One Geek to Craft Them All

Whatever happened to your __________?

Write about the fate of a past knitting project. Whether it be something that you crocheted or knitted for yourself or to give to another person. An item that lives with you or something which you sent off to charity.

I have so many projects in so many places, both known and unknown.  The Dalek I dropped at some point at Dragon Con, which I like to believe is exterminating with wooly goodness somewhere.

It’s possible,  mostly I hope whoever grabbed it knew what it was and it’s not lamenting in a trash dump somewhere.

Though the project that really comes to mind I know exactly where it is. The WIP box on my desk at home.

The Marvel Scarf.  Oh the  Marvel Scarf.

When it comes to  comics, really I’m a marvel girl at heart. Even if I can argue why Batman is way better then Superman, at the end of the day Spider-man holds my heart in a way they never will.  Don’t get me started on that “Musical”.  X-men, The Hulk, Iron-Man,  the Avengers, all things I’ve been known to geek out about.

But the one thing I will always Give DC over Marvel are the Logos. I designed and knit this scarf in under a month to wear to Comic Con.  Who doesn’t know the bat symbol? Superman’s S (yes yes I know not an S, point still stands).  Wonder Woman, or Aquaman may give you pause but the theme becomes clear.

Justice League Scarf

Its battered, and has seen better days now, but I knit another version for a friend.

This scarf has been knit as potholders, pattern has been put up, it has been knit for the boyfriend by another knitter. This  scarf is going far and wide.

The Marvel scarf on the other hand  is still 2 squares, with some drawings and sketches of what will  come next but it has been in the box for the better part of a year. I stole the needles out of it at one point. Sigh.

Maybe by 3KCBW I will  have another square? A whole Scarf?

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Knitting, WIP 2KCBW, 2KCBWDAY4, double knitting, marvel, scarf

Tidy mind, tidy stitches.

How do you keep your yarn wrangling organised?

Well now isn’t that the question.  If you look at this:

You might thing oh not bad,  the bins are even sorted,  Top – left overs,  acrylics, and other washables. Middle, lace and sock weight, bottom worsted and bulky.

If pretend there isn’t yarn all over the living room and in other parts of the bed room, I could even pretend to have visual organization system. Its not like I have bags of wayward balls or anything…

But I know where most of my yarn is,  yes there are 3 skeins of Lace I haven’t seen since I opened the package they came in, but they are around, somewhere. Over there.

But honestly my real organization isn’t there its here.

My knitting spreadsheet. I’m an analyst, I spend all day in Excel, yet I could not think of any other place where I would want to keep my information organized.

My first tab, Yarn – catalogs my yarn, the color, brand and yardage, to the best of my ability. There are somethings that I have had so long and lost the tag so long ago I can only guess.  Brown lace weight, worsted that might be Cascade 220, Ella Rae, Lion Brand Wool ease or some thing else entirely.

The second tab  is for new yarn, to compare my output and intake. Not that the tab has influenced me yet but I very quickly went from almost no yarn, to enough to knit a house cozy.

With the yarn sheet I know it the number of skeins I have (168) , yardage (currently my stash is resting at 42,798 yards),  what is planned for it if anything, and what is on my needles.

I find a spreadsheet easy and intuitive, and simple to tailor to my needs.  I can check the yardage on a yarn I have, when looking up a project to gauge if I have the right yarn, or need to make a change.

I know what projects I started when to get a better idea on how much I knit throughout the year.  March seems to be a bad knitting month, but a good one for other crafts.  Did I mention I keep track of  beading and Clay work there too?

I track my spending, hence the knowledge that I needed a yarn diet in January.  I have ideas for projects and their matching yarns,  I know how much Yarn I have been using and  what kind of dent I am making in the 42K. Sometimes it helps with the guilt of buying more.

