Crochet

I haven't crocheted in a few years, but I'm getting excited about starting again. There are a couple of patterns I've been looking in that would make great gifts. I'm really excited about them but I don't want to say much more so that I can add an air of mystery to this blog so that people read it (and also so that gift recipients can be surprised). :-)

Guilty Pleasures

I've developed an addiction to reality TV shows on Bravo. In the past, I would never had admitted to this, but we're all friends here, right?

My all time favorite, of course, is Project Runway. I've also really gotten into Shear Genius. I love watching the challenges and the wonderful and awful things that these people come up with. I love choosing my favorites and least favorites and imagining myself wearing those outfits and haircuts. My favorite "character" is Stella, the wonderfully ridiculous designer of all things "leatha."

I rush home every Wednesday to watch these favorite shows of mine. If I can't be home to watch them, they'll always be on the next day. And the day after that. And pretty much every day until the next Wednesday, the next episode. But then, all the episodes are on that day too...

This all got me thinking. What if there was a Bravo TV show about the type of designing that I do? What if there was a show just about beadweaving. Or about knitting and crocheting. The camera focuses on me. I'm beadweaving, and you hear a voiceover. "I decided to do a peyote cuff. So I started with some beads. And then I put on another bead. And then I put on another bead. And then I put on another bead. And then I decide to change colors." Or "I did a row of knit. And a row of purl. Then I did an intricate lace. Yarn over..." Maybe it's just that I've been watching too much TV and frying my brain, but this concept makes me laugh! Just imagine how entertaining that would be to the outside world! (Not!)

But it also got me thinking about the people I design for. I always design with a little piece of myself in mind. After all, who could love something I make that I don't even love? In their own way, the Etsy Beadweaving challenges are kind of the same concept. The last challenge in particular got me out of my comfort zone, but I was determined to make something beautiful within the guidelines that was still true to my own sense of style, and I'm pretty sure I pulled it off.

And of course there are the people who wear my jewelry. I just love opening a package in which there is something wearable that I ordered from Etsy. (Lamp work jewelry is another guilty pleasure of mine.) And when I put it on, I feel amazing and beautiful. That is exactly how I want people to feel when they wear my jewelry. I want them to feel like the powerful women they are, or to feel like princesses. Whatever makes them feel best, that is how I want them to feel. Whether I give pieces I make away or people purchase them or even have me custom make them, I just want my pieces to be loved, and I want the people who wear them to feel just that little bit more amazing.

The past two days have been awesome!

For Valentines Day, Sam gave me New Ideas for Crochet: Stylish Projects for the Home. He gave me a crochet book because he knew that I had so many knitting books, but only one on crochet. Knowing Sam, I am sure he looked through all of the crochet books and figured out which one had stuff that looked like things I would use or wear. However, I doubt that he could have known that I have been looking for a book with these types of patterns since long before I met him. (I think that the coolest thing ever would be to have a home furnished mostly with things I made!) Once I move out of this place and get furniture that is not third- and fourth-hand, I am totally going to make the cushions, afghans, and even place mats in this book and have the coolest apartment ever.

Today after work, I went out with my friend, Katie. We got exhausted very early, both having had long weeks. But when I got home, I found the bead stuff I had ordered from the internet earlier this week! Amongst this was a booklet on bead and chain jewelry. On the first page, under the heading, "Basics," are some techniques I have always wanted to know but, being self taught, have never learned in all my years of beading. So, about twenty minutes ago, I apparently learned the very basics of beading, which I can now add to my 15 years of experience. Wahoo! Tomorrow, Sam and I are going away for the long weekend, but before I go, I'm going to swing by Beads World and get some wire. I'm impatient and can't wait another day!! (Yes, I know, living in New York spoils me...)

