Are those dropped stitches intentional?

Cute picture from a vintage Begin To Knit booklet that retailed for 35 cents, on loan from Michaels' mom:

Shawls with prayer involved.

I suppose most of you have heard of prayer shawls before? They are traditional Jewish garments intended to be worn during prayer. However, some people make them for cancer victims and other people who are having health problems. The idea is that the maker of the shawl puts all kinds of good wishes into each stitch for the recipient. Our SNB was lucky enough to have a dear lady from Circle of Love, a prayer shawl ministry, come in and teach all the newbies in our group how to knit and crochet. In exchange, everyone made a shawl to donate to the local kidney dialysis patients. We had a lot of fun and it felt so good to be doing something nice for someone else with our creativity. However, I don't take naturally to generosity. I really, really wanted to keep mine. And while I tried to put good wishes in every stitch, I was watching Family Guy when I was making it...so a little more irreverence than prayer is probably in there.


Here's the shawl I made. I used a pattern from one of my vintage magazines. It's being modeled by the director of volunteer services at my college, Joyce.






This was Heather's first knitting attempt. It's more of a scarf than a shawl, and can also be used as a babushka.







This was also Sarah's first attempt at knitting--this girl learned to knit in TEN MINUTES. She's a prodigy. It took me four attempts over two years!



Last and least: I really, really hope I'm not as tiny as I look in this picture.



And a sweet picture of the neighbors' chickens hanging out in a tree.

An Overabundance Of Yarn

SO last night I walked into Stitchn'Bitch and there was a girl standing there with two of the biggest black garbage bags I've ever seen. You know what they were full of? YARN. They were being donated to us. For whatever purpose we see fit to use it for.
Naturally ,the purpose we saw fit was to spread it out all over the floor and roll in it. So we did. I wish I'd had a camera, but I'm sure you can imagine the sort of meeting this was when I tell you that one of our members stuffed two large skeins up her shirt and danced on the table.

I began to look this gift yarn in the mouth, however, when it came time to leave, and I remembered that I had to take the bus home. Hmm. Well, I'm sure I can handle it! How much can yarn weigh, anywhow? Right?

A lot, especially when some of it is an industrial-sized cone of dyeable cotton.

So I'm dragging these bags in fits and starts across the campus, and I stopped on the way to help raise money for Katrina victims, by paying $3 to smear a plateful of whipped cream all over the face of a fraternity member. As a gesture of thanks for my generosity, the gooey fraternity helped me carry the bags to the bus.

I got on the bus, where the bags took up two seats each. I got off at my stop, which is about half a block away from my apartment. I couldn't lift both bags at once-they were really almost bigger than me. I decided I would drag them along the sidewalk, which worked for about half of the way, when they both developed huge holes (this should really not have surprised me, seeing as they were thin plastic and I was dragging them across gravel. But still.) and suddenly there was yarn all over the moonlit street. It was like Hansel and Gretel used their yarn stash instead of bread crumbs.

As I scuttled around under the streetlamps picking up yarn, I wondered: does this qualify as a dream come true, or a nightmare?

Help! I lost my dream blog!

I was looking at a beautiful blog yesterday. I think it was called Small Birds. The author has two twins. She had just posted this gorgeous array of pictures of her favorite color (blue) found around her house. I have not been able to stop thinking about this blog! AND NOW I CAN'T FIND IT! Does anybody know what I'm talking about, and where to find this lovely thing?

EDIT: Never mind. I just found it. It's called Little Birds. Way to go, brain-thesaurus...http://littlebirds.typepad.com/little_birds/

The picture of her little boy in the pumpkin patch makes me all broody. However, it only makes me broody because I want a little boy to dress in overalls and newsboy hats. Which brings up an interesting issue:

When we have children, is it right to only let them wear things we like? For example, if I were to knit an entire wardobe for my future offspring, and let them have favorite things to wear only within that category, am I being tyrranical? At what age should we begin allowing kids to choose their own clothing? I am a supporter of the idea that you should let your kids wear whatever they like, as long as it's within legal boundaries, and do whatever they please to their hair; I 'll be picking my battles and saving the screaming for when I find pot in their coat pocket, etc.

But I want to dress my kid in costumes. When should I stop? Will I be able to? I think that will be a big control issue for me. Maybe I should just obtain some Barbie dolls, and leave the progeny-producing to more balanced minds.

But Merino makes me itchy!

You are Merino Wool.
You are very easygoing and sweet. People like to
keep you close because you are so softhearted.
You love to be comfortable and warm from your
head to your toes.


What kind of yarn are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Lucky Cat Pattern!

Look look look what Jussi made!

http://castadrift.blogspot.com/2005/10/fortune-cat-pattern.html


All my works-in-progress are hereby relegated to the Basket of Undead Knitting. It's Lucky Cat Time.

Major Blog Envy

I am so jealous. Everyone's blogs are so light, airy, full of artsy photographs and evdidence of lives well-lived. Mine gets updated once a month now, with hastily taken photos of whatever completed piece I've managed to scramble together on a weekend home. And I'm not funny, either.