Even with the yarn there, there, there, and a bit over there, I can know in a glance what I have, and if that red cashmere wool blend  is enough for a shrug without having to hunt down the ball and pray the band hasn’t wandered off. I will know that yes, you do have 2 skeins of that purple, you just have to find the other one.  And alas you did use the last of that yarn in that other project.

Needles on the other hand…

We can talk about that later right?

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Knitting 2KCBW, 2KCBWDAY3, organization, stash, yarn

Day Two: 29th March. Skill + 1UP Look back over your last year of projects and compare where you are in terms of skill and knowledge of your craft to this time last year. Have you learned any new skills or forms of knitting/crochet (can you crochet cable stitches now where you didn’t even know such things existed last year? Have you recently put a foot in the tiled world of entrelac? Had you even picked up a pair of needles or crochet hook this time last year?

Was I the only one who instantly pictured this little guy and his accompanying sound? Too much Mario as a child/Adult you say?

Looking back on last year is interesting. It helps having a blog, to see where I was without guessing and with visual evidence.  Last march I was in the planning stages of a few projects and had recently finished my Christmas knitting.  I may have stretched too far even for me that year.

Lace was a scary creature that I had to keep a hard handle on with, lots of stitch markers and life lines and very simple pattern repeats.  Something like Batik would have terrified me.

Cables and lace? No way. Now I dive right in and have even started to work on a shawl that thwarted me the first time I started it.  I don’t look away from the massively complex patterns anymore or reading charts.  There was a time where if your pattern was only charted I would put it aside into the someday pile. I mean how was I supposed to know what all this symbols, and grayed out boxes meant?

This past year I did do something I had never done before. I knit socks.

Yes they were Christmas stockings in bulky weight but I turned my first heel, followed by my second all the way through my 16th.  There is still plenty more out there for me to learn, and that I want to learn, but I have  grown as a knitter in the last year.

Other than socks, there are no new skills I picked up.  But the skills I have, have grown.

Much like the power a certain red mushroom gives.   I’m am a taller knitter and I hope that in another year, I’ll find my fire flower and taken something else that I feared to tackle down.  Fair Isle? A Sweater?

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Knitting 2KCBW, 2KCBWDAY2, mario

Part of any fiber enthusiast’s hobby is an appreciation of yarn. Choose two yarns that you have either used, are in your stash or which you yearn after and capture what it is you love or loathe about them.

The first yarn that comes to mind, is from a shawl that I am wearing today.  I have a bad habit,  I love varied yarns, but at the same time, I tend to love patterns  that are all about stitch definition and look best (in my opinion) in a solid colorway.

Take This Madeline Tosh Merino Light.  I saw it, and scooped up two skeins sure I would make some sort of accessory with it.  I looked at patterns for, hats, gloves, scarves, and shawls.  Hats and Gloves were the first to go;  with the scarves and Shawls nothing quite fit.

I wanted something simple, that would show the colors of the yarn to the best effect.  A really simple lace scarf, showed that the concentration of K2Tog and YOs had a strange effect that muted what I loved best about the colors. The slow shift from one to the next.

I frogged and stared at the yarn for a while, working on a few other projects including a lace shawl, with a large bit of garter work.  And  while this shawl was a solid color I was hit with inspiration,  many shawls had a section of St or Garter before going into a lace pattern for the edging, I was working on such a shawl though that particular pattern  I feared would have much the same effect that caused me to frog the scarf.

I searched for patterns until I found one that did exactly what I wanted.

Deirdre a shawl that  jumped at you for the colors with some interesting texture as well.

Meanwhile the second yarn I want to talk about had pretty much the complete opposite reaction from purchase to needle. And it’s the SAME BRAND.

Madeline Tosh Merino in Malachite.

From the moment I picked up the yarn it was destined to be a cabled hat.  Possibly Celtic cables, but this yarn would be a hat. I settle on Habitat rather quickly.

And knit this hat in about a week of bus trips to and from work. This was a feat for two reasons, I did not own a knit hat, I have knit plenty of hats for my father, as  Christmas and Birthday gifts, but somehow had never made one for myself.  So my first hat for myself came together quickly and easily.

