picking up sticks...

The Fiance & I moved a couple weeks ago (only about 5 miles from where we had been- my mom bought a two family and we live upstairs. can't beat the rent). the impending move impacted my knitting more than the impending wedding (which is still, oh, 7 months off?)

i have knit a couple of things i'd like to show you guys though, hopefully as things settle down i can find more time for craftyness. :)


this is my "inspiration" picture for my kitchen color scheme. unfortunately, i can't tell you what the yarn was because it was two strands of impulse purchases that i lost the ball bands on. one was cotton, and one was a novelty yarn, they just so happened to coordinate well w/my kitchen aid mixer that i finally get to display.







In our living room, i'm going for more of a natural feel- we've got these trees living with us (they were my mom's, but her cats ate them) they're a little saggy, so i decided to give them a little support. i used twine (jute?) that you'd find at a hardware store- it wasn't nice to my fingers but i used large DPNS (10.5's, 13's & 17's in a variety of places) and knit VERY LOOSELY and it wasn't too bad.





so, nothing major, but baby steps when coming out of a slump i say :)

happy holidays!

not much knitting, but here's some holiday gingerbread fish for you!

not knitting...

I' ve got a fierce case of not being able to finish anything i've started (which is bad because i've promised a few people knit things for the holidays) but, i've made some crafty things for my october '07 wedding:

I keep calling them my "wedding balls" but my mom seems to think i should come up with a different name. hmm.I was thinking of making some christmasy/wintery themed ones and trying to sell them at a craft fair. but i'm not sure it would be profitable/anyone would want them. then what would i do with a bunch of winter themed 'balls' ?

wait, september was only like 5 minutes, right?

woah. cannot BELIEVE it's already halfway through october. i also cannot believe i started the one skein wonder the first week in september and haven't finished it yet. i got impatient, started it on straights instead of circulars, and now it's a pita and i haven't had the desire to work on it. good planning on my part.

'course, to be fair, having a job that makes me travel a lot and planning a wedding have cut into my knitting time quite a bit as well. i have been working on a hat, which clearly the yarn does not WANT to be a hat at all, because i'm currently knitting it for like the 7th time. if i'm still not happy with it, i may just leave it be and donate it to charity or something!

i did get a new "system" for organizing my yarn today at ikea, so maybe if i can keep more of it nearby i'll be more inspired to finish some stuff? we can only hope, as recently promised my little cousins stuff for christmas. *sigh*

Nothing to show. :(

So, i know i've been a terrible neglectful blogger, but i swear i haven't forgotten about you! I started a new job two weeks ago and have been driving around new england like a crazy person. i've even been carting my knitting with me most days, but haven't worked on it.

I've been digging the knitting with beads thing, so i got the pattern for Glampyre's One Skein Wonder, and i got some beads, and plan on diabolically combining the two. hopefully that'll go quick, i could use some almost instant knitting gratification.

stuff and things.

A couple weeks ago I was asked to donate something for an art auction. Since I'm into the whole felting thing right now, I decided I'd make a felted teapot. why? I don't know. it was just calling to me. the world needed it.

I used paton's classic merino, because that's my fallback for felting- i wanted a lavender color, but it wasn't available. so i picked a royal purple, and a sage green (i forgot the real color names. bad knitblogger).

it was kind of a crazy experiment, because if it came out badly i wouldn't have had anything to donate and i would have felt like the worlds biggest jerk. as i worked on it it was this huge, floopy thing (i wore it on my head a fair amount on the way back from VT).sorry about the crap lighting, i finished it at about 10pm, and wanted to get it into the hot water ASAP. i put the size 10.5 dpns it was worked on in the pic for a size reference- (although i was SMRT and forgot to put them in the after;) i did a crochet chain for the embelishment and applied icord at the bottom- i'd never done the crochet chain, so that was really pretty fun.

needless to say i was quite nervous to see how it would come out, and, TADA:
the spout is a little wonky, but other than that i'm really happy w/it (once i can get my hands on a sweater shaver to get rid of the blue bits).


in other news i'm searching for a pattern to use my fabulous vermont yarn for... i have been searching all over and found a few potentials, but nothing is jumping out at me. *sigh*

i think i might make a hat next. i got some yarn clearance at jo-anns, and it's white/blue/tan/brown and shimmery and it needs to be a hat w/earflaps and a pompom.

i start a new job next week and i have to stay out in Turners Falls, Ma (trust me, it's really far away)- so i think i'll be doing a lot of knitting at night.

engaging yarn....