I am so busy with schoolwork that my tiny amount of free time is spent having dinner dates with Michael (for whom I have no funkycool blogging codename. Another source of envy).

My Stitchn'Bitch has been renamed the Fredonia Fiber Arts Club due to members of the Student Association being square-shaped. Ah well, the club's the main thing. It's morphing into more responsibility than I'd planned on, though. When all these natural disasters started happening, I hooked up with the Department of Volunteer Services at the college and told them I wanted to use the club to help out, but I have a feeling that it may be difficult to get my members motivated, and I'll end up making all the scarves, headwarmers and fingerless gloves for Pakistan earthquake relief fundraisers myself......and I don't even have time to start the fifteen projects I want to make for Christmas presents, birthday presents, and let's face it, ME.

Do I have to become a teacher? Can't I just become a designer and buy a farm?

I Actually Have A New Pattern.

Look at my homemade applesauce! I picked the apples from wild trees and canned the sauce all by myself. Now that's soul food. I LOVE fall!




My pumpkin is the one ensconced on my lap, with the impressive mustache. Franken-squash there is Michael's.




Okay, I haven't posted in a kajillion years, so to make up for it, I'm going to post the pattern for the new scarf I just made!




It's not exactly original, I found the stitch pattern here:

http://www.nurhanne.com/crochet/stitches2.html





So here's what you do:

Materials:

Bulky Yarn (how many yards? I'm afraid I have no idea, not being the type who measures out how much yarn I'm using. I recycled a sweater for the yarn, it's a pumpkin-colored bulky acrylic/ramie blend.The scarf took up half a small knit sweater. If you were using, say, Lion Brand Homespun, I'd say a skein and a half.)

A J hook.

Make a chain as long as you want your scarf to be, because this scarf is worked horizontally. My chain was about five feet long.

Stitch pattern:

Base row: 1 dc in 2. ch from hook, * miss 3 ch, (3 tr, 1 ch, 3 tr) in next st, miss next 3 sts, 1 dc in next st. repeat from * to end of row, Turn with 3 ch.

1. row: Yoh, insert hook in first tr and draw up thread, yoh and draw though 2 loops, repeat for each of next 2 stitches (= 4 loops on hook), yoh and draw though all 4 loops. * 3 ch, 1 dc by inserting hoook under 1 ch between clusters of prev row, 3 ch, 1 'unfinished tr (as previously) in each of the 3 tr in row below, miss the dc, 1 'unfinished' tr in each of the next 3 tr (= 7 loops on hook), yoh and draw through all 7 loops. Repeat from * to end of row, ending with 1 'unfinished' tr in each of last 2 sts, yoh and draw through all 4 loops, 1 tr in last dc. (In subsequent rows this tr is worked in the top turning ch). Turn with 3 ch.

2. row: 3 tr in the st that 'closes' the 3 tr in row below, * insert hook in ch under the dc from previous row and work 1 dc, ( 3 tr, 1 ch, 3 tr) in st that 'closes' the 6 tr. repeat from * to end of row, ending with 3 tr in the st that 'closes' the 3 tr, 1 tr in in turning ch. Turn with 3 ch.

3. row: * 1 unfinished tr in each of first 3 tr, miss 1 dc, 1 unfinished tr in each of next 3 tr, yoh and draw through all 7 loops, 3 ch, 1 dc by inserting hoook under 1 ch between clusters of prev row, 3 ch. repeat from * to end of row, but finish by working 1 tr in the turning ch. turn with 2 ch.

4. row: * ( 3 tr, 1 ch, 3 tr) in st that 'closes' the 6 tr, 1 dc in dc before next cluster. Repeat from *, but finish with 1 tr in turning ch.

Now, one long side of the scarf is scalloped and one is flat, right? So you want to cut your yarn, reattach it on the beginning corner of the flat side, and work row 4 on the flat side. End off. Do a row of sc on each short end of the scarf, add tassels, and you're done!

Meditations on Round 13

Somebody Anonymous asked for some help on the Buddha pattern. Let's see, round 13 says:

Rnd 13. Now this is the tricky part. Insert hook in Rnd 11 and pull up a loop, sc in same stitch. Continue sc around in Rnd 11. Rnd 12 will be left inside. Join, ch 1.

What you are doing here is making a tuck in his neck so that his head sits on top of his body as if it was sewn on. You've done rows 11 and 12; you are now going BACK to round 11, as if you had never done row 12, and picking up stitches all the way around row 11 to form row 13. Row 12 will now be hidden inside his neck, forming a cute round face. Row 12 is made, then ignored. Row 13 is formed on row 11. Does that help?

Cabled armwarmers, own design.

I've Founded A Stitch 'N Bitch!

I did it! I put in my paperwork at the Student Association, I got a table at my college Activities Night, and EIGHTY people signed up! Six of them were male! I was completely overwhelmed. People would walk by, do a double take at my sign with the giant red ball of yarn on it, and rush squealing over to me, where they gasped,

"Is it okay that I can only knit scarves? Can I still join?"

I must have heard that twenty times; another big one was,

"If I come will you teach me how to -------(insert craft here)?"


