Socked

Ah, knitted socks. There's just something about knitting socks....I don't know what it is, or any useful way to describe it, but it's definitely A Thing. Initially, I was quite against knitting socks. I made a couple pairs to try it, and the experience was quite unsatisfying. All those teeny tiny knit stitches, and those awful, awful double-pointed needles. They're just so annoying. Neither of these pairs really worked out. The first set had one foot bigger than the other and mismatched dyelots (I lost the yarn label), the second set were just waaaay too large. They can be used for winter, when your feet are freezing and you want to layer six million socks - but that's about it. Unless you are a giant with giant feet.

(Please ignore how dirty my floor is.)

Recently, I tried again. Knitted socks, even badly made ones, feel amazing on your feet. I'd never thought store-bought socks were particularly uncomfortable, but apparently that was just because I'd never had knitted socks. I really wanted some socks that actually fit - maybe then they'd be worth it? I'd educated myself a bit more by this time, so I a) used two circular needles and b) found a sock pattern that was actually interesting.

Much better, right? Plus, no dirty floor!

These socks were actually fun! I really like patterns with creative construction (the heel was really cleverly put together!), and the increases/decreases that made the stripes diagonal made it much more interesting than just stockinette. When I want stockinette, I'll make yarn bombs. These were still a bit big, but only a little bit. Maybe socks weren't so bad...

So next, I made some diagonally ribbed socks that were worked inside out. Neat, right? So neat! I finished them on a car trip (which was good, because otherwise I would have run out of socks). They turned out a little small at the ankle, so they're a bit challenging to get on, but once they're on they fit nicely! I like interesting stitch patterns - this one was interesting, but easy to memorize, which is always nice. I also love how this yarn knitted up, I didn't expect it to be so marvelously rainbow!

So yeah, I'm pretty happy with these ones. And now I...really like knitting socks. I honestly didn't see that coming, I thought I'd enjoy it well enough, and the satisfaction of handknitted socks would be enough to keep me going. But, it turns out, the people who rant out making socks actually know what they're talking about! The last sock I made turned out HORRIBLY, but it's not going to stop me from making more socks, so I guess I'm devoted to the cause now. (I have a picture of it, but I'm not going to show you - it's just too ugly. It's frogged now, thank goodness.) I'm still not going to use $20+ sock yarn on socks (it just seems like such a waste, for at least three reasons) - but who knows what I'll think a week from now?

Dryad Armwarmers Pattern

It is on the internet! Click the picture to go to the Ravelry page!


(It's also on etsy here)

Whenever I get patterns tested, 3/4 of the testers finish within a week, and the others wait until RIGHT before the deadline. Perhaps I should have a shorter test period, especially since I've only made small things so far.

Various things:

I have plans for a super exciting pattern that I'm not going to tell you about yet. It will involve tiny buttons!

In what I can only describe as an incredibly rewarding experience, I got paid to go to a yarn store. Teaching people to knit is awesome.

I'm knitting socks for myself. Using two circulars instead of DPNs make me hate it so much less.

Two exams next week, then I'm free for a month! Apart from all the non-school things I need to do! I'm 90% done another pocket belt (for selling this time), and I reeeeally need to clean.

Sleep time now.

Srs Bsns

A friend told me to join LibraryThing. It was a poor decision on my part to do this last night - I have two midterms tomorrow. My profile is here if you want to look at my books. I added all the books I have here, plus some of the ones that are back at my parents' house, which wasn't reallly allll that many? But then I went on the forums and ended up placing 27 holds at the library, about 15 of which I picked up today. It was neat, I went in and 3/4 of the books on one self in the holds section had my name on them. I felt special. But now I have some Serious Reading to do. (Squee!)

In knitting-related news, I've written a new pattern!

They are leafy armwarmers (I call them Dryad Armwarmers because I'm awesome like that). The pattern page on ravelry is here, but the pattern won't be live until my testers have finished. If you just can't wait till then, I made two pairs, in green and red-y colours, which are available on etsy.