Last week I had a lovely camping mini-break w/the boy in Waterbury, VT- where much to my surpise, he proposed! the ring is actually one i had picked out and shown him a while back, and he slyly bookmarked for a later day, and continued to convince me that any betrothment would be far off in the future.

Besides the engagement we had a busy week of touring local breweries, visiting Cabot Cheese, and checking out Ben & Jerry's. also on my list was finding some local spun yarn.

we found this really cool store in Montpelier called The Knitting Studio, the woman was very helpful in showning me what i was looking for, and it looked like they had a wide selection, although i didn't dare look too closely, for fear of geting quite a wishlist.

I decided on "Vermont Fiberworks Yarn" it's 80% wool, 20% mohair- 240 yards. picking a color was hard until I decide it should match my shiney new ring. I need to research what i can make w/that yardage, but it looks like I might have two "something blue"'s for my wedding!!

knitted 'ceramics'

Before I fell in love with sticks and string, i loved to make stuff out of clay. most of my creations were a little heavy and wonky- but, i like them none-the-less.

lately i've been missing ceramics, but not having access to a studio makes taking that up again impossible.

enter my new love. and the possibilities opened up by felting. i have some left over red/orange/golden-rod colored wools. oh, of course i have BIG ideas about what to do in many more colors, but, i thought i'd better try my hand at it with what i've got laying around.

I learned a few things- like increasing 4 stitches ever row does not make a flat circle- although apparently increasing 8 stitches every OTHER row does (will test on next bowl). fixes by cramming bowl on an powdered iced tea mix tin :) it's flat-enough now (more ceramic-like in fact). The wool was Paton's Classic Merino. I added applied I-cords to the top, and as an accent on the bottom.

Since i'm lucky enough to have easy access to a washing machine i tossed it in w/some towels on HOT. i only ran it through once, and you can still see some stitch definition, but i like that.

I'm happy- it was easy and quick and i'll definately make more!

Now!! On to the pictures!!!

i've got more pictures, but Blogger seems to hate me, so i give up :)

On the needles. Asymetrical Shrug... and a ghost in my closet

In an effort to stay motivated, I'm posting my current project for all the world to see. It's starting off as a shrug (basically sleeves that connect in the back) anyways, i *intend* to transform it into a full-fledged sweater by picking up the stitches in the back and knitting down so it's long. (technical terms here, i know)

anyways, before i can transform it, i must finish it's shruggyness. I hope for it to be asymetrical only in it's stripes- which i'm doing randomly.









I already want to undo the cuff and legthen it, and do it in ribbing instead of seed stitch.









My mom calls it 'the longest sleeve' whenever i'm working on it. and that's basically all it is right now- but, the random stripes keep the sockinette from being too too boring- but really i just want this last sleeve to be done so i can start on figuring out the next part.

oh, and it's cotton ease- on clover size 7 needles.






I'm also being haunted by this project:

It's the beginning of "frilly" from Knitty.com- I started it for a wedding i attended last october. needless to say, i attended sans-frilly. But... now The Boy's cousin just got engaged and will probably be having a fall wedding, either this year or next. i'm wondering if frilly should go back on the front burner so i have a chance of finishing it in time for this one. if i can find it...

Two in one day- This Necklace Rocks.

I was lucky enough to spend the Fourth of July down the cape. On the 5th A (aka "The Boy") & I went for a walk on Nauset Beach. It is my most favorite beach ever. I heart the National Seashore. Anywhoo- It was a crappy, hot, muggy day so we just walked a bit, and picked up rocks and took pictures and stuff. Several of the rocks were big and flat. It was then I decided that I needed a Big Rock necklace.

I'm imensely pleased w/myself for actually following through with it so promptly (the one benefit to being unemployed. lots of time to craft).

(let me know if you can't see the pictures)

inspired by this:


and you get this:




the back of it is still a big old mess, i want to get felt, or, something to put on it. both for comfort and stablizing the wires.

i need to get some thicker wire that'll hold it's shape better. this was one of those projects that i thought was going to be easy as pie and totally wasn't. 'course when was the last time i worked with wire? like '01 maybe?

anyways. Tada!