Back to my Roots, or, Reclaiming my Mojo

I learned to knit in December of 2005. I learned how to crochet in December of 2006. I learned how to needlepoint in 2000 or thereabouts, I think. But when did I learn how to bead? Some time in or around 1991. My mom taught me how to make daisy chains, and from there, there was no stopping me. At sixteen, I sold my jewelry at a little market (making next to nothing). I sewed beads onto paper, making a sign that read "Beaded Bijoux." That was probably when I found my place in the crafting community. My friends came to my house for "bead days." I was in bead heaven. In college, I taught my friends how to make beaded lizards. I have pictures of a lot of these things, which I will put up here some time. Some of them are at my mom's house in Australia, so that makes them slightly inaccessible, and others are *gasp* not on a digital camera, and I don't have a scanner at home.

For Christmas, I made the other paralegals I work with beaded necklaces. The center of the necklaces are little hexagons.

There is a story behind these hexagons. I adapted them from the base of a pattern for a beaded box. This pattern was published in Bead and Button Magazine in the late '90s, right around the time when Austin Powers, the Spy who Shagged Me, came out. My friends and I loved that movie, and my mother proclaimed that everything was "Very shaggadelic!" It was the Austin Powers movie where Austin Powers "lost his mojo," so I decided that I would make a box for my mojo - it was my mojo box!

I want to start making jewelry that is really fun, but still wearable for people who are not as eccentric as I am. The mojo hexagon was perfect! And their new owners said they love them, so it all paid off!

eeeeee!!!

I'm going to New Orleans today! Sam and Joanna and Kathleen and some other people and I are going to visit Jen! Jen sent us a massive list of activities going on there this (very long) weekend, and a lot of them are crafty! It's going to be a huge group, so I doubt we'll travel as a herd the entire time. We could split up, for example, into knitters and non-knitters!

Now the question is...what UFOs to pack for the plane...

I think my sock, definitely. Maybe my sweater to crochet... Maybe my soccer mom sweater... although that is really bulky and I want to pack light. So maybe I'll just bring the last sleeve. Oh, decisions, decisions!!

True Confessions

So I took that inventory. And I'm embarrassed to say that many of my UFOs are featured in this very blog:

1. Giant multicolored handbag. I think the last time I wrote about it was, um last week.

2. Blue hat.I was almost finished with it at Cafe Lalo in June. I don't even have any knitting left - I am at the strictly tapestry needle phase. Why did I never finish? I think this one is two short and I kind of didn't want to face that.

3. Black headband. This is a product of my knitting-for-profit phase (in June), which is currently on hold. I based it on the Interweave pattern I used to make two lace headbands of my own. This one has a tiny bit of lace around the edges, but my intention was to knit or crochet a flower or two to sew on. So I have to learn how to that first. Oh, and I have yet to weave in the ends.

4. Luxe gauntlets. I thought I had enough yarn to bind off, but apparently I did not. I didn't have the patience to un-bind off, un-knit, tie on more yarn, knit, and bind off. So I took some of the needles to work on the black headband. And then the one needle came off on its own. I can't remember when I started this project, but it too has been a UFO since June.

5. Soccer Mom Sweater. This pattern is really simple - a good second sweater. If this makes me a (childless) 23-year-old soccer mom, so be it. I just have to finish the last sleeve and sew it all together. (This project appears to by my only "normal" UFO.) I started this one last fall and it has definitely been hiatus since late 2006.

6. Crocheted sweater. I've been working on it since August of last year and I haven't touched it since September. The reason? I misread the pattern, which is fine - the thing just looks different than it's supposed to look - but now each stitch is a little bit off, and this "Seamless Sweater" has a (slight) diagonal seam down the back.

7. Lu Mei's hat. Last year, I promised my friend, Lu Mei, that I would crochet her a hat. Well, I couldn't figure out how to check crochet gauge, so I thought I'd just wing it. Not so smart. It turned out way too big, and I think think only way to salvage this one would be to felt it - which is something I've never done before. I haven't touched the thing since last September.

8. Mom's giant purse. When it comes to purse size, my mother rivals any New Yorker. When I started the research for my college thesis, I bought yarn from a lot of different yarn stores so that I would be able to get a feel for the stores and the people. At one store, I bought some giant yarn and started knitting what I hoped would be my first felted object, a handbag for my mom, from a free pattern which I promptly lost. About six months later (after I graduated), I contacted the store to ask for the pattern. They were really nice about it and they emailed me a pattern. Unfortunately, it was the wrong one. Maybe I should just wing this one. In any case, this bag has been a UFO since around February of 2006.