Also on etsy is some handspun (click the picture):

It's respun acrylic, about 124 yards (113m).

Arts Squared + Rings

I've signed up for an art/craft fair on June 25th. It's called Arts Squared, and it's in the square in uptown Waterloo, and you should come if you're around! It's from 12 - 5pm. I'm bringing a whole bunch of different crafts I have lying around my room, including some rings I made:

I also just finished knitting myself a shirt. It's a slightly modified version of this pattern, and it's cotton yarn, so it's great for summer. The yarn annoys me for a couple reasons: it's cotton and I hate knitting with cotton, and there are no dye lots, so each skein is the same colours but in different proportions (as you can see, the top half is significantly pinker where I switched skeins). Bah. I'm pleased with how it turned out though, even though I was kind of lazy when I was knitting it, and didn't fix any mistakes - luckily they're not super obvious.

New Pattern Published!

I've published another pattern! For this hat:

It's available on ravelry or on etsy.

This hat is very large! It's designed to accommodate bulky hair, dreadlocks, or just be super floppy. There are two subtle cables but otherwise it is a basic hat. If you want the hat without having to make it, it's currently still available on etsy.

Couple FOs

I needed a new hat. I do have a gazillion hats, but all the ones I made last year are too small for my hair now (it's grown!), so I only had one that fit properly. But now I have two!

I spun the yarn from some dyed corridale top, and it was almost exactly the right amount, so yaay! I really like my little fish beads...the last one is a boat.

I also made a cowl with handdyed yarn:

I really like how it looks (the dye worked really well!) but it's too big to actually keep my face warm in the HORRIBLE FREEZING weather we've been having lately. But decorative cowls are nice too, so it's not a total loss.

Pattern and yarn reviews

I have a new favourite pattern! Skoodlet (ravelry link), by Leethal, who makes various wonderful things. It's awesome, a hood/scarflet thing, it is absolutely delicious. I made a giant one (to accommodate my dreads and to make me look more mysterious) out of Nashua Handknits Granite, which is quite a lovely yarn. (ravelry link.)

The pattern is written to work with any yarn you want; you measure your gauge and put it into the formula. It's super easy to figure out, just simple multiplication and putting in numbers. I do recommend printing it out to write the numbers in - it's too confusing otherwise! Luckily, leethal has written the pattern so that only 2 pages actually need to be printed out. Suggestions for possible modifications are given in the pattern, so it was super easy to make it big enough for my overlarge hair. All the techniques she uses (including a figure-eight cast on I hadn't used before) are clearly explained at the start of the pattern. There were maybe a couple lines I had to read through a couple times, but for the most part everything was very clear. And of course, the skoodlet is absolutely ADORABLE, I wore it all day today and never wanted to take it off. EVER. It's sitting by my bed where I can reach it at a moment's notice.

5 stars for an awesome pattern!

The top and bottom buttons on it are ones I've drawn on - <3 drawing on buttons.

The yarn I used was Nashua Handknits Granite in "Deep Mix." I didn't have super high expectations of this yarn: the colours seemed nice, and I love slub yarn, but 70% wool, 30% acrylic doesn't tend to inspire blind confidence, simply because there's so much variation in the quality of both fibres. I was pleasantly surprised though, it's lovely and soft! All the thick sections are coloured, the thinner sections grey, so it has a really awesome texture when knitted. This is one of the few yarns I actually like better when it's knitted, I usually prefer the look of skeined yarn. It has a nice drape without being too heavy. While it doesn't reach the extremes of fabulousness some other yarns do, it's a very nice yarn indeed and I want more of it!

4.5 stars for great yarn!

