One Geek to Craft Them All

As I was planning out posts for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I had the realization that today is the 31st. I have posted everyday for the month of January. I also read 8 books this month according to Goodreads, which means I am on track to read 100 in the year. We’ll see how that goes.

February is shaping up to be quite interesting and busy. I have two of my regular Thursday knit night friends joining in the fun that is Nerd Wars. I will be blogging for Team Mythology. For the Etsy update on 2/16 there will be crochet markers! Why I took so long to make those? I have no idea. I made a couple sets for La Casita and then went, wait why aren’t they in my shop too?

I have plans to cast on and start Allegheny during the sporting event this Sunday.  I have started charting ‘Hera’ and am having a hard time deciding if it should be a shawl/cowl/stole/scarf or something else entirely  as the stitch pattern I think looks best repeating. Knowing me, I will release something completely unrelated while I work that out.

There are things that I didn’t get to that I thought I would by the end of the month. The Lantern Corps Scarf pattern is still in editing, and the Justice League Scarf is also getting an overhaul, I may drop both of those someday next month. The JL scarf pattern mostly finished, with some errors fixed and some visual reworking of the pattern. And more pictures, and another character added, which was actually the original reason for the overhaul. Superboy will be joining the ranks as another DC hero.

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writing 31posts, comics, DC

I have worked on the Gin & Tonic Hat, I am decreasing even. Sadly I got to the point where I really should switch to DPN’s but I didn’t bring them today so I will power out for a few more rounds and hope.

Granted I only have two rounds left before the crown decreases so there is not much more I will be able to do before switching. I suppose I can work on my Honey Cowl, because that has not changed since last week. I’m sure I will run out books shortly, I mean there is only one more Iron Druid book left and I’m 47% thorough book 4, book six alas is not out.  And I have Ever After on my Kindle, ready to go. With Nerd Wars starting Friday I will need the knitting time.  I have a sweater dress to make in three months after all.

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Knitting 31posts, hat, WIPW

Since yesterday was taken up with mitten/glove magic of the weekend today we talk about spinning. This has nothing to do with the fact that I hadn’t spun anything after finishing Allons-y! of course not.  Last night, I pulled out some fiber I had started spinning  right before my Alpaca attack, some superfine merino fiber from Western Sky Knits.

I cracked the bag open and realized that I had to draft more fiber to work. while I had separated the above fiber from the main braid, just a glance  at my remaining tuft of fiber, to know I was working with thinner sections.

Lap full of drafted fiber. I got to work. Three hours with engrossing TV later, and I had made progress though it was hard to tell as I packed the fiber away for another night.  As I worked I remembered that I had been working on this  yarn in a hope to Navajo ply it once I was done. I am now also tempted by a chain ply. I have no real plan on what I will do with the yarn, but I will get there in due time. I have quite the pile of fiber to spin. I think I may have done half an ounce of the four.

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Spinning 31posts

I had a plan for this weekend and it was a simple plan. Knit myself a pair of gloves. I had a weekend, I was using worsted weight yarn. I had a pattern, Chilly Podsters  I had yarn options. I was ready. I cast on Friday night and by the end of the night I had hope.

That was quite a lot of progress while sitting in front of the television after work. Saturday I spent most of the day moving items, and reorganizing some rooms in the apartment. So when I settled on the couch to work on the mitts some more most of the day was gone but there was still progress.

Not bad, not bad. But this did mean that quite a lot more knitting had to be done on Sunday than the other two days.  I got off to a good, start. Knitting before noon, and within the first hour I had a finished glove and a second cuff to show for my work. I had even weaved in all the ends on the first glove!

By the time Iron Chef started, it was a matter of stubborn pride that I finish these gloves. I mean, I had just a flap left and it wasn’t even 11. Knit Knit Knit.

And I was done, every end weaved in, and new warm glove/mitten things. And I had a whopping half hour to spare. If I had to guess, I would say these gloves took somewhere around 8-10 hours total. I will still be making the fingering weight version, but not in as nearly much of a rush.  Oh and lens flare! I should take another picture of these I suppose. But…space, the final frontier….