Now I've never taught anyone to knit or crochet, but I can give it a shot, and I know there are at least a dozen or so people coming who already know how....the coolest thing is the range of personalities! We have members of the Intervarsity Christian Club, sororities, people with neon hair and piercings, freshman and seniors, every imaginable kind of person....the first guy to sign up apparently does not knit or crochet, but SEWS, and wants to come and sew. Fine with me! I wonder what he sews? All the other guys shuffingly confided that their grandmothers taught them to crochet when they were little. How cute is that?

So this is all very exciting and overwhelming...I think I will have to ask them to bring their own yarn and needles. Duh.

Realistically, they won't all come, what with scheduling conflicts and what not, so it shouldbe pretty manageable. But oh my gosh! EIGHTY people!!!!!

One girl said to me, "I'm not very good..all I make is afghans."

I may never have the courage to attempt an afghan, and she thinks she's not very good!....this is going to be so much fun!

The Truest Friendship

Thank you so much for all the sweet, kind responses about my kitty. You are all dear lovely people. *hug*

I had to post this before I forgot, because it's really funny.

I've had reactions to wool before, hives and stuff, so I thought I'd try tying some Lamb's Pride around my wrist for a few days to see if I got a reaction to it. So I had this piece of pink yarn tied around my wrist, and my boyfriend saw it, and he asked what it was, and I told him I was allergy-testing it. With a totally straight face, he said,

" Oh. I thought maybe your yarn had made you a friendship bracelet, since you two spend so much time together."

Imagine, if you will, your yarn stash coming and standing in a pile in front of you, with a little bracelet perched on top, and a somehow soulful look.

And the funniest part is that it doesn't seem that unlikely, does it?

Oh, dear.

Hanging out.

Cricket as a pin-up girl.

Jiminy Cricket

I haven't been here in awhile, have I? Mostly because I periodically lose my camera cable, and feel like posting without pictures is cheating. However, I might as well just write down some things to get myself back on track.

First thing: I've been in a crafting block...because my cat died.

I wish I could say that she was old, it was her time, or something..but she wasn't even three yet. I don't even know how she died. I was home for the weekend, cooking dinner with my dad, he went outside to light the grill, came back in slowly and said," Shan....something bad happened. I just found Cricket outside, dead." We think she must have gotten into some rat poison somewhere, because there was no visible reason for her to stop living.
I usually console myself when a pet dies by telling myself, "They had a good life." That's not working this time. Yeah, she had a good life...she loved life like no other pet I ever had. She was playful and excitable and full of adventure. And now she's been cheated of nine years of life she should have had.

And so I didn't feel like crafting for weeks, and to be honest, I still don't....I start things and rip them out, over and over and over. I've never really felt like this before--I'm a very materialistic person, I love objects, yarn, possessions....but now I feel like what's the point? What's the point of things when someone you love can just disappear at any time? When life can be lost, what do objects matter? It's a question I'm still struggling with...and I know it's only going to get worse. I have never had a human being who is close to me pass away yet.

I feel like it's disloyal to try not to think about her, to bury my thoughts and move on just for the sake of being cheerful. But I guess we do what we have to do.

Lazy Person's Entrelac Wrap

I made this wrap in a knitted basket stitch with green Homespun and size 17 needles...I really liked the Lady Eleanor entrelac stole in Scarf Style, but I am far too lazy to attempt it, so I tried this instead. It looks almost, but not quite, completely unlike entrelac. =) I did use the fringe technique from the book, though. It is modeled by my lovely sister Laura, who is also available for any offers Vogue might have.

High School Closure

Before I tell you what I've been making, I have to tell whoever's reading about this. My rare life content.

My roommate Brittany, whom I graduated with, convinced me to go to the Fourth of July carnival in my hometown for the beer tent last night. She said a lot of our classmates would be there. I was scared but she talked me into it, and get this-of the twenty or so of my graduating class that we ran into, only ONE GUY remembered my name, and most of them didn't even remember me AT ALL. I told them that was because I only turned off my invisibility force field after I got to college.

I hated high school, but now I have closure, because all the guys who were mean to me hit on me something fierce, as well as a few of the mean girl's boyfriends. Ah, it was lovely to turn them down. This is shallow, I know. But it felt So, So, Good to have every guy at that carnival fall all over himself when I walked by, when they used to step on me and not even apologize. Plus, the one young lady who made it her personal mission to make me cry every day, because it was funny, was there with her new fiance, (who is possessed of a marvelous redneck accent and has the word BULL tattooed across the back of his head)and she has gained a good 50 pounds due to the birth of her new son. She still has not attended a day of college. However, she seems happy and I really do hope she gets lots of joy out her chosen life path. But I do feel happy and proud that I chose the one that I did, and that she did not break me. I survived!

So! I finished a really pretty knitted stole in a basket stitch and green homespun, a little granny square tank top, and I'm starting the Leaf Lace Sweater as soon as I end off here. Pictures tomorrow. Life is good.

Crocheted Semi-Felted Case for my Camera.

Crocheted Felted Monster Wallets Love Bing Cherries!

And this is my brother's Fat Cat, Alex. Feast your eyes.