A yarn I am less happy with is Twilleys of Stamford Freedom Spirit. I've used it before and it didn't seem so bad, but I guess I've acquired taste now. It's rather scratchy, and splits very easily. I bought it because I really like the colours as they appear on the ball, but they're muddy an disappointing when knitted up. I'd planned on using sections of reverse stockinette, but it ended up looking like such a mess that I had to use the other side. It might just be this colourway that's like this, I've used a different one before and it didn't have these problems...but I was crocheting....maybe I should just crochet with this yarn? But I'm halfway done a knitted hat! Anyway, I'm super disappointed with this.

2 stars for crappy yarn. Boo.

My other WIP is a purple lace dress, using Mari Lynn Patrick's Featherlight Lingerie Dress pattern from Lace Style.

The pattern is fine so far, even though it has some seaming, and picking up 450 stitches. I nearly went insane, and I'm only done the skirt part. I feel like this could have been designed to incorporate less seaming and picking up stitches, and if I'd thought about it I would probably have tried to do that myself. Too late now though. This project is on hold for a little, until I've gotten over picking up all those stitches.

3 stars for a decent pattern that could have been designed better.

The yarn I'm using is Maseru by Fleece Artist. I bought it for the gorgeous colour, bright vibrant purple! I got one skein of straight purple, and one matching varicolour skein, and I'm alternating every few rows (which is where that half-striped pattern is coming from). This yarn is soft but scratchy, which is not really surprising at 60% mohair, and it's very light and floaty - great for a dress! It's never going to be my favourite, I wouldn't be able to wear it against my skin, but the colours, floaty-ness, and price ($10 per 545 yard skein) make it a great choice for mohair projects.

4.5 stars for bright purple yarn!

Gosh

Several exciting things I have done recently:

I PASSED PHYSICS! I was so very worried I wouldn't, and the fact that marks took forever to be posted wasn't helping with my mindset. I did not do spectacularly, but considering the course I am pleased with my mark.

I WROTE A PATTERN! It's a pattern for my dreadlock hat, and you can find it HERE. (Ravelry link only for now, I may post this on my website at some point, if I ever get around to making it a proper website.) The pattern is only $1, I fully endorse it! Just look at how lovely the two I made are:

I finished all my x-mas presents on time! I will post pictures once I have them, I need to get my family to take pictures of themselves in my lovely creations. I am rather pleased with myself for finishing everything before I got home, even if I was just knitting for immediate family.

I remade a table to be a delicious monster named Soysauce! His birthday was January 1, 2011, he is a bundle of joy brought into my life by a glue gun. His teeth are made from an old wedding dress!

I found a bunch of semi-decent yarn at the thrift store! Including some delicious neon
laceweight (ie, string). I'm gonna make lovely lace arm warmers that will glow under blacklights!

I got paid (wooo!) by Rare Funk; I hadn't ever picked up a cheque from them, so it was quite a satisfying amount.

I had an unfortunate incident with a can of custard. Delicious but painful.

I dyed my hair...this one may sound less exciting, but dying dreadlocks is a difficult, dangerous, and deadly business.

I am so very much not ready for school to start. It is complicated and difficult even when I like the courses. It's only been two days of classes, and I've already slept for 2.5 hours on campus.

Exposure

Two things I particularly enjoy are knitting and naked ladies. I like to combine these by taking semi-scandalous pictures of myself. I have a whole bunch of knitted tops that I made a while ago and never took pictures of.
Until now!

This is one of my favourite tops, I love the pattern and the yarn! It's acrylic, but quite soft, and has great long colour changes.


This one I am less enthusiastic about. It's by the same designer and uses the same yarn, but less my style. Plus my nipples pop through occasionally.


This top got a little messed up. The yarn SAID it was all the same dyelot, but that was clearly a lie. I messed up the gauge, so I felted it, and now it's too small. I'll fix it eventually. Or...something.


I really like the feel of the yarn, though I'm not quite sure about the colourway. I am quite pleased with how it turned out, though I usually need to wear something under it. Pattern link.


My very first sweater! A great pattern; I'd like to make it again sometime, maybe with a yarn with some silk in it. The yarn I used was 100% wool.