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Knitting 31posts, gloves

For those who have been playing along I have been on Nerd Wars Team Mythology, for three tournaments now. For T7 I and another team member will be writing regular posts for the Team Mythology Blog. We will be talking about, myths, legends, folktales, lore, fairy tales, and who knows what else.

When I first applied to Nerd Wars I was a bit overwhelmed as there are, so many, teams I would fit on (Hellmouth, Tardis, Impala, 1-up, Writer, Shady Cells, so many teams) I can’t remember which three teams I chose, for that first sign up, but it was one of those, ‘any of these will be awesome’ and since then I have pretty much stuck with Team Mythology.

What do I like so much about Mythology? One it’s the way people tried to explain things, I once spent quite some time going through all the creation mythologies I could get my hands on. That fell apart mostly because I could not seem to stop at one single myth for any group. I’m pretty sure that was my first introduction to Norse mythology outside of Marvel’s Thor, and I was hooked.

There are gaps and holes in my mythological knowledge. In Nerd Wars I tended to default to Norse or Greek gods, though Egyptians are my actual favorites when trying to tie a project to my team.  One project I never finished would have been tied to a Babylonian god, which I can’t remember now, possibly Tiamet if it is the repurposed yarn dying/knitting plan.

I plan to pull out the books of myths and legends off my shelf, and maybe share the fact that neither do Alligators, nor Ninja Turtles live in our sewers. Though I do have two encyclopedias of mythical creators to thumb through and, a few different, gods, myths, and creatures of the ______ age/people. Do you have any favorite pantheons, mythologies, or legends?

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Geekery 31posts

So last year I posted the bead stash  What a difference a year makes. It has grown just a bit. Just a bit mind you, similarly to how I have just a bit of yarn. Or just a couple of books.

Where I once had a single case holding all my beads. It has increased a bit.

I now have three matching boxes of beads. So quite the amount of growth. I’ve created quite the number of new items, and gotten stocked up to create items that were surprisingly popular so I should always be able to restock if at some point they fly out of my shop. I’ve also developed a fondness for crackle beads.

So those are around in a lot of colors, and just waiting to be used. And I ordered more. And one can’t forget the pewter, and acrylic charms I have to use as accents or parts of earrings.

The case holding those has long since been filled and now a lot of pieces are living in baggies. Currently my craft room is in a state of half destruction as we moved a bookshelf to the living room and all roaming bits of craft to the craft room. Right now it means that there is more room and a lot of mess that will have to be dealt with followed by a trip to purchase supplies, and maybe a new work table.

That work will likely be a few more weekends in the making.

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beads, Etsy 31posts, beads, stash

We have yarn about 205 yards of a worsted weight in brown blue and teal, with sparkle. Because once you go sparkle there is no turning back apparently. Once it was clean plying the brown and the blue was the job of an episode of Top Chef and fighting the cat.

I used all of the brown and hand a couple yards left of the blue that I put aside. Who knows that could be the last eight stitches on the hat to be. The final yarn, Allons-y, came together quite well and its now drying in the craft room.

It should be dry sometime Saturday, or maybe Sunday. So I think it will be used for one of my nerd wars projects.

Now I just have to find a pattern that works well and will keep my attention. Maybe one of the categories will inspire me. And we’ll see if I can hold off casting on until next Friday. Though I still have the Gin and Tonic hat to finish and I want to work on the Podster Gloves which I think I could do the worsted version in a weekend. But this weekend is quite full so we will see.

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Spinning 31posts, allons-y, Doctor Who, FOs, yarn

As I mentioned yesterday my reading has been consuming my knitting time. Pretty much from when I started and finished Cold Days. I’ve been reading and asking around for recommendations for new books. I also have been going through my kindle for all those books I grabbed when they were $1.99 or the like and reading the ones that jumped out at me.

