One Geek to Craft Them All

Are you a knitter or a crocheter, or are you a bit of both? If you are monogamous in your yarn-based crafting, is it because you do not enjoy the other craft or have you simply never given yourself the push to learn it? Is it because the items that you best enjoy crafting are more suited to the needles or the hook? Do you plan on ever trying to take up and fully learn the other craft? If you are equally comfortable knitting as you are crocheting, how do you balance both crafts? Do you always have projects of each on the go, or do you go through periods of favouring one over the other? How did you come to learn and love your craft(s)?

 

 

As someone who regularly adds to her craft arsenal balance is hard at times to come by. I started as a crocheter but is has been a long time since I have done a project that was even mostly crochet. I remember looking  at a crochet flower book and having trouble translating the pattern, and reading the crochet charts its been so long. Part of that is that a lot of the garments and accessories I wanted to make at the time were knit, and now I find knitting much faster and easier to do than crochet.

Adding spinning to that list of things that I get up to with fiber and it’s more a jugging act than a balancing one. I have tried to do at least some spinning every night, just to improve my skills and I have joined a spinning group that meets on Monday nights at various points in the city though, I’m as likely to be there as I am to be in a spinning class at the gym.

Even without brining up all the other crafts I do  the closest thing that I have to a working balance is that I tend to have knitting days, and times. i’m more likely to knit on the train and bus than anywhere else including at home. I usually spin at home at the end of a day while watching television. With crochet the project would simply be taking up the same space that knitting does now.

Adding spinning, beads, and writing means that I am always searching for a balance, and that the balance whatever it is, is not stagnant. In November I am more likely to be doing writing more than any thing else. Yet I may still produce an unnatural number of christmas presents because that is what I need/want to do. The most important part of balance for me is finding flexibility in it. I could never say for example it is May, you must only work in Polymer, I’d much rather have a couple of every kind of project and fit them into my life the best that I can.  So far that seems to work more or less.

Tweet

Share

craft, Knitting 3kcbw, 3kcbwday7, balance

How far down the road to learning your craft do you believe yourself to be? Are you comfortable with what you know or are you always striving to learn new skills and add to your knowledge base? Take a look at a few knitting or crochet books and have a look at some of the skills mentioned in the patterns. Can you start your amigurumi pieces with a magic circle, have you ever tried double knitting, how’s your intarsia? If you are feeling brave, make a list of some of the skills which you have not yet tried but would like to have a go at, and perhaps even set yourself a deadline of when you’d like to have tried them by.

;

Wondering how far down the crafting road I am made me pause and wonder at which craft. And by which standard, I in theory have the skills to make most if not all hand knits given time. Making them well would be an entire different story. I am sure I could make a Norwegian sweater; it does not mean it would be more than a lump of colors and yarn. Does that make me Advanced? Intermediate? Or a beginner?

Part of this is due to my analytical background. I want quantifiable statements, and definitions. Is a beginner some one who can knit and purl but does not know their way around a YO? Where do cables fall? Colorwork? Do you have some ability at all types of knitting or be a master at just a few. There is no faster way for me to put down a pattern or book then for it to say this is for xx knitter and not explain what that means. I much rather it say, this is for xx knitter you should know how to purl, yo, cable, cast on in the middle of a row etc… Or really just mention those things that you need to do. I could double knit before I could read a lace pattern correctly.

I tend to choose a project to learn a new skill and may frog said project dozens of times and curse ever having that idea, or maybe after three or four time frogging actually make progress and have something I can happily show for my work. Even if it is an uneven lump that must be frogged once again because the newer rows, after putting the project down for six months are so much better than the ones before. Or so much worse.

I have an entire shelf dedicated to pattern books, and stitch dictionaries. Which says little to all the things in my Ravelry library, and YouTube videos I have bookmarked and have watched regularly.

I’ve always been a learning personality and rather than working to some scale I’m more likely to say something along the lines of I want to knit lace. 11 shawls in 2011 sounds like a good idea. And by the end I will have at least some shawls. And i should have learned something at least. I decided I wanted to learn how to spin and signed up for a class, the same with designing lace.

So what have I done?

• Lace
• Cables
• Double Knitting
• Spinning Bulky/Worsted
• Spinning single/2ply

What do I want to get done?

• Spinning lace/fingering
• Spinning 3ply/4ply
• Spinning multi ply worsted
• Color Work Intarsia and Fair Isle

I sure there are plenty more for both lists but those are the ones that come to mind now.