8. Green gloves. These were knit on two needles. I didn't finish them because the pattern (which I no longer have) instructed to "darn" the sides together. I didn't know what darning meant. Hence, I never finished them. That was two years ago.

9. Going Out with a Bag. This is the one I've been bitching out since the nascence of this blog. Still not finished. Still gotta learn to sew in zippers. I have the zipper. Right now, I can't even find the thing, so I can't take a picture of it. I was going to make this for my sister's nineteenth birthday. My sister is now 21, and still no bag.

10. Yellow and blue bag. Two and a half years ago, this one was based roughly off of Stitch 'n Bitch Nation's Poster Boy, but I didn't put the boy on it. Technically, it is not a UFO. It was finished at one point. But I made the lining too small and out of fabric that was too light for my heavy school books. I still use it, but the lining is in desperate need of replacement.

more central park knitting (and adina gets philosophical)

My great-aunt Dora loved to crochet. Every member of my family has some item crocheted specially by Aunt Dora. Doll clothes, countless afghans, pillow, the list goes on. I have some pillows she crocheted specially for me decorating my room at my parents' house. I keep two warm afghans in my tiny apartment - two of the few items I took home with me after my grandparents died. My grandmother, her kid sister, was never really into needle crafts. I don't think she learned to knit or crochet when she was growing up in the 1930s and '40s. But when she was much older, and in the hospital, someone there taught her to crochet. She crocheted a large blanket, using mostly single crochet, with stripes and texture. It sat on my grandmother's couch for years, the oranges and yellows blending in with the 1970's decor that to this day still furnishes the house, warming anyone who sat on the couch or cozy armchairs or slept in the living room when all the bedrooms were full. My grandmother promptly forgot how to crochet, but she was always humbly proud of that blanket that she made when she was so sick.

Needle crafts really are comforting and healing, which is why I've been doing so much of it lately. I know that almost everyone gets their wisdom teeth out and that people deal with it, but mine were pretty badly impacted and are still very painful. I would love to one day teach crafts to hospital patients (unfortunately, my current work hours keep me from doing that right now). Knitting has been calming me, keeping me occupied and happy. When yesterday afternoon I finally got out to soak up some sun, I went to a knitting store that I went to with my mom when I first moved here. I had been looking for it for months but I finally found it on the internet. (The problem had been that I had no idea what it was called and couldn't quite remember where it was either.) When I got there, it was closed for Labor Day (who closes for Labor Day on Tuesday???) so I went back to The Yarn Co., which has a nice selection but is kind of small (so nothing really out of the ordinary) and doesn't stock Lamb's Pride. (Still I buy a lot of stuff there and what they do have is really nice.) I got some black Torino bulky for the bottom of my purse (if I use the silk I've been using for the rest of it, it will probably tear after a day or two) and some in black so that I can finally make a hat for Sam that isn't huge. Later, Amna came over and we got soup from a place on my block and went to Central Park for a picnic soup dinner and to knit. (Her scarf is getting so long - it looks awesome!) This cheered me up immensely, it even helped take away the pain (as the frozen yogurt we had afterwards!) I hadn't brought my camera - but Amna had hers! Unfortunately, I still have my chipmunk cheeks from getting my wisdom teeth out. (So I'm vain enough to disclose that but not enough to not put a picture of myself looking not-my-best up)

After a six month hiatus, I'm back!

