Crafts

Addicted.

Sarah Spinning

This past Saturday, my mom and I went to the spinning guild meeting. I have to confess, after all of the excitement of learning how to spin, discovering that the spinning guild meets in my town and being given a wheel of my own, spinning kind of fell off the map in terms of my hobbies.

I think I may have figured out why – well, aside from the fact that in the intervening years I’ve had a small person take up a lot of my time. I wasn’t spinning the right kind of stuff. Everyone says to start with Blue Face Leicester, because it has such a long staple length and it’s really easy to spin. I bought some (OK, a lot) and didn’t like spinning it.

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On the other hand, I seem to have no problem with shorter staple lengths – like this absolutely scrumptious shetland/alpaca blend I bought at the guild meeting. Those four ounces you see on that bobbin there? I had spun it all between Saturday afternoon and Monday evening. I’d estimate there are maybe three hours of spinning on that bobbin, and it’s (relatively) even.

I just wrote a check to drop in the mail to the seller so she could send me the second four ounce ball of this roving she had in her basket. I’m planning to ply them and knit something for Carrie – maybe a new hat and scarf for winter? Eight ounces of worsted-ish ought to be plenty for those and maybe an extra hat or two to donate, right?

What’s Not Black, Not Red, and Not Metallic?

Sarah Knitting

My newest project. So much for Project Spectrum…

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This is Reid from Knitty. Sort of. I had to rework the numbers to accommodate a thicker yarn. I was looking for a lacy (but casual) sweater for Carrie to wear in A/C and cooler evenings, without much luck. So I found three random skeins of white Debbie Bliss cotton cashmere in my stash (anyone have any idea what that was for originally?!?) which may or may not be enough – keep your fingers crossed for me! I suppose I could always make it with three-quarters length sleeves if needed…

Project Spectrum 2.0 Update

Sarah Project Spectrum 2.0

Tomorrow is June 1st, which means Project Spectrum shifts from pink, yellow and green to red, black and metallics. I didn’t do such a great job with my projects for these past two months. Let’s see…

Socks:

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One sock + one toe. I have no excuse for these, except that they’re my “purse project” that I pull out when I’m waiting somewhere with free hands. I guess I haven’t had to do any waiting that didn’t also involve occupying a toddler at the same time lately.

Baby sweater:

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Back + part of one front. My excuse for this one? I’m not sure I like the color combo as much as I thought I would. I think I’d like stripes better than the squares. But as it’s about half done (I’ve finished the first front, started the second, and hidden some ends since I took the picture) I guess I’ll finish it anyway.

I’m also not feeling the love for the next set of Project Spectrum colors. My sock pal does like red though, and since I haven’t gotten yarn for that project yet (must do that soon!) those may have a bit of red in them. Other than that…no idea. Maybe I’ll finish up some of the abandoned projects from the last two color triads instead!

ipod sock

Sarah Knitting

My brother-in-law John requested an knit covering for his ipod nano. This is what I came up with:

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It’s leftover sock yarn, borrowed from my mom (all of my leftover sock yarn seems to be of the pink and girly variety.) I just made up the pattern as I went along, trying it on my own nano-pod every now and then. I can’t believe these things actually sell at $30 for a six pack.

(Although I have to say this little article makes me almost want the official pack of socks, just for the lime green one…)

Knitting Meme

Sarah Knitting

Julia just posted a knitting meme – and since I haven’t taken any recent pictures of my stuff-in-progress I figured I’d do this instead. Pictures tomorrow…maybe.

Edit the list, bold for stuff you

Knitting Math Problem

Sarah Knitting

OK. You’re going to be gone for 36 hours. About 4 of those hours are going to be daylight driving time, another 4 are nighttime driving, and some 2-4 hours will be spent in a hotel room with a (hopefully) sleeping child.

You have three current projects on the needles.

So, you should:
a) pack just one or two projects – there’s really not that many hours to knit.
b) pack all three projects, because yarn is small and squishy and doesn’t take too much room.
c) pack all three projects, and for good measure take a project that hasn’t even been cast on, just in case.
d) pack all three projects, an extra project, and think about finding a yarn shop while you’re gone.

I should be worrying about packing clothes and diapers rather than knitting, so I guess I’ll go with option c.

Mini Socks

Sarah Knitting

I’ve been working with the same pit orchestra director for three years, and she’s seen me knit several pairs of socks during breaks over the years…so, I thought I’d gift her with a pair of mini socks as a thank you for being such a great orchestra director.


Carrie thought they were socks for her baby dolls – and really, if I made the legs a bit shorter and ribbed the whole cuff and instep I think they’d stand a good chance of fitting. And they take so little yarn, I can probably make dozens out of all the leftover bits of sock yarn I have!

More Knitting?

Sarah Knitting

A cousin of mine is expecting a little girl in a couple of months. I picked out a cute little pattern, and I was going to do it in the pastel pinks, purples and blues shown, but then I spotted these colors:

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Really, how cute will that be? If it turns out even half as pretty as I think it will I might just have to make a matching one for Carrie…

Look! Knitting!!

Sarah Knitting, Project Spectrum 2.0

(I’m hoping that the exclamation points and the word ‘knitting’ will divert everyone’s attention from the lack of posting for the past several days…)

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So, the finished Pomatomus socks. These were actually finished…um…a week and a half ago…but between the toddler, the musicals, the never-ending battle I wage against laundry, dishes, dog fur and clutter, and just a general lack of free time, I haven’t had a chance to post about them. Having said that, I really liked this pattern. It was interesting and complex, but I found it to be a fairly quick knit. I even managed to work on them during bits and snatches of rehearsals where I knew I wouldn’t be playing for a while. They also fit really nicely, no sagging or bunching. I think if I did this pattern again I’d start the chart halfway through the first repeat, because the leg is just a bit longer than I like. But really, overall, a wonderful pattern to knit!
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And, since it’s becoming quite a habit to have a pair of socks on the needles at any given time, here are my new “girly” socks. They fit in fairly well with the Project Spectrum colors for April and May – well, at least there’s a whole lot of pink in them!
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In other Project Spectrum news, here’s a yellow bunny to go with the hat I made for a friend’s new granddaughter. (I cheated and started it last month, but who cares?) It doesn’t have a face yet, because the black yarn I need is trapped in my craft room behind half of our bedroom furniture. (Don’t ask.)

The final Spectrum color for this round is green. I have a much bigger project in mind for the green. It involves paint…

Say “Cheese!”

Sarah Kid's Crafts

gsc_camera.jpgConsidering there’s a camera pointed at her a fair amount of the time, it shouldn’t really surprise anyone that Carrie loves cameras. We’re considering getting her the Fisher Price kid’s digital camera for her next birthday. (It bothers me that they have a “girls” version and a “boys” version, but given the choice I know Carrie would pick pink.) But in the meantime she tends to pretend that various things are a camera.

The other day I was flattening an empty girl scout cookie box for recycling, when Carrie grabbed it out of my hands, looked through the open end, and said “say cheese!” So I taped it back up, cut a viewfinder, covered it in plain paper, and cut off a bit of a paper towel tube to make a lens. We decorated it with markers, crayons, and a foam sticker for the shutter button.

Carrie pretends to take pictures with it, and then shows me the back of the camera and says “Look! That’s a great picture!” It’s very obvious she’s only known digital cameras. I wonder if she will ever take film pictures, or if film will even be commonly available when she’s older?

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(It was her idea for me to draw a picture of two doggies and a little girl on the back. I’m not exactly an artist, but she was happy enough with my attempt.)