One of my coworkers today mentioned something about needing a part-time job because he had "too much free time" right now. We haven't really hit the slow season at work, but we're very close and I admit, my work weeks have been hovering under the forty hour line. But what is this free time of which he speaks? I know no such thing! Then I realize two very important factors of the equation:
1. He is a kind-of-single manwhore who has a veritable bevy of suitors desperate to do things like his laundry for him. Seriously, they even do his ironing. I should enjoy such perks in my world.
2. My house has sprouted knitty, crafty things. Not quite sure how it happened, and it is probably due in part to all those cute little projects on mochimochiland. Seriously, I even finished a bunch of these things! And made up some stuff on my own!
I blame this website.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Stay on target
Ok Gals I hoping the guilt of this BLOG will keep me on track this weekend. I am bringing the blanket I began crocheting last year on a road trip. It was supposed to be done by Nov. 18th last year (original due date) but my little one decided to come early (6 weeks). So this project was shelved as were my visions of having her swaddled in it while we snuggled by the fire. sigh.
I will be at a gaming convention this weekend and will have lots of road time and maybe even time while playing to hook...is that what one uses as slang for crocheting? Wish me luck. Report back Sunday or Monday with my progress.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
True to form, my pics are behind my work
So I've been working some more on the quilt. Here are the latest pictures with the borders in tact & the backing:
(Yeah that's my foot. I'm standing on a chair to take the pictures.)
So as I mentioned, I've actually done some more work on it since I took these shots. I have actually cut the batting, and pinned it all together. I also got 2 of the ditches stitched one night last week when I was waiting up for my niece to come in from visiting her boyfriend.
I am hoping to have all of the horizontal ditches stitched before I have to leave for Texas. There are 7 of them, so I'm not overly optimistic that I will actually meet that goal, especially not now that Dallan has returned from his 3 week travels. We'll see. I have discovered, though, that making my sewing maching stitch sideways is not as difficult as I thought it would be. There are some very, shall we say, "creative" looking lines happening on this quilt, but I'm hopeful that when it's all done, all the wonkiness will simply add to its character.
(Yeah that's my foot. I'm standing on a chair to take the pictures.)
So as I mentioned, I've actually done some more work on it since I took these shots. I have actually cut the batting, and pinned it all together. I also got 2 of the ditches stitched one night last week when I was waiting up for my niece to come in from visiting her boyfriend.
I am hoping to have all of the horizontal ditches stitched before I have to leave for Texas. There are 7 of them, so I'm not overly optimistic that I will actually meet that goal, especially not now that Dallan has returned from his 3 week travels. We'll see. I have discovered, though, that making my sewing maching stitch sideways is not as difficult as I thought it would be. There are some very, shall we say, "creative" looking lines happening on this quilt, but I'm hopeful that when it's all done, all the wonkiness will simply add to its character.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Eventually I'll just start spinning yarn out of cat hair to cut out the middle man.
Kathy called me up (left a message, actually. Curse the need to mow the lawn over the weekend!) saying, "I've deviated from the pattern. Now I have a problem, but I think you can help me."
Well, I suppose that's exactly why we started this thing; now we can help each other out, and provide visual aids! Rad.
Let me provide a little back story, though. See, Kathy is a pastry chef. That means she has to be good at following recipes, because if you fail to follow a pastry recipe, Bad Things Happen(tm). Me? I am not good at following recipes. In fact, I actively chafe against recipes, and, as a general rule, if I want to cook something I've never made before, I look through 5 to 10 different recipes for that thing, get the gist of what I am going for, and then fly blind when it comes to actual meal preparation. This tends to work much better for me than actually following a recipe would. I'm not completely sure why, but I am guessing it probably reflects some general need to blaze my own trail. (Listen, it's not my fault I'm the youngest. And no, I don't buy into any of that birth order crap, thank you very much.)
