t be used with fabrics that will be sewn. I should have stopped again when the machine started groaning at the first few stitches as it realized that it could go through all those layers, but it really, totally didn’t want to. Then I really should have stopped when the thread broke about three times before I had the first two pieces sewn together. But I don’t have German blood for nothing. That sucker got sewn together. The seams got ironed so it would actually sit square, and thank goodness, it actually fit the machine perfectly. (Yes, I measured first, but with my luck that day it would have ended up barely big enough to cover the toaster.) I do have to say that I really like the finished cover, and eventually I may get some bias tape to finish off the bottom edge, but only if I find my fabric glue first.

The problems during sewing had mainly to do with the thickness of the interfacing. It was thick and sticky and there was a constant buildup of gunk on the needle, which then caught at the thread but wouldn’t let it feed easily from the bobbin or spool, so the thread kept breaking. Plus, I was going through six layers – two layers of interfacing and four of cotton. The combination caused a consistent use of, shall we saw, power words, along with grim determination and rapidly thinning patience. Isn’t sewing supposed to be a soothing experience?

This post is getting a little ridiculously long, so the DPN case will have to wait until next time! (And thankfully it was a much easier project, which wouldn't have taken much!)

Knitting fiend

I’ve been a knitting fiend lately. Every spare minute after work has been taken up by yarn. I need to keep knitting, as fast as possible, because I have 5 days left to finish this current project. Why 5? Because I need to finish before the end of the closing ceremony of the Olympics.

When I started following the Yarn Harlot and read a bit about the Knitting Olympics, I was inspired (as I frequently am after reading her posts). After joining Ravelry, that event continued to be in the back of my mind. I wasn’t sure if the Knitting Olympics would be a go again for Vancouver, but I knew that the Ravelympics were in the planning stages. Here was the perfect opportunity to take a break and knit something for myself while also challenging me a bit. Don’t get me wrong, I love making things for other people, but being a bit selfish once in awhile is okay too!

First I found the yarn – Malabrigo sock yarn in the Solis colorway, a great mix of blues, greens, and teal. Then came the project, or at the least an idea for one. I wanted to do some kind of wrap – maybe lace, maybe not – in the form of something shawl-like. Triangular shawls don’t really appeal to me, for whatever reason, so that took a lot of patterns out of the running. Originally I was going to try for the Candle Flame Shawl. The idea of doing a flame pattern in a blue-green yarn just really appealed to me. But a free copy of the pattern was elusive and in the end I would have to alter too much (the edging, style of ends, etc) to suit me, especially considering this would be my first lace-style pattern. I knew I had to do something that didn’t specifically need lace-weight yarn, both because I had already picked up the Malabrigo, and because I wanted something with a bit more heft than normal lace.

Finally I found the Leaf Lace Scarf pattern and I was hooked. I made a minor alteration, repeating the pattern five times so I would get a wider, wrap-sized piece. Needle size I kept the same – 4 – because after a quick swatch (training for my event!) that seemed to be giving me the size I was looking for. Gauge really isn’t an issue; I just wanted to be sure I was getting the right width with five repeats.

So now, here I am, a member of Team Tardis and entered in the Short Track Shawl event for the Ravelympics. Right now I’m just over 60% done and hoping that I’ll finish just in time – it’s going to be a close one. The catch? I want to watch as much Olympic coverage as possible. The winter games are my favorite, and I’ll watch pretty much anything from curling to skiing to, of course, hockey. Although I can’t technically do both at once – I have never mastered the ability to knit without watching what I’m doing – I’m very used to listening really well and looking up at the important parts of TV shows, movies, and now Olympic events. I love watching athletes come out of nowhere and win medals, sometimes the first for their countries; or athletes who have no real chance of winning – but compete with such hope and joy that you’d never know it. I’ve been cheering for Georgians, Latvians, Slovenians, and Jamaicans right along with the Americans. My heart breaks for the Dutch speedskater who listened to his coach and was DQed from a gold medal, and for the Canadian figure skater who just lost her mother. I’m a sucker for the stories and for the competition.

But for now, before coverage starts again tonight? Must keep knitting . . .