Project Wanderlust

For a long, long, LONG time...well, at least the last six months, I have been very good at limiting my crochet projects to one at a time. It was really great motivation," finish this Red Heart Super Saver hat, and THEN you can work with the yummy bamboo and wool blend sweater."

Then, came my trip this weekend.

I had not seen a friend of mine in the midwest for close to four years, so when a small financial windfall came my way, I booked the second soonest flight out there to see him. Unfortunately, my current project "Mad to Attempt Plaid" Bag is WAY too bulky and unwieldly for the confines of a puddle-hopper plane. Digging through my stash, I found two balled skeins of Lion Brand Wool Ease in a soft, rosy color. Each skein had been worked into something at one point, and then frogged, I figured I'd give it the dignity of having a finished project to reside in, and maybe be able to cross a Christmas present off the list.

Like so many before me...I have fallen from the wagon yet again.

At present, the rosy plane hat is sitting 3/4 of the way done, and most likely will be frogged again, the bag needs one more piece to be completed before I begin on the surface crocheting and felting....and I have precious little interest in working on both. Thankfully, there be ghostly programs on the tube tonight, so I might be able to work on some of it.

g.o.

Still Alive

This is purely to just make myself post something.
Post.
Post.
Post.

After languishing atop my stash pile, which doubles as a No-Man's-Land for partially finished, and abadoned projects, I have finally lined the Sari-Silk purse I completed in April or May. My handsewing skills leave a great deal to be desired, but I do intend to make it a point to add more finishing details to my projects.

The sewing machine actually behaved tonight, and I threaded the bobbin with only one, small, meltdown. Other than that, it was an absolute gem. The possibilities grow more and more by the hour, it'd be nice to start making my own clothes, even if its just for novelty.

g.o.

All Epics, Do Indeed, Come to an End

After an eventful summer, the project that encapsulates it all is FINALLY complete. At about 6:30 pm, est., I snipped the last end of yarn for the afghan from hell. Fittingly enough, I was in the middle of watching The Two Towers, courtesy of basic cable- talk about epic meeting epic.



Once the blasted thing was being crocheted together, it was far too big to carry about to continue working on, so I have two smaller projects in the finishing stages that were my breaktime crochet at work. And since I seem very adept at choosing projects that in hindsight seem terribly poignant, the amigrumi I am finishing for a 4-year-old's birthday gift is a personification of Death.

Lighten up, he's a very spooky little kid, much like I was at so tender an age. The idea came after I heard him talking about a commercial for a "...singing skeleton man" and I instantly knew he was referring to The Nightmare Before Christmas. Since said former little student was so fond of my crocheting, especially my prototype toys, it seemed very natural to combine the two. Henceforth, the spooky child will be receiving the dvd of TNBC and his own vaguely morbid toy. His brother, whose birthday is only a week earlier will most likely get a grey newsboy cap and a copy of the musical Newsies- I do my best to encourage the arts when I can...that and I'm REALLY sick of him singing songs from the High School Musical series whenever anyone asks him to sing. I'm pretty sure Zaquisha Efron and crew are what they pump through the speakers in Hell.

Well, back to work.

g.o.

So Much For Prolific Blogging

As of right now, I'm giving myself grand amounts of kudos for neglecting the blog for an entire month...but what an eventful month it was. In addition to massive upheavel at work, a visit south to L'Drake and the complete scrapping of my vacation plans, my car has decided to ruin its own record of 6 years as a fantastic piece of transportation technology.

The AFGHAN FROM HELL is vaguely starting to resemble a blanket now, I have one more row to slip stitch together length wise, and then comes the fun fun fun task of repeating that for the fifteen rows of the width. As uphill a battle as its been, especially trying to find ways to move it from place to place as I work on it, I'm growing strangely proud of it. I never used to think of myself as a patient person, I'm one of those people who avidly WATCH the food as it cooks in the microwave, telling it to "hurry up," but as I look on this sprawling mass of looped and twisted yarn, I'm reminded that not only can long strands of fiber change.

g.o.