Point is, Kathy made a beet instead of a heart. And I am very proud of her! But now the beet needs greens, and she's stuck. So she called me, and since she rejected my initial idea of latch-hooking (she wanted proper leaves, apparently), I had to invent a leaf pattern while we were on the phone. So here is one side of the resulting leaf:
and the other side:
Here's a closer shot of the leaf to show the neat little vein detail:
Now for the pattern:
Notes - when I say "m1", I am referring to the make one back increase that you can see a video for here.
cast on 3
do a 3 stitch i-cord for whatever length is appropriate for your stem
k1, m1, k1, m1, k1 (you should now have 5 stitches on your needle)
k1, m1, k1, p1, k1, m1, k1 (it's a seven stitch palindrome!)
repeat the following two (marked in square brackets) rows until the body of the leaf is as long as you want it:
[knit across the row
k3, p1, k3]
k2tog, k3, k2tog (should be 5 sts on your needle now)
k2, p1, k2
k2tog, k1, k2tog (three stitches left)
k3tog (one stitch left!)
bind off your sad one stitch. So lonely!
That's it! Pretty easy, right?
Kathy also has been begging me to post an update on the status of my halter top for about a week now. So here it is:
I swear he sat down and started glaring at me like that before I had even finished putting the damn thing on the bed. Apparently this particular item did not yet contain enough cat hair. For crying out loud.
I took this picture while holding him out of the frame with my left hand. No small task, that cat weighs 14 pounds, and it's all muscle! Well, and fur. And a shockingly large number of facial whiskers (seriously, check out the eyebrow whiskers in the previous picture. My cat practically has a cuttlefish growing out of his face.) Anyway:
So, yes, I am, in fact, making progress. And I haven't started any other projects since I posted about my excess of projects!
Well, I haven't started any knitting projects.
...except for the leaf for Kathy. And that hardly counts, right? I SWEAR I CAN STOP ANY TIME.
Well, I suppose that's exactly why we started this thing; now we can help each other out, and provide visual aids! Rad.
Let me provide a little back story, though. See, Kathy is a pastry chef. That means she has to be good at following recipes, because if you fail to follow a pastry recipe, Bad Things Happen(tm). Me? I am not good at following recipes. In fact, I actively chafe against recipes, and, as a general rule, if I want to cook something I've never made before, I look through 5 to 10 different recipes for that thing, get the gist of what I am going for, and then fly blind when it comes to actual meal preparation. This tends to work much better for me than actually following a recipe would. I'm not completely sure why, but I am guessing it probably reflects some general need to blaze my own trail. (Listen, it's not my fault I'm the youngest. And no, I don't buy into any of that birth order crap, thank you very much.)
Point is, Kathy made a beet instead of a heart. And I am very proud of her! But now the beet needs greens, and she's stuck. So she called me, and since she rejected my initial idea of latch-hooking (she wanted proper leaves, apparently), I had to invent a leaf pattern while we were on the phone. So here is one side of the resulting leaf:
and the other side:
Here's a closer shot of the leaf to show the neat little vein detail:
Now for the pattern:Notes - when I say "m1", I am referring to the make one back increase that you can see a video for here.
cast on 3
do a 3 stitch i-cord for whatever length is appropriate for your stem
k1, m1, k1, m1, k1 (you should now have 5 stitches on your needle)
k1, m1, k1, p1, k1, m1, k1 (it's a seven stitch palindrome!)
repeat the following two (marked in square brackets) rows until the body of the leaf is as long as you want it:
[knit across the row
k3, p1, k3]
k2tog, k3, k2tog (should be 5 sts on your needle now)
k2, p1, k2
k2tog, k1, k2tog (three stitches left)
k3tog (one stitch left!)
bind off your sad one stitch. So lonely!
That's it! Pretty easy, right?
Kathy also has been begging me to post an update on the status of my halter top for about a week now. So here it is:
I swear he sat down and started glaring at me like that before I had even finished putting the damn thing on the bed. Apparently this particular item did not yet contain enough cat hair. For crying out loud.I took this picture while holding him out of the frame with my left hand. No small task, that cat weighs 14 pounds, and it's all muscle! Well, and fur. And a shockingly large number of facial whiskers (seriously, check out the eyebrow whiskers in the previous picture. My cat practically has a cuttlefish growing out of his face.) Anyway:
So, yes, I am, in fact, making progress. And I haven't started any other projects since I posted about my excess of projects!Well, I haven't started any knitting projects.