I accidentally used super-bulky yarn instead of bulky. I like this yarn! I got it super cheap, and it is very soft. I didn't check my gauge - out of a sense of rebelliousness, perhaps? So it turned out way too large, but I just pretend it's intentional. Plus I modified the pattern slightly, to make it longer and more like a tunic dress.


Lacy shirt from French Girl Knits (which is a great book). You're supposed to lace a ribbon around the neckline, but I haven't done that yet. I messed this up somehow, so it's tighter around the back than the front...I guess I divided for armholes at the wrong place. Oh well, it's not thaaaat obvious?
It was my first time using linen (well, 60/40 linen/merino), I quite enjoyed it.
Also, look how much my dread pigtails stick out! They have been growing.

More recently, I finished my scarf (a while ago, but I only just took pictures of the whole thing):

Positively scandalous? I still love this scarf very much, though I think I need something warmer for winter now. It's been snowing so much today, and a lacy scarf isn't the best decision when it's cold and/or windy.

Also impractical for the weather is my half hat:

Handspun sari ends. I doubled the yarn because it was thin in places, but then I didn't have enough for a full hat. But that's ok, it's great for keeping dreads out of my face, plus I love the texture.

Finally, I finally got pictures of this hat:

Brighter version of my dread hat.

I wrote out the pattern for this! I'm looking for pattern testers to knit this; comment on this thread on ravelry if you're interested. Full details in the thread, but basically I'll email you the pattern and you give me feedback.


I'm being haunted by knitpicks ads. Has this happened to anyone else? I'm wandering through the internet at random, on my merry way, and sites I have never visited before are advertising knitpicks interchangeable circulars. It's a little unsettling. THE MAN has established a profile for me somehow. Privacy concerns, yo.

Schoolwork + art journal

It's the end of term, so I'm finishing up all the art homework I didn't quite manage to do at the time. It's all due tomorrow, and I finally only have optional stuff left! Whew. SO much drawing. I am reasonably pleased with most of it, though of course it could have been better, but blehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

This one is supposed to contrast geometric and organic shapes.


We had to get a black a white photo with perspective, and extend it three inches on each side. I like bit of it, where there was visible detail, but I am ambivalent about the rest.

Drawing is fun, but it's not really my favourite, so to take a break from drawing, I...did different art. Obviously. Did I ever blog about my art journal? I started it AGES ago, but I hadn't done anything in it in ages. Friday night I added a whole bunch of pages...I was just in the mood for it I guess. (I was also pretty sick on friday, and making art meant I thought about it less.) Anyway, pictures: (in the order they're in the book)

"Maybe not."


"Take control"


"Fear"

This one has a few pictures because it's a little interactive:

"Secret robot"
The pink yarn is handspun from acrylic bits, wooo!


"Greenery"


"Constitutional"


"Meetings"

Next time I choose a book for an art journal, I will choose one without lines. But this one was a dollar, so I guess I shouldn't complain. I also made a ball out of wire which is attached to the ribbon bookmark thing, but I forgot to take a picture of it.

I also finished my mom's x-mas present! I was going to make her a hat, but I made her a hat last year, so I decided on a cowl instead. She really likes smoke blue, I got the yarn in the summer for her because the colour was right. There's actually about half of it left, so I might make her a (matching) hat after all. Now I just have to make my dad's present...he wants socks, but I also found this wicked prawn pattern, which is great because my dad loves prawns. Anyway, cowl:

It's 100% wool, but it's pretty soft? I hope it's not too scratchy for her....
For anyone worrying about surprises being ruined, it's ok! My sister occasionally reads this (that's why pictures of her present won't be posted until after x-mas), but as far as I know my parents don't know this blog exists. Secrets intact!

I sort of feel like "Secrets Intact!" should be some superhero organization's group cheer or something.

Hm. Apparently being sick makes me super productive.