In the past six months, I:

- moved to New York
- started a new job as a paralegal
- started a pair of gauntlets and a sweater... and haven't finished either yet. but did crochet one hat.
- was visited two glorious weeks by one of my best friends from home and for three months one of his best friends, who soon became one of my best friends too
- got an amazing boyfriend
- crocheted hat mentioned above for said boyfriend. but stupidly didn't measure guage and made it way too big. thinking about felting it now...
- made some awesome friends and got to know New York... well on the way to becoming a true New Yorker

...and that's about it. i miss my knitting friends in philly. i got to the point of looking up knitting groups on the internet. unfortunately, i have to work late tuesdays (just how late I have to work varies), so i can't always make it to the original Stitch 'n Bitch. ah, sigh. but there is one around my neighborhood on wednesdays. really looking forward to that. i always get nervous when i go to new knitting events though. i boil it down to shyness. last year, i just had to suck it up and go because my thesis depended on it. but now, it's all up to me.

today, i went to a knitting store that didn't exist. i googled knitting stores in nyc and found a list, which included one relatively close that was open on sundays. so i took the crosstown bus and walked nine blocks. and it was aparently a kitchen supply store. i reeeeeally should have found the store's website or phone number and called them. oh well. next time.


to do:
- buy yarn for amna's way overdue birthday hat. and make the hat.
- make the sweater i promised my dad two years ago that i would make him for his fiftieth birthday...by december 12. (still have some time)
- make promised scarf or "muffler" for auntie carol
- finished two relatively-close-to-being-finished projects. and one weirdly-crocheted sweater. still.

My new love

Cascade Pima Tencel. I've finally succumbed to the amazingness of the tactile nature of fiber. I found the pattern for this headband in the summer volume of Interweave. It's my second lace pattern ever. I tried to make it out of the same cotton as my scarf but it was too fine. I found this at Sophie's.

I'm also kind of in love with the pattern. My first I-cord. It kind of reminds me of a kind of friendship bracelet that I used to make in the fifth grade. I had to start over a few times but it was well worth it. Then I had to figure out the lace pattern. It uses p2sso and the instructions really confused me. I had to figure it out on my own and that, too, required a lot of unknitting. Then I somehow skipped a yarn over and I had to start over yet again. I've been knitting for two years but, really, I'm still a beginner. I'm still learning so much. It's kind of frustrating because I want to know everything now. It would also be nice to sell my stuff or write my own patterns. Some day...I can dream.

As for my other projects, I seem to be knitting (and crocheting) up a storm. I finally finished my cotton lace scarf. When I wear it in my hair, you can't really see the lace pattern. I should have made it a lot thinner. Oh well. I can still pull it off when I wear hoop earrings.

I seem to be a knitter of all trades. Living alone kind of does that to you. I do the knitting, the blogging, the modelling, and the photographing. Some day, maybe I will even flip the pictures around. For now, they will have to deal with being sideways.

And then there's Lu Mei's hat. For once, I've crocheted something to the pattern. I made very few mistakes. All I have left to do is weave in all the ends. There's just one problem: it's circumference is much bigger than it's supposed to be. It's too big on me -- and I have a big head (literally, not metaphorically). I don't want to start over so I'm thinking about felting it a little. At least the colors will be the same -- and the shells will be there too. I'm just afraid of shrinking it too much. If anyone ever read this blog, I'm sure I'd get some tips. Oh well, I guess I'll post something on a livejournal group.

Another weekend of Apartment Hunting

I spent the entire weekend in New York. We wanted to get started early so I splurged on Amtrak this time. I LOVE Amtrak. It's the classiest train ride ever. I don't know why they even bother having a first class carriage, because the whole train really is first class, compared to Septa and New Jersey Transit.

I took my green sweater to crochet on the way there. The woman next to me talked about how she used to crochet and she had been meaning to start again. That seems to be a comment I get a lot about knitting and crocheting. Then I inevitably mention my thesis. It's found its way into my repertoire of small talk.

New York real estate is the biggest headache ever. We didn't sign a lease yet, so by New York standards, the trip was unsuccessful. The whole idea of a four person loft didn't work out. One of the girls didn't come and wasn't answering her phone. Laura and I tried to see an apartment with a broker -- and the tenant answered the door. She had signed the lease the day before. It wouldn't have worked, though, because the second bedroom was the size of the closet in my room in my parents' house.

But we saw this awesome place in Park Slope, Brooklyn. A girl Laura knows in moving out, and she's going to talk to her landlord about renting it to us. That way he doesn't have to go through the hassles of either a broker or Craigslist. We are keeping our fingers crossed. The bedrooms are very small but there is an enormous livingroom, a sizeable kitchen, and outdoor space.