...except for the leaf for Kathy. And that hardly counts, right? I SWEAR I CAN STOP ANY TIME.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
As if I didn't have enough irons in the fire...
Okay, so for about 3 years now I've had this software collecting dust in my basement that will convert a digital picture to a cross stitch pattern. (It also has a sweater designer, and a personal pattern maker for children, btw). So I got the idea that I would use it to make a pattern for a latch hook rug for the kids' bathroom with Ernie from Sesame Street & his Rubber Duckie.
Like so:
Now, the trick will be in the fact that the software doesn't really do latch hook patterns, but it does let you specify the type of canvas you're working on, the number of stitches per inch/centimeter, and the dimensions of the project (in # of stitches.) So I think I can do it. I'll just have to muddle through getting the right colors of yarn. I'll also have to figure out the appropriate length for the strands of yarn & then cut it. *sigh*
Like so:
Now, the trick will be in the fact that the software doesn't really do latch hook patterns, but it does let you specify the type of canvas you're working on, the number of stitches per inch/centimeter, and the dimensions of the project (in # of stitches.) So I think I can do it. I'll just have to muddle through getting the right colors of yarn. I'll also have to figure out the appropriate length for the strands of yarn & then cut it. *sigh*
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Another Introduction!
Hello everyone! I'm Jezebelle, Curly Girly, Jennifer, or Jen. :) I answer to all, and in fact, I chose my name here as Jennibelle, because that sort of sums them all up (except for the curly girly name which doesn't really fit well with anything but it's fitting). Ok, have I mentioned I like to ramble? Anyway, hello!
I met queenofsheba and thepooh through my radio show, and Kathy suggested that I join in, since I am a bit of a crafter myself. Except, the only talent I have so far is with cross-stitching, and you should see the amount of unfinished ones I have lying around! I think in the past 10 years, I've probably started about 20 projects, and have only completely finished (meaning: mounted and framed) three of them.
Here's one that I did for my friend Heather's wedding. It's relatively simple, but it's the only one I have a photo of online. I'm working on this immense one about cats at the moment, but so far I only have the "C" completed. Cross-stitching really attracts me because it's so soothing. I always do counted cross-stitch. There's nothing wrong with stamped cross-stitch, but I like the counting aspect. I blame the math teacher in me.
Actually, while I was looking for pictures of cross-stitch projects, I came across a picture of another craft project I completely blocked out of my memory. I made this little stuffed penguin one year as a christmas gift. He was a pain in the butt to make, and I hated his little hat, but I love this picture of him all propped up with my sister's cat Krusty. I probably posed him about ten different ways and took pictures, but this is my favorite one. :)
I am also a big fan of this picture, mostly for the look on my cat Sunshine's face. I guess she's not as thrilled about penguins as Krusty is. :)
That's it for now. I'll probably take pictures of my progress on some other projects (including yet another wedding cross-stitch). Thanks again for inviting me to the group!!
I met queenofsheba and thepooh through my radio show, and Kathy suggested that I join in, since I am a bit of a crafter myself. Except, the only talent I have so far is with cross-stitching, and you should see the amount of unfinished ones I have lying around! I think in the past 10 years, I've probably started about 20 projects, and have only completely finished (meaning: mounted and framed) three of them.
Here's one that I did for my friend Heather's wedding. It's relatively simple, but it's the only one I have a photo of online. I'm working on this immense one about cats at the moment, but so far I only have the "C" completed. Cross-stitching really attracts me because it's so soothing. I always do counted cross-stitch. There's nothing wrong with stamped cross-stitch, but I like the counting aspect. I blame the math teacher in me.
Actually, while I was looking for pictures of cross-stitch projects, I came across a picture of another craft project I completely blocked out of my memory. I made this little stuffed penguin one year as a christmas gift. He was a pain in the butt to make, and I hated his little hat, but I love this picture of him all propped up with my sister's cat Krusty. I probably posed him about ten different ways and took pictures, but this is my favorite one. :)
I am also a big fan of this picture, mostly for the look on my cat Sunshine's face. I guess she's not as thrilled about penguins as Krusty is. :)
That's it for now. I'll probably take pictures of my progress on some other projects (including yet another wedding cross-stitch). Thanks again for inviting me to the group!!
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