Knit, Apparently, Doesn't Happen

In the weeks since my last post, I've taken on a massive stash busting project. Going back to my roots as a crocheter, I have busily been whipping out dozens of granny squares to demolish my store of acrylic yarn, and hopefully make an only moderately hideous afghan that can grace the back of my living room sofa for generations to come. Its been nostalgic, looking at the remants of yarn and remembering the initial projects I made with them.

It has also been probably the biggest, single pain in the a@* that I've undertaken in a LONG time. Not even including the potential carpal tunnel syndrome from the repetitive movements...the damn thing EATS yarn, though, OF COURSE, its not my stash yarn that the AFGHAN FROM HELL consumes in epic amounts. No, its the gray Red Heart Super Saver that I've purchased to border each square. So far, I've worked through 8 balls of 12 purchased...and I REFUSE to buy more. I know, I know, why complain about the cost of Red Heart some of you might say, but 2,928 yards of yarn should be MORE than enough to complete one, single blanket.

After two weeks of working on but one lonely project, I've got fiber craft wanderlust. Its July, and so far, I have made scant progress on my knitting, the one New Years Resolution I made. Today, I was determined to at least work out the rudiments of increases and decreases, so that when I finally can afford to sign up for a knitting class, I'll have some idea of what to do. Well, the only additional wisdom my bamboo needles hold, besides knit and purl stitch, is that I could perform an inexpensive DIY lobotomy.

In the words of my pirate ancestors, arrrgggghhhh.

I must go...the blanket is hungry.

g.o.

Lots of Finishing...Not Alot of Pictures...

This past weekend, I drove down to the old college town of Roanoke/Salem Virginia for Drake's 23rd birthday. Per his request, I made him a crocheted Chuthulu doll. Originally, I planned to use the pattern from "Creepy Cute Crochet," but I ended up making up another pattern on my own....hmmm, I'm noticing a trend. What really drove me to it was my desire for a more tentacle-y looking dark lord, overall, I was pleased with the outcome.


Behold...the DARK LORD CHUTHULU!!!!


THE DARK LORD COMMANDS YOU!!!!

I also finished my sari silk purse...its HUGE. I think it may have eaten Mary Poppin's bag, perhaps even Mary Poppins herself. The lining still needs to be done, hopefully next week sometime, YAY payday. While down south, Drake and the TEENAGERS (the quasi-youth group he ministers to) bore witness to the awesomeness that is the bag. One of them made the comment that we'll all just have to go to an amusement park so that we can take turns schlepping the bag.

New projects include a grey shawl I'm making for me...just because and the start of Sherin's wedding blanket. Officially, Sherin and Sam are supposed to get married sometime next summer...but with the shennanigans at work, she's pushing to move up the date...so, best get cracking

A Great and Adventagious Day

In addition to today being my baby sister's 15th birthday, it also marks a tremendous day in my crocheting odessey.

I finished my first garment.



The pattern is from Stitch and Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker. The "Cupcake" Sweater, designed by Laura-Jean Bernhardson. I opted to use a bamboo and wool blend, rather than the cotton yarn the pattern originally called for, a choice lovingly provided for me by my great-aunt Maybelle. I used the pattern directions for a 40 1/2" bust circumference, and still ended up with the measurements for a 35"ish bust due to the nature of the yarn. Overall, I am very pleased with the result...then again, if it resembled a sweater of ANY sort, I would have been happy. Fortunately, it looks more like the pictures in the book then not, which only makes me even happier.

g.o.

Pictures!!!

And now, for those of you interested, here are the pictures of my recently finished objects and current WIPs.

First off, we have the Gnome for my sister Trish's 15th birthday.

Next, we have the recycled sari silk purse...er, messenger bag that I'm working on skein by oh-so-precious-and-expensive-skein.

And finally, here is the long awaited first knitting project.

Its just a simple "knit, knit, purl purl" alternation, but I'm pretty pleased with how its going so far, I've come a LONG way from my ten stitch wide knit stitch doll scarves as a child. The damn thing keeps curling up on the edges, even though the whole thing is basically ribbed, but I think its my tension more than anything.

