I have changed my username from chococat279 (bleh and with numbers) to HeyItsMJ (cool and personal).
That's all for today!
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Head over heels
Lookee here, I turned a heel!
While reading through the instructions, my first thoughts were something like Ohcrapohcrapohcrap this looks hard!
Then I turned the heel, and I was like, Well that was a lot of nail-biting over nothing!
Right now I'm onto the foot decreases, which are taking forever because you have to decrease from 82 stitches to 64 stitches over something like twenty rounds. Tiny needles+many stitches=frustration
Please ignore the garishly colored pajamas in the background. It was late and I was knitting while watching the new season of Trading Spaces. Garishly colored pajamas are acceptable in those kind of settings ;)
While reading through the instructions, my first thoughts were something like Ohcrapohcrapohcrap this looks hard!
Then I turned the heel, and I was like, Well that was a lot of nail-biting over nothing!
Right now I'm onto the foot decreases, which are taking forever because you have to decrease from 82 stitches to 64 stitches over something like twenty rounds. Tiny needles+many stitches=frustration
Please ignore the garishly colored pajamas in the background. It was late and I was knitting while watching the new season of Trading Spaces. Garishly colored pajamas are acceptable in those kind of settings ;)
Friday, January 25, 2008
Random Anagrams
If you rearrange the letters in my name (or any other word or words) to form new words or a phrase, you get an anagram.
Some were funny:
ART AGES UNDERARMS
DARN TREASURE MAGS
On some I searched for those containing specific words:
GRANDMA TREASURES
GRANDMA REUSES ART
ART AMENDS ARGUERS
ART SNUGS A DREAMER
And the one that fit perfectly:
A SMART NERD ARGUES
Find your's here!
Some were funny:
ART AGES UNDERARMS
DARN TREASURE MAGS
On some I searched for those containing specific words:
GRANDMA TREASURES
GRANDMA REUSES ART
ART AMENDS ARGUERS
ART SNUGS A DREAMER
And the one that fit perfectly:
A SMART NERD ARGUES
Find your's here!
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Too much love to fit into one post~Part 2
And now the knitty part of my weekend comes in!
Monday
I visited Yarns Unlimited!
It is the greatest place ever.
Well, maybe not ever.
But it is still really cool ;)
After like spending half an hour nearly swooning from yarn lust, I started shopping. I got another skein of Steadfast Fibers Marvelous Mohair, because I didn't think my first skein was enough for the Gossamer Shell Lace scarf (from One-Skein Wonders) that I want to make.
And I also picked up two skeins of Koigu Painter's Palette Premium Merino (man that's a mouthful—of gob-smacking gorgeous color nonetheless :P)
For this!
It is the beginning of the Spiral Eyelet Socks. My first socks :D
The colors are amazing and variegate like a rainbow, with a little brown stripe every here and there, looking like a little rain cloud amid all the glorious rainbow-ness.
Rainbow+clouds+socks=April Showers Socks
Also, while my grandma may not be much of a knitter (yet), she does have a stash of yarn that she's used over the years for doll hair. And she graciously let me keep these two.
Oh how I love my grandma!
Monday
I visited Yarns Unlimited!
It is the greatest place ever.
Well, maybe not ever.
But it is still really cool ;)
After like spending half an hour nearly swooning from yarn lust, I started shopping. I got another skein of Steadfast Fibers Marvelous Mohair, because I didn't think my first skein was enough for the Gossamer Shell Lace scarf (from One-Skein Wonders) that I want to make.
And I also picked up two skeins of Koigu Painter's Palette Premium Merino (man that's a mouthful—of gob-smacking gorgeous color nonetheless :P)
For this!
It is the beginning of the Spiral Eyelet Socks. My first socks :D
The colors are amazing and variegate like a rainbow, with a little brown stripe every here and there, looking like a little rain cloud amid all the glorious rainbow-ness.
Rainbow+clouds+socks=April Showers Socks
Also, while my grandma may not be much of a knitter (yet), she does have a stash of yarn that she's used over the years for doll hair. And she graciously let me keep these two.
Oh how I love my grandma!
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Too much love to fit into one post~Part 1
. . .so I'm blogging this weekend in two parts (three if you count skiing on Friday.)