I read all of Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate series, and am happy to hear there will be a sequel series of sorts this fall. I  just thought the series was very fun and it makes me quite happy to be able to dive into this world once again.

I have started Hounded Book 1 of The Iron Druid Chronicles  which was recommended as a fix while waiting for the next Dresden book over at Knit 1 Geek 2‘s most recent podcast episode.  I’ve finished book one and started book two. Hexed. It is great fun and Oberon is highly amusing, I realized how little I  remember of Celtic Mythology, and don’t get me started on druids. That may be a project for later.

And I have a thread going on my Ravelry group asking for book recommendations. I also have a friend that I think every other time I see him we dissolve into a conversation about books, movies, comics, and I start taking notes.  The notes app is quite handy.

So what this list look like? It’s a mesh of Authors and Main Characters and googlable phrases to get me going.

Z a mansfield
Rick Reid
A study in emerald gaiman
Guardians of the flame
Wheel of time Robert Jordan
Sword of truth terry goodkind
So you want be a wizard
Nicolas flamell achalmist series
terry pratchett the hog father
Bloody good Georgia Evans
Vampire for hire – moondance
Brandon Sanderson – steel heart
Mira grant feed and deadline
The black cauldron lloyd alexander b1 – the book of 3
Yasmin Gelanor
Felix castor MC – mike carey – Author
Spin –  Robert Charles Wilson
How to fix a broken mechanical heart
Kerri vaugh – after the golden age
Jasper ford

I’m always collecting recommendations and removing them from the list when I grab the book in any format.  Like for a time Parasol Protectorate was on this list.  And there have been moments when I got recommendations moved to add them to the list and realize that they are already there. And there is the fact I decided to attempt to read 100 books in 2013.  Two books a week ish. We’ll see how I do.

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Geekery 31posts, books

It is currently 18F (-7c) in New York City. And I could not find a single pair of gloves with fingers. The ones I made last winter are “somewhere safe” and haven’t been seen in a few months; the silk gloves though I worked on them last night are still just a glove that needs ends weaved in and a cuff.  So an impromptu add to my list of goals  is to knit myself three pairs of gloves with fingers (I can get a hold of at least that many fingerless gloves at any given moment) by the reappearance of winter. Maybe it’s time to make myself a pair of flip top mittens or six.

Now my knitting has grown but not by as much as it should have in a week as I spent most of my commute finishing all five books in the Parasol Protectorate so while both the cowl and hat have increased slightly had I been knitting I think the hat at least would be done.

It is a straight forward pattern and I have I think one more repeat before I begin decreasing.  The Honey Cowl on the other hand…I think I worked a row. Or two. Maybe.  Not much different from last week.

It might grow, but I did just read the sample of The Iron Druid that has me buying the first book, and there are six of those so far. So more knitting may or may not happen faster. Items are in progress, they just might still be in the same state of progress next week.

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Knitting 31posts, WIPW

So I have finally finished spinning the fiber for the hat in progress. I decided I should get the jump on cleaning it since it had bits of plant matter, dirt, etc, wandering through the fiber. I mean if my lap was any indication this yarn would need some work.

The last day I will have a lap that looks like that. I hope. The yarn came out a good, lace weight-ish.

Put on my smaller one yard niddy noddy, it was ready to commence cleaning without felting. That was the goal and key, no felting. One of the main reasons I did not try to clean the fiber on its own. Though this adds to my reasons to get more fiber processing tools.

I put it in the sink for a few minutes, before noticing it was draining slightly not usually a problem for a soak but I had plots to leave this fiber over night.

I shoved it into a bucket and drained and rinsed it today, though since I was using soak rinsing was just me.  Now I just have to wait for it to dry, and see what happens.

Looking at the damp picture it doesn’t look like an improvement at first, but all those spots were pretty much falling out of the yarn at first touch. I think once dry I will have to find a clear spot and give it a good shake, and we will be ready to ply. Perhaps a few spins on the swift.

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Spinning 31posts, fiber, soak