Anywho, its late, and this working stiff needs to get a shower and go to bed.

Happy Hooking All!
g.o.

Twenty-Third Birthday : The Aftermath

So, yesterday at 8:30 pm, est, I turned twenty-three. My family, Mom's side, had a small, but lovely party for me. Much to my delight, thanks to heavy hinting on my part, I received my new camera ( a nikon coolpix), Donna Koohler's Encyclopedia of Knitting and two sets of bamboo knitting needles, one straight pair, one straight set. Needless to say, once we were back from the restaurant and the cake consumed, I was busy re-teaching myself how to cast on.

Drake, the male best friend, and I sat in the guest bedroom for the better part of the night watching "Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon," which was pretty entertaining by the way as I taught myself how to knit and purl with the German Method. I'm not sure how I feel about knitting now, though.

Either crafty-ness skips a generation, or my family is just not inclined to it. Mom knew how to knit a tiny bit, she was the one who taught me first, though she was more of a cross-stitcher. Oma (bio-dad's mother) was taught how to knit and crochet in school during WW2 and knit socks for the German army as part of her assignments, though it my life, I've never seen her pick up a hook or set of needles. As a wee one, I would read my battered, hand-me-down copies of the Little House books, fascinated by the stories of Laura Wilder sewing, quilting and knitting as a daily necessity. I would sit and create my own, tortured, lumpy, ten stitches wide little scarves made from a horrible assortment of yarns haphazardly knotted together, feeling a great solidarity in doing something "old-fashioned." Crochet didn't feel right in my hands for years, Mom taught me to knit and crochet during the same summer, though the only crocheted swatches I produced were declared "backwards knitting" by my mother, so I was probably doing something akin to Tunisian Crochet.

I could make chains though.

Oh Lord, could I make chains. I loved the look of a nice even chain stitch, they made me think of little braids of hair. Since I had no idea of how to turn my work and use the chain to start a piece of...well, anything, I made the chains my work. I would produce MILES of chain, then would filch unused embroidery floss from Mom's sewing basket and would proceed to sew the chains together into little circular mats. Years later, during another hot and boring summer, I taught myself how to REALLY crochet, and haven't looked back since. I still find bits and pieces of my oldest, and unfinished projects, either in my stash or tucked away in boxes, my very first afghan is still in our linen closet, nearly falling apart because i didn't know how to properly seam back then. In an unhumble way, it makes me proud to see my progress with crochet, I have three hats I made in three consecutive years, and I can see that the most recent one is by far the best, but I also remember making each of the others, remembering at what point I stopped caring about how long it was take to finish something, just so long as I finished it. Somewhere, I lost the desire to use big hook and bulky yarn only for the sake of finishing something quick and I'm quite happy to leave that girl behind.

Crochet taught me patience. And I've taken more away from this one fiber handicraft of dubious origin than I have from the overwhelming majority of my college classes. Somedays, I think that's profoundly beautiful, others, its simply sad. Most though, it just seems fitting.

I've been crocheting so long, hardly a day goes by without some hooked work passing through my hands, that I dream about it. It feels natural in my hands, rather, my hands feel natural doing it. When standing in line, I'll find myself chain stitching my hoodie, or jacket's drawstring with my fingers, or really, anything long and twistable. When the big knitting craze of the early 21st century hit, I became a right little elitest, my voice laced with disgust when someone asked "what are you knitting?"

"Its not knitting, its crocheting."

Now, as I make painstaking process though Koohler's book, I begin to wonder if crocheted socks are really THAT bad, since that at present is my sole motivation for learning to knit. I remember the pride I felt at my college's stitch and bitch group as the knitters work curled over on itself, while my crocheted squares and scarves could use the finest of unblockable materials, so perfectly flat and straight they were. Now, I feel like some sort of horrible, adulterous wife as I frantically try to smooth my maiden square of stockingette stitch. My sari silk purse lies in progress in my work tote, balefully looking at me.

Traitor.

Traitor, I hear echo in my own mind. As Keats put it "Do I wake, or do I sleep?"

g.o.

Chilling With My Gnomies!!!

