Craft Fail

Today we're going to have a pictureless, whiny post in the spirit of keeping me blogging. Just what you wanted to read, right?

I've been sitting here thinking about all the projects I have going on, and those I want to start, and it's a little overwhelming!

1. Araucania Azapa scarves -- I started the first one with the remains of the second skein leftover from the second hat, then had to wait for a third skein to keep going. Then I started to run out of that one, so I went to the store and bought 2 more skeins to start the second scarf to get it up to where the first scarf is. I just measured them both and the second scarf is about a hundred rows behind the first and I'll definitely need the fifth skein! (Did you follow all that?) Once I catch the second one up, I'll divide the leftovers and finish each scarf with its own mini-ball. Oh man, these need to be done now.

2. Charity hat -- I knit a few rows when I get a chance. Turns out I misread the ribbing instructions and did it in a 2x2 rib, which I think is cute but is a little loose -- this hat is the 21" size and fits on my 22" head. Oops. Once I finish the top, I'll probably frog the rib and knit it on a smaller needle size. Maybe I'll even go for a smaller needle and 1x1 rib. Sigh. English major's reading skills for the lose.

3. Hubs' binary scarf -- Poor hubs. He puts up with me so well. He bought me a spinning kit for Valentine's Day this year and I bought him the yarn to make the Binary Scarf. It's been in my Ravelry queue since January 27th. I keep getting distracted by things like summer and Noro Striped Scarves and making stuff for other people. But I've promised him once I'm done with these Azapa scarves, his is the next project I start.

4. Socks. One day.

5. Lace. Maybe the next day.

6. My project binder. Actually, I've been keeping up with this, putting swatches in and stuff. I even bought hole protectors for it, but I can't find my hole puncher. The universe is laughing at me.

7. Mother-in-law's present. The math on this went wonky and while I'm sure I can figure it out very easily, I have a hissy fit when I'm in the same room as math.

8. Holiday presents. Let's just say no one's getting them. I had a goal of making one of my work colleague's a coffee cozy, but then I decided all the ones I found wouldn't work so I started brainstorming and am now in the process of designing one. She'll probably just get a gift card to Dunkin' Donuts or something, but I do plan on actually writing up a pattern and offering it at some point. After I finish my husband's scarf. Maybe. I love you, honey.

The Language of the Craft

I've always loved language: loved learning bits and pieces of new languages, loved figuring out my native tongue. I've taken Spanish, Italian and Chinese in a school setting, and tried to teach myself French and Welsh. I have degrees in English and writing. I love language.

But what I especially love is what I call regional dialect -- what people call things and how they pronounce them. I'm from Connecticut, born and raised in the same house for the first eighteen years of my life. It wasn't until I was in college that I met people who called soda "pop" and sneakers "tennis shoes". As it is, I married a Massachusetts-Vermont-Michigan hybrid who calls a water fountain a "water bubbler" and chocolate sprinkles "jimmies". (But at least he still calls it soft-serve!)

Until I started crafting, I didn't realize that there were other ways to pronounce words I thought were pretty clear to say. I'm still not entirely sure what the difference between a hank and a skein is. One of my pet peeves is people calling yarn wool -- up until I posted this on a Ravelry thread, I had no idea yarn was called wool in other countries! To me, wool is a specific fiber. I can go into a store and say "I'm looking for the wool" and the associate can lead me straight to it, Merino to Icelandic and all the kinds in between. How does one differentiate this in another country? Obviously "I'm looking for the acrylic" is still pretty easy to say and understand, but do you have to say "wool wool" when looking for sheep product? Fascinating! (And I have no idea what the answer is.)

If you crochet, you probably already know that the terminology is a bit different across the pond. This article takes a quick and interesting look at the differences: for example, what I would call a slip stitch is a single crochet in UK notation. There do tend to be standard symbols for charts, but I don't tend to work from charts, so knowing your terminology is helpful!

However, possibly my favorite crafting term is worsted. Worsted. Oh, worsted. I think it's no mistake you have the word "worst" tucked away in there.

First, an interesting fact, and entirely not the reason I have a love-hate relationship with the word: did you know that worsted can refer to the way a yarn is spun? Had no idea! I read about it in one of Clara Parkes' books.

When I think of worsted yarn, I think of worsted-weight: that nice, kinda middle-of-the-road stuff that knits up pretty quick without having to use broomsticks for needles. It's probably my favorite yarn weight, and I know I'm not alone. In fact, plenty of people I know go on and on about their woostered-weight yarn.

Wait a second, hold the phone. Woostered? Well, if you moved the r and added a few extra vowels, I guess I can see how you get that. There's actually a linguistics term for this switching of syllables: metathesis. If you've ever heard a little kid call spaghetti "psketti", or the infamous "nuculer", that's metathesis.