Fun fact I  am wearing both the hat and shawl today.

Yarn is an adventure for me, not only because I have the bad habit of saying “ooo pretty, project later” (why yes I have a stash that scares some, why do you ask?) but for the times when all the pieces seem to fall into place and make me put aside other projects just to get it done.

Some yarns nearly shout what they will be when completed, and others are coy.  With both I’m happy to learn what they will be, and enjoy working on them, even as I’m pulling my hair at the yarn, saying  “yes, but which cabled hat,” or  “what are you supposed to be?”

These are just two of my knitting stories.  I look forward to sharing more this week and reading of others. Happy Knitting and Crochet Blog Week Day 1 to all participating and to all reading!  I’m sure I’ll be following a lot of new blogs once the week is out.

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Knitting 2KCBW, 2KCBWDAY1, yarn

Anyone who has been watching my etsy has noticed the addition of a few new pairs of earrings and the adjustment of one already available. A couple pairs based on the madness causing old one, Cthulhu.

A set in both Red and Blue.

I really like how these came out.  I also while picking up the charms and beads that I used on some of these,  got silver, and silver toned (nickel free) hooks so that anyone can wear these earrings. I did the same with  the Tardis Earrings working a couple new pairs that would be safe for all.

Just a change to the hook but better for all. While I’m not sure that my other findings did contain Nickel I wasn’t positive that they didn’t.  And really, “A vague disclaimer is nobody’s friend. “  Probably safe doesn’t really work for me.

Also got a chance to finally put together a pair of Wonder Woman Earrings.

Simple but I think A good representation and they look a bit like the earrings the Justice League/Justice League Unlimited version wore.

Along with Jewelry, I finished the second shawl I was working on.  Or technically the third as I put Damson aside for a bit.

Finally figuring out what to do with the city lights was great. And a very fast knit as the pattern Deirdre which i modified a bit, by using worsted yarn, shortening the lace repeats, and finishing with a st border instead of garter.

Those blocking wires are coming in very handy. This weekend looks to be as crafty as the last one. There’s a craft night at a friend’s and I tend to knit while at writer’s group anyway.  Trying to decide on shawl #4 though I suppose I should finish #2 first.

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craft, Knitting 11 shawls 2011, cthulhu, DC, earrings, etsy, FOs, shawl, wonder woman

I usually do a monthly update of my yearly goals, both to keep them in mind and to see what progress I am making. Well when  2/1 rolled around there had been barely any change and i just didn’t see the point. I had not even added new items to the list.

Well what a difference a month can make. While  a lot of goals are in progress there is progress.

2011 Goals

1.      Knit actual socks that I  wear, not stuff full of gifts
2. Knit a sweater (I cast on Vivian on 12/25 but since frogged it three times we’ll have to do something about that)
3.      Get the designs out of my head onto paper and you know yarn (have started a double knit cowl to this effect.)
4.      Get an Etsy Schedule – Making and Posting
5.      Organize stash
6.      Organize other craft supplies Fabric and felt are all over the place.
7.     Knit for myself more (while I have a lot of scarves, I only have 1 pair of gloves 1 of which was lost and no hats!) (2 hats 2 shawls for me)
8.      Use Stash Yarn
9.      Get Tickets (flight) Hotel for D*C
10.  Put together DragonCon Costume be it Cyberwoman or something else (fabric Purchased, base pieces purchased)  Cyberwoman it is.
11.  Get a writing schedule down
12.  Finish a writing project
13. Workshop
14. 11 Shawls in 2011  (2 of 11 done)
14. Finish Paper Legends BigBang  (10K written)
15. Knit the blanket of doom (frogged at project of doom Geek knitting meeting and new pattern decided on)
16. Knit Christmas presents before December.

Days Without a yarn purchase: 25

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Knitting, Lists 2011 goals