Tweet

Share

Knitting 3kcbw, 3kcbwday6

This is an experimental blogging day to try and push your creativity in blogging to the same level that you perhaps push your creativity in the items you create.There are no rules of a topic to blog about but this post should look at a different way to present content on your blog.

I think perhaps they should have taken a good look at that last picture before sending the letter but what do I know?

A Letter to the Dalek Empire From the  Victorious Dalek Three

Made of yarn and full of stuffing I sometimes felt that I didn’t fit in with the rest of the family. So I didn’t exterminate as much as  I cuddled. I was still a Dalek.

A master of disguise I went through many a location unremarked and unnoticed, for I had a plan. A way to prove myself. I would destroy the greatest enemy of the Daleks, I would succeed where, emperors, and gods, and cults had failed.  But first I needed a team. I was not alone in being thought less.

Together we would be the exterminating three and we , we  would destroy the doctor. We knew it would not be difficult to get the doctor to come to them. A whisper here a call there. We they would be ready. Like the Pandorica of legend we would spring the trap and he would never know until it was too late.

The TARDIS would arrive and we would destroy it, with the doctor inside.  It would be the end of the Time Lord.

Surrounding the Doctor we would not give him a chance to flee. Nor one of those blasted companions.  We knew many a time the doctor would have been defeated if it had not been for those blasted companions!

After his defeat, we decided to enjoy our celebration, and share proof of our victory with the Dalek empire. We will be recognized. We have ended the doctor.

After our victory we met one called Sauron, he would make a good Dalek.  We await your response now that the Doctor is no more.

Yours Exterminating,

The Dalek Three

&

The Master of Middle Earth
The Dark Lord Sauron
Hobbit Hater

Tweet

Share

Geekery, Knitting 3kcbw, 3kcbwday5, dalek, Doctor Who

As spring is in the air in the northern hemisphere and those in the southern hemisphere start setting their sights for the arrival of winter, a lot of crocheters and knitters find that their crafting changes along with their wardrobe. Have a look through your finished projects and explain the seasonality of your craft to your readers. Do you make warm woollens the whole year through in preparation for the colder months, or do you live somewhere that never feels the chill and so invest your time in beautiful homewares and delicate lace items. How does your local seasonal weather affect your craft?

I have a bad habit for someone that has lived in an area that has four seasons every year. I tend to start knitting seasonal things right when I decide I need them. And by decide I need them I mean standing at the bus stop after work wishing I had a pair of fingerless gloves.  Or conductive gloves that work with the bucket of touchscreen devices, I’ve purchased, or been gifted over the years.

These gloves were free knit in a week when I realized that my fingerless gloves were not going to cut it as it got colder.  Even with the not quite winter New York experienced this year I noticed it. This past Friday I was waiting for the bus when I had the same thought that I wanted a spring time hat of some kind, as I thought my cabled habitat was a little much for 60 degree weather that just had a lot of wind. I haven’t found a pattern yet but I’m sure I will shortly.

In the grand scheme of things I tend to knit with no plan rhyme or reason, I have started blankets in July, Scarves, in August,  light shawls in January. Part of the reason is regardless of the weather outside I am in places that are temperature controlled to one extreme or the next. The bus, is usually coldest in the summer, watching your fingers turn blue on a bus because the A/C is so high in July is not fun. Though it does make me prefer something bigger during the summer as an extra layer of warmth.

I have responded to odd looks and questions about knitting with wool in July with a simple, “You know winter happens every year right?”  I have plans to start  working on my Vivian Sweater again with the hopes that I will make the sleeves and finish the sweater likely in time for it to be it’s hottest outside and its coldest on my commute.

Along with my Lothlorien Cape I think I have plenty of warm weather knits to keep me comfortable during the summer and be ready for me to enjoy once winter starts once again.  As my favorite family of Westeros says, “Winter is Coming.”

And the biggest wonder of all. I have started Christmas knitting!

This will be a gift to go into christmas cards, I may back them or add something to make them book marks. Look at me planning ahead even!

Tweet

Share

Knitting 3kcbw, 3kcbwday4, seasons

Blog about someone in the fibre crafts who truly inspires you. There are not too many guidelines for this, it’s really about introducing your readers to someone who they might not know who is an inspiration to you. It might be a family member or friend, a specific designer or writer, indie dyer or another blogger. If you are writing about a knitting designer and you have knitted some of their designs, don’t forget to show them off. Remember to get permission from the owner if you wish to use another person’s pictures.