Saturday and Sunday
On Saturday morning I had an art class. We're doing plaster-mix sculptures, which we had to mix and pour (messy) into plastic bags, then drape the bags over the form we wanted the finished object to take the shape of (i.e., someone wanting a round form could hang the bag from a shelf for the mix to harden in a round shape).
Then I went to my grandma's. As you know, my grandma is a very crafty woman, and I love her for that :) And along with getting me yarn for Christmas, she got me a gift certificate to Yarns Unlimited in Sewickley, but there will be more about that in Part 2.
However, my grandma's forte is not knitting. Believe it or not, she does not know how to knit. Shocking isn't it? She is, in fact, a dollmaker. Her dolls are mostly fabric, or cloth dolls. She sews and embroiders and paints doll faces, hands, shoes, and clothes. She taught me how to hand sew and how to use a sewing machine.
This is what we are working on together:
This is Gail Wilson's Hitty doll. She may not look very attractive now, but just look at the finished one here:
You know how I said before that my grandma can't knit? Well, actually she does now. I taught her Saturday night and she has a good half inch of a swatch going. And I will tell you soon about where she got the yarn ;) (by now you're probably dying from the teasers)
Stayed tuned for Part 2 of the Greatest Weekend ever!
Saturday and Sunday
On Saturday morning I had an art class. We're doing plaster-mix sculptures, which we had to mix and pour (messy) into plastic bags, then drape the bags over the form we wanted the finished object to take the shape of (i.e., someone wanting a round form could hang the bag from a shelf for the mix to harden in a round shape).
Then I went to my grandma's. As you know, my grandma is a very crafty woman, and I love her for that :) And along with getting me yarn for Christmas, she got me a gift certificate to Yarns Unlimited in Sewickley, but there will be more about that in Part 2.
However, my grandma's forte is not knitting. Believe it or not, she does not know how to knit. Shocking isn't it? She is, in fact, a dollmaker. Her dolls are mostly fabric, or cloth dolls. She sews and embroiders and paints doll faces, hands, shoes, and clothes. She taught me how to hand sew and how to use a sewing machine.
This is what we are working on together:
This is Gail Wilson's Hitty doll. She may not look very attractive now, but just look at the finished one here:
You know how I said before that my grandma can't knit? Well, actually she does now. I taught her Saturday night and she has a good half inch of a swatch going. And I will tell you soon about where she got the yarn ;) (by now you're probably dying from the teasers)
Stayed tuned for Part 2 of the Greatest Weekend ever!
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Nemicolin
Yesterday, my mom and I drove up to Nemicolin Woodlans Resort. My cousin works there and it was Employee Discount Day, so my aunt, uncle, and cousins and some friends of theirs came with us (but in seperate cars ;) ) for huuuuuuuuuuge savings on snowy fun.
On ski lift, we have (from left) Caroline, Alicia, my mom and (behind the camera) me.
Now see if you can figure out who is who.
It was my first time on skiis, and let me tell you, it is very tiring. After a few runs, you feel like having one of these.
And Nemicolin is not your average ski resort.
(No zoom was used in this picture)
My cousin is also trained to drive Hummers through ponds, three feet of mud, up 60 degree slopes, and tilted 40 degrees sideways. So guess what we did :P
Sometimes the scenery makes it hard to tell how far away from Pittsburgh you really are :)
On ski lift, we have (from left) Caroline, Alicia, my mom and (behind the camera) me.
Now see if you can figure out who is who.
It was my first time on skiis, and let me tell you, it is very tiring. After a few runs, you feel like having one of these.
And Nemicolin is not your average ski resort.
(No zoom was used in this picture)
My cousin is also trained to drive Hummers through ponds, three feet of mud, up 60 degree slopes, and tilted 40 degrees sideways. So guess what we did :P
Sometimes the scenery makes it hard to tell how far away from Pittsburgh you really are :)
Monday, January 14, 2008
E=mc² (Emotional state=My so-Called scarf take 2)
This post has been seriously delayed due to science. A science project, to be accurate. A science project on which most of my grade depended on. So the blog, some of the knitting, and the all of the free time were set aside for a good week while I slaved over a overheating hard drive.
But I'm back now :D Yay!!!