It makes me wonder. Is woostered an example of metathesis, or is it accent-based? After all, there's Worcester Massachusetts, which to me should be pronounced "wor-chest-er" but is actually pronounced "wooster". I have no idea why. (Then again, I lived in Kuh-neh-ti-cut!) Is woostered a regional thing?

It's times like this I think about what a great paper topic this would have made. :)

(EDIT: I spelled Worcester with an "h". Oops!)

Crazy for Crochet

I did learn how to knit first, and generally prefer the look of a knitted garment, but let's face it: crochet can certainly be faster and easier! (And it can be a great way to eat up stash.) The other day I was taking pictures in the craft room and decided to try to document past and present projects. Today I'll share 3 projects in various stages.

WARNING: There will be a project in the shape of some female internal organs, but I'll put that one last.

#1:

As usual, I have to be careful with what I say about #1 because it's a gift and the possibility exists that the recipient may stumble upon this blog! I need to get cracking on this one. I will say that I love working with a yarn that has so many colors in it!

#2:

Ah, #2. This one's been on hiatus for a while. This is the Liquid Gold Chain Mesh Scarf designed by Kathy North. I thought it would make a great holiday scarf, but for whatever reason I had to go up like 4 hook sizes to get gauge, so I'm probably not doing it right. I'll probably rip it out soon since I would like to have it for winter -- it's so sparkly!

WARNING! You're about to see a crocheted uterus. :) Scroll no further, ye faint of heart!

#3:

#3 is the Uterus Menstrual Cup Cozy Pattern designed by kelguen. I'm not going to get much into menstrual cups or alternative menstrual products here, but if that's something you're interested in learning more about, I'm going to refer you to the Wikipedia page on them and also the DivaCup & Lunapads websites.

It's basically a cute little drawstring bag in the shape of the uterus. :D You can use it to carry menstrual products, loose change, or whatever your heart (or uterus) desires. A quick & cute project that I would make again.


So that's all for today! I hope you've enjoyed a look at some of my crochet projects!

Qiviut & Florida & Fifty?

You may be wondering what the heck the three words in the title have to do with each other. All in good time, dear readers. All in good time.

Hubs & I jaunted down to Florida last week in a joint vacation/celebration of our first wedding anniversary. It was quite nice and relaxing, once I felt better! I came down with a cold or something right before we left, so I had no energy. No energy to pack, no energy to go out, and no energy to try to find something project-y and small that would fit in my luggage. Suffice it to say I did not knit or crochet in Florida. I'd read about a yarn store in Palm Harbor (where we were), but either their hours and our hours didn't mesh, or I just didn't feel up to going out.

A week passed, and suddenly it was the day before we left. Knowing I'd regret it if I didn't go, Hubs bundled me into the car and I dutifully plugged the store's address into our handy-dandy GPS system, which then proceeded to not get us there several times. Certain it didn't exist anymore, I was ready to give up. Hubs called and asked where they were. (Duh.)

We eventually found the place: Uncommon Threads in Palm Harbor. (Okay, so it's not the most updated of websites, but if we'd bothered paying more attention we would have known it was behind Outback Steakhouse! Oops.) It was a cute little store that used white milk crates as shelves. I saw a lot of fun yarn there that I haven't seen too much (or at all) up here, including Malabrigo, Flat Feet (which were sooooo tempting), and qiviut.

If you're like me and don't really know what qiviut is, I provide you with this handy Wikipedia link. (Please don't tell my English profs! I know it's not a reliable source!) I'd read up on it a little but hadn't had the chance to actually touch it before. Hubs actually came and found me in the store and dragged me over to touch the sample. It doesn't feel that soft in the skein, but it softened up considerably in that swatch! Since it was our last day in Florida and I didn't have a lot of money left (nor any idea what I was going to do with it), I bought one skein of Jacques Cartier -- well, I'm not sure what it's called, but it's floating around on Ravelry as Qiviuk Majestic Blend. It's a little laceweight blend of silk, qiviuk and merino. (There are also apparently like 10,000 ways to spell qiviuk/qiviut/whatever.)



Isn't it pretty? I think I went into a coma because while I remember going to the cash register and paying for it, when I got to the car and opened the bag, I went "I got THAT color?" Heh. No idea what I'm going to do with it, but do you really need to know? Nope.



(So that explains the first two words in the title. Happy fiftieth post, blog!)

Thanks, Ann Budd & Yarn Harlot!

Hat #1 made from the Araucania Azapa is finished! (Well, except for weaving in the ends, but whatever. You can tuck them up in the hat to take pictures.) I ended up mashing up two patterns, the Basic Hat from Ann Budd's The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns and Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's No-Pattern Hat from Knitting Rules!. I used Budd for the basics of the ribbing and body, and used McPhee's "Type A" decrease strategy to create a wonderfully custom-fit hat for my colleague. Now that I have all the little details figured out, hat #2 should be a breeze to knit up.