I’ve always had an odd definition of hero. I wonder if someone didn’t explain hero/person you admire oddly to me at a young age. As a child one of the annual school essays that we had to write along with how we spent our summer vacation was to talk about someone you admired. Both were irritating and hard to write an essay about.  Summers mostly because they were boring, I was more likely to travel to Middle Earth, Camelot, or Narnia than take more than one trip to see family in Canada.

The hero essay was hard because I always thought it meant you wanted to be like this person, pretty much become this person and follow their path. If you didn’t face the same hardships, or walk the same roads how could you admire them. I don’t remember when I realized this was not quite right, possibly the year I wrote about Eowyn.

So when I think about my knitting hero the first thing I realized was that I didn’t have one. I had a lot of designers whose patterns I loved, a lot of blogs whose posts I read, plenty of favorites on Ravelry, and so many favorite shops on etsy. So I started thinking about what made each person different in hopes of narrowing down the list. And I realized no that wouldn’t work either.

Tweet

Share

Knitting 3kcbw, 3kcbwday3

I’m using the Wild Card entry for today as day 2 refused to grab me.  I suppose I will just have to comfort myself reading other bloggers photo posts for today.

Plan your fantasy day with your craft, It might just take up one hour of your day or be the entire focus of the day, but tell your readers where you’d love to craft, whether you’d craft alone or with friends, knitting or crocheting something simple or spending a day learning new skills.

There are  so many different craft days. But I think that my fantasy craft day will have to remain in the realm of fantasy for now. Mostly because I think I would need more than a 24 hour day to complete my idea.  But it does have some very important components. Friends, wine, yarn, comfort.

Let’s start first with the yarn, I have done a couple yarn crawls in the city and they are always fun.  I think starting with a yarn crawl so we all have shiny new piles of yarn, books, supplies, and all the other dangerous shiny things would be great.

One thing I have always wanted to do is a weekend getaway where the world can be put on hold for two days. A cabin well stocked with food, booze, yarn, and fiber. Perhaps a snow storm after we have  arrived. For a couple extra days. I see eating, marathons of cheesy movies, drinking, knitting, spinning, crochet, and everything else that makes a good crafting day and then some.

To add an extra layer of magic to this perfect day it would be great to have a craft day with all of the above where I make something out of yarn that I had spun and prepared beforehand. And I can’t think of a better way to make a perfect day with friends, doing something we enjoy and leaving the real world outside for a while.

Well maybe all of this happening in spring time. Memorial day is coming up. Now I just need to win a small lottery jackpot and we are ready to go.

Tweet

Share

Knitting 3kcbw, 3kcbwday2, 3kcbwwc

Colour is one of our greatest expressions of ourselves when we choose to knit or crochet, so how do you choose what colours you buy and crochet or knit with. Have a look through your stash and see if there is a predominance of one colour. Do the same with your finished projects – do they match? Do you love a rainbow of bright hues, or more subdued tones. How much attention do you pay to the original colour that a garment is knit in when you see a pattern? Tell readers about your love or confusion over colour.

I have a very different reaction to colors in different mediums. My wardrobe, is really on a good day six colors in total.  In order of decreasing appearance; Black, Red, Blue, White, Grey, Purple, and a sad splash of green.  When it comes to yarn I love colors. Jewel tones, bright colors, variegated yarns. Color! There has been many a day when dressed in all black I will grab an orange shawl, or purple, or red.

The brighter the yarn the more likely I am to wander over to to take a closer look and the more likely it will come home with me.  When I look at my yarn stash I see, some of the same colors that are in my closet but I also have, orange, gold, purple, yellow, pink, brown, gold and more.  Red is still a very dominate color, in my stash but it is closely followed, and may even soon be outstripped by purple and blue.

When picking a project I can be drawn to something by the colors it’s knit in but I also tend to look at my stash to see what colors I have to work with and what would look good with that particular pattern. If something would look better as a solid color, variegated yarn, or some thing else. As someone who has the yarn long before the project, it’s rare that I make something in the same color it was designed.

And then comes in my love for those in spandex, or armor, and such. And a lot of  those things are bright.  I may see a yarn and just think Superman like the one in the picture above. And one never knows where an idea will come from and its nice to be able to execute. Especially when one is in the midst of a project.

I had jokingly mentioned during 2kcbw that I could hope to have one more square of my oft neglected marvel scarf, and I do have that much at least. Let’s hope we have a full scarf before 10kcbw. And this time I really really  hope that isn’t a prediction.

Tweet

Share

Knitting 3kcbw, 3kcbwday1, color, color-work