And apparently so is this little green yarn-ripping, angst-inducing amphibian.
Grrr.
I think it purposely wants to ruin my yarn. This yarn has already been through multiple froggings. After frogging it again now, it reminded me of how my hair looked after I spent a good two hours graphing my science project.
The reason I frogged what I had is because I was running out of yarn (fast) and the scarf seemed too thick. I was using US 10 needles, so I went up to US 11's.
It looks good so far and it's just as thick as I want :) I borrowed Mary Weaver's idea of using a slip-stitch selvedge, and it's holding back curling, a plus.
Also, I changed the project's name from "Coral" to "Pink Aura Scarf" on Ravelry, as a reminder to myself not psych out too much.
Keepyouraurapinkkeepyouraurapinkkeepyouraurapinkdon'tfreakoutdon'tfreakoutdon'tfreakout
However this scarf turns out, there will be no more frogging. I will make sure of that.
You hear that, plastic thing? Needles aren't just for knitting. They happen to be very sharp. >:)
But I'm back now :D Yay!!!
And apparently so is this little green yarn-ripping, angst-inducing amphibian.
Grrr.
I think it purposely wants to ruin my yarn. This yarn has already been through multiple froggings. After frogging it again now, it reminded me of how my hair looked after I spent a good two hours graphing my science project.
The reason I frogged what I had is because I was running out of yarn (fast) and the scarf seemed too thick. I was using US 10 needles, so I went up to US 11's.
It looks good so far and it's just as thick as I want :) I borrowed Mary Weaver's idea of using a slip-stitch selvedge, and it's holding back curling, a plus.
Also, I changed the project's name from "Coral" to "Pink Aura Scarf" on Ravelry, as a reminder to myself not psych out too much.
Keepyouraurapinkkeepyouraurapinkkeepyouraurapinkdon'tfreakoutdon'tfreakoutdon'tfreakout
However this scarf turns out, there will be no more frogging. I will make sure of that.
You hear that, plastic thing? Needles aren't just for knitting. They happen to be very sharp. >:)
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Birthday Doodles
Saturday is my friend Laura's birthday, so I drew up this little card to give to her tomorrow.
Signatures from my other friends to be added tomorrow. Bonus test: See if you can figure out which one is me ;)
Happy Birthday Laura!!!
Monday, January 7, 2008
"You can't spell inspiration without procrastination!"
So far, I have not made one teensy baby step to approach my 2008 Knitting Resolutions Goals.
What do you mean, I never told you my goals?
Oops.
Well, better late than never!
~Knit socks
~Knit a sweater
~Knit lace
~Design at least three new patterns
Well, I sort of made a step. Over the weekend, I paid a visit to Jo-Ann and discovered they were having a sale on needles, so I sucked up all the courage I had and bought a pair of US 3 dpns.
Sock needles, in other words :)
Never mind that I don't have any sock yarn. I'll get to that later.
I'm thinking about either Crusoe or Broadripple for the pattern. And with the soon-to-be-acquired yarn, I can start on my first ever socks!!!! :D
Once I get over my growing fear of these ridiculously tiny needles.
Friday, January 4, 2008
Wayward yarn and the green monster
My yarn can't make up it's mind.
I wanted it to follow the pattern that came with it, a scarf with cool edging in loop stitch.
However, it turns out that the pattern called to be worked horizontally. Yikes.
Frogged that.
Then, I decided to try My So-Called Scarf again. So here I go, knit-knit-knit, la-di-da, and the scarf is swatch-sized.
Don't get wrong; skinny scarves are cool and all, but I didn't want a skinny scarf. I wanted a normal-sized scarf.
Frogged that.
And then I see that pattern for Holding Hands, Feeding Ducks and I think "Ooo! I want that!"
So I swatch and . . .
I don't like that how the stitch pattern turned out.
Frogged that (yeah, I kinda see a pattern going on here).
So now I'm back to My So-Called Scarf, with a bigger number of stitches to make it bigger than swatch-sized. But just in case, I have another project (a scarf from One-Skein Wonders) on the line in case my yarn changes its mind again. I also have the Sleepy Checkerboard Pillow, something invented out of boredom and the need for a simple project for super fuzzy acrylic.
I am prepared to defend my WIP's from The Frog!
Beware!
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