I may also have a hard time taking this thing off my head and giving it to my pal.



Isn't it adorable! She's planning on wearing it with the ribbing down, so I had to frog back some of the body of the hat so it wouldn't be too big.

Pattern: Ann Budd's Basic Hat pattern for a 21" head circumference at a gauge of 4 st/inch, with Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's No-Pattern Hat's "Type A" decreases
Yarn: Araucania Azapa in color #819 Malted Cocoa, less than one skein
Needles: Boye interchangeable set, size US 9 for the body; Takumi Clover DPN set, size 9
Timeline: 9.29.09-10.9.09
Modifications: Obviously, the mash-up of two patterns. I did not knit the body of the hat as long as Budd suggested since the recipient will wear it in a different fashion. I didn't like how Pearl-McPhee's method left me with 14 stitches to draw together, so I did an addition K2tog row, leaving me with 7 stitches to draw together. (Not symmetrical, but it eased my mind a bit!)

Opinion: The original hat pattern I chose was for worsted-weight, but since Azapa is heavier I decided just to go with a custom-fit hat, and I'm glad I did. It's super-cute, fits well, and looks good. I'm going to have fun making a second, and I want to make one for myself!

Random Thoughts: It reminds me somewhat of a fisherman's watchcap. I think it's the ribbing! Also, it's really hard to take a picture of the top of your head.

A Bloggish Milestone

Happy 1000 hits, blog! While I'm sure that 501 of those hits are from me, it still pleases me to know that 499 spambots visit the page occasionally. Thanks, spambots!

~*~

When I write in my personal blog, I tend to "dump": aka I write about everything that's on my brain. I don't compartmentalize or break it up at all. Since the blog is private and about my life, and since life happens just about every day, I figure I won't exactly run out of things to write about. But in a crafting blog, I have to resist the urge to dump. I am seriously like a five-year-old returned from kindergarten: "I want to tell you about this, and this, and then this happened and lookit me!" And that, I think, just isn't fun to read. I don't know about you, but I've started getting annoyed with long news articles -- just get to the point! If I have to scroll, forget about it! (You haven't had to scroll yet, have you? Thanks for sticking around.) Hence, I try to break things up so I have more to blog about in smaller portions. However, often this leads to me forgetting what I was going to post, since I also have the attention span of a five-year-old fresh from kindergarten. And then I don't blog, 'cause I don't have anything to blog about. It's a vicious cycle.

Anyway, the point of all this is that I finished my NSS #3 yesterday because I went to the yarn store and managed some social interaction and yet also managed to knit enough that I was able to finish when I got home. I went to the yarn store (are you seeing the logical break for new blog entry here?) because of one of my work colleagues. She's a lovely woman who has been nothing but incredibly nice and patient and helpful to me and, miracle of miracles, she thinks I'm a good knitter and wants me to make her a hat. (Blessed lady obviously doesn't knit.)

(You've had to scroll by now. You still with me? [And have I mentioned that I adore parentheses? And apparently brackets. What comes after brackets?])

ANYWAY, we went to the yarn store yesterday, and she petted, and, because she is a lady of supreme taste, she picked some Araucania Azapa in malted cocoa, and that stuff is not particularly inexpensive, and I'm kind of geeking out because this is really nice soft yarn and it's got merino and alpaca and silk and and and -- I'm five. Seriously.

I'd sent her some hat patterns and she chose a nice easy one but it was in worsted weight and Araucania is not exactly worsted, I have some fudging to do. I think it's going to involve math. Crap!

Did I mention she wants one for her daughter too?

(If I write it down, maybe I'll remember to blog about my Christmas list in the yarn store. I'll title that one "How I Managed To Stretch One Day Into Three Blog Posts".)

NSS #3

I do so love my Noro Striped Scarves.

Pattern: Noro Striped Scarf as popularized by Jared Flood of BrooklynTweed.
Yarn: Noro Kureyon, 2 skeins each of color 149 & color 211.
Needles: Boye interchangeable set, size US 7.
Timeline: 7.10.09-9.24.09
Modifications: I used Noro Kureyon instead of Silk Garden. I also only alternated two colorways, not three. (Actually, I've done this in all my NSSs. [That's a lot of s-es.])


Opinion: Well, I've made three! I continue to love the pattern. The neutral colorways were a big shift for me, because I love bright colors, but I'm glad I chose them because they're very classy and the scarf could easily go on a number of people. I'm sure I'll make more.

Random thoughts: I have no idea who this scarf is for! I bought the yarn and started it without thinking "this is for me" or "this is for so-and-so". I just had to make it. I wove in the ends today after I finished it. I have a scarf that is months and months old that I haven't woven the ends in yet! All I need to do is wash and block a little, but this scarf is effectively done.



Maybe I will just keep it for myself. :)

(Oh, and I'm totally getting better at taking pictures of myself in my bathroom.)