So, baby sister's birthday present was completed WAY ahead of schedule, much to my delight. I took the gnome to work today to gather some feedback from my coworkers and my students. Aside from the comments of "awww...what a cute santa," it was overwhelmingly positive. My students loved the creature, just about all of them toting him about at one point today, though I drew the line when a few asked to take a nap with him.

The pattern I thought up was drop dead easy, so I need to write it all down and add it to my slowly growing pattern book. Pictures are to come soon, I FINALLY get my new camera for my birthday on Friday, and fully intend on learning how to work the vast majority of its features.

g.o.

by hook, by crook...by optometrist

It was time for that annual appointment that I always dread...my optometrist visit. since I've been always been as blind as a sharp-sighted bat, these visits are a constant in my memories, much as soccer and various sport-type-things are in other's. I can deal with the bright shiny lights jabbing WAY too close to my sight orbs, and I can deal with the obsence wait (more on how I did that later), however....

I CAN'T STAND THE DILATION DROPS!!!!!!!!!!

Few things freak a poor-sighted person out more than their already quirky vision growing worse and worse before their eyes (yeah, pun, i know). I've got a double whammy, since I nearly lost an eye at nine, I can't stand pretty much anything within two feet of my eyes. Dr. Egge knows this all too well, after getting kneed in the chest by me at age ten.

Today, I tried to take things in stride, I had Trisha's birthday present in my large plastic tote bin and had a back copy of interweave as well in case things got too much to handle. I ended up throwing all normal dignity to the wind and just dragged the bin in with me, too much yarn to fit in the purse, and I hate it when my keys get caught up in it. Apparently, crocheting a toy gnome in an optometrist's waiting room is the perfect way to make friends...or at least get people to strike up friendly conversation.

The elderly gentleman sitting next to me informed me that his sister had won their middle school's sock knitting bee during WW2. She finished an army regulation sock in a hour and twelve minutes. He timed her at home to help her practice.

The woman sitting across from me, she looked terribly important with expensive shoes, tiffany jewelry, a blackberry AND a cell phone actually stopped and asked me "How do you DO that?" I mumbled that it really wasn't that hard and that if I could teach myself, anyone could learn.

So, diligently away I worked, pausing only to have the nurse test my vision and but in the f@$king drops. I wasn't at a good stopping point, so I decided to keep working until the drops stopped me. While in that impressively boring semi-dark room, I chatted with two ladies, who had both crocheted at one point and incidentally had German ancestry as well. One had the last name of Wagner and I told her all about ravelry and crochetme.com. After about fifteen minutes, I was alone in the room and focusing on the working more of the surface crochet I'm using for the gnome's hair. Then, something funny happened...my hook kept missing the yarn. At first, i thought that my hook had gotten twisted around (its happened before) and that there was nothing to grab the yarn, I looked closely, nope, the hook was fine. For the next minute or so, I kept stabbing groping for that strand of yarn with the hook, growing increasingly panicked as to what was going on.

Then a kindhearted nurse came over. "Its about three inches away from your hook, sweetie."

Oh depth perception, how I have taken thee for granted!!!

happy hooking ya'll!
g.o.
p.s. Trisha's bday present has changed from a voodoo doll to a gnome.

Green Orchyd and the Temple of Yarn

Since I'm gearing up to the release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, this will be a brief first blogging. Mind you, I haven't ventured into the realms of blogdom since my freshman year of college, so I'm more than a tiny bit rusty. However, with friends being farther and farther away, I need to come up with a way to keep everyone updated on my various fiber achievements. As great as phone and aim conversations are, its incredibly difficult, though humorous, to try to explain to a non-crocheter the rewarding thrill of finishing a piece of thread fillet crochet. Simply put...pictures are FAR easier.

Currently, I've got one massive project, a recycled sari silk bag, in crochet limbo right now as I wait for more yarn to arrive via post. Little sister's 15th birthday is on the 1st of June, so I'm hoping to get to work on one of my crocheted voodoo dolls as part of my gift to her.

With that, I'm out ya'll. Harrison Ford beckons from the Sci-Fi network

g.o.