I stayed over at Laura's house in Connecticut. She has a huge collection of DVDs and I chose a spy movie to watch with her and her sister. I got out my sweater and pattern book, which I had lugged around all day in my backpack in the rain. Now the book was wet and kind of wrinkly. I hate it when that happens, especially to books I like, and ESPECIALLY to my knitting (and crochet) books. After a couple of minutes, I came to the next part of the pattern. I was supposed to put markers on the sweater. Not only did I not have any markers with me (although I'm sure I could have imrpovised), I have no idea how to place markers on crocheted garments. I know how to do it when knitting, but I just can't figure out the crocheting equivalent. And there were no instructions in the book. I'll have to figure that out tomorrow. In other news, it's my sister's birthday today. Happy 20th birthday, Devon! She opened her birthday present today and says she loves the hat. She wore it for two hours even though it's not really winter in Australia anymore. What a sweet heart.

So I'm Making a Different Sweater...

I tried to make the seamless sweater from, you guessed it, Stitch 'N Bitch Crochet, my favorite and only crochet book.

After Lu Mei and Lindsey had watched me unravel the first few rows of my new sweater several times over the course of several episodes of Weeds, they were feeling its pain. I, on the other hand, custom to the inevitable countless frogging that comes with knitting, especially at my level, didn't really notice until they pointed it out.

That was on Friday night. Then, on Saturday, I took Septa and New Jersey Transit to New York to meet some potential future roommates. I brought LSAT homework and a book for the ride. I also took my crocheting. I had planned to spend most of the time studying, but instead I spent the entire time on that sweater. I got really far. That's one of the things I love about crocheting; with the exception of sc, it's so quick! And it's just as relaxing as knitting. The problem with this project was that some time between Newark and Princeton Junction I realized that I had wrongly interperated the directions. I don't know why it took me so long to realize that what I was making looked very different from the picture. But the great thing about crocheting is that anything goes; it looks like I intentially made it like this. So I'm going to finish it and then some time in the future I will follow it for real, but I can totally wear this. The only problem is that on Sunday, after I took these pictures and added the waste section (done actually according to the pattern!) I tried this on. And I think I might have started it too tight, because I don't know how well the bottom will go around my hips. I guess we'll soon find out.

On the Needles...I'm starting to get some use out of this new digital camera. Excuse my floor as the background, I'll have to find something classier.

This is my first lace project. It's a scarf, but the idea was to wear it in my hair. I'm making it out of cotton instead of laceweight wool. I'm almost done, but it's taking me forever to finish. At first it was captivating but now I'm getting really bored with it.

And I just finished this. I crocheted it for my sister's birthday (Sept. 5th). I crocheted it, based on the Anarchy Irony Hat from "Stitch 'N Bitch Crochet: the Happy Hooker." I used the same yarn as I did for a scarf that I made for her a year ago, so now they match. I was going to have just the last row in blue, but I ran out of purple. The great thing about crocheting is that it's really hard to see mistakes and easy to make changes. I'm modelling the hat because my sister doesn't yet have it to take a pictue.

Welcome to my new knitting blog!

I wrote my senior thesis in anthropology last year on knitting. Unlike most college seniors, as I progressed more on my thesis, I became increasingly OBSESSED with my topic, knitting. I focused largely on the internet as a means of communication amongst knitters and as I researched and wrote, I just itched to start my own knitting blog. But alas, I thought that perhaps starting the blog during this research would be counterproductive in two ways. (1) it would probably taint my research because I was working (and knitting) with multiple groups and (2) because it would add to the list of knitting-related distractions that was keeping me from finishing the thesis which, after all, was needed for me to, well, graduate.

Well I finally finished my thesis! And I finally graduated! AND I'm moving to New York next month which means that I'm going to be seeing less of all my amazing knitting friends. So now I get to start this knitting blog AND keep in touch with my knitting friends.

I think this is going to turn into more of a fiber arts blog than a knitting blog per se, because this summer I also learned to crochet, and I've become a little obsessed with that too. (Notice any trends here? At least I'm consistant...)