Archives for the month of: April, 2010

Location, Location, Location

Where do you like to indulge in your craft? Is your favourite arm chair your little knitting cubby area, or do you prefer to ‘knit in public’? Do you liek to crochet in the great outdoors, perhaps, or knit in the bath, or at the pub?

I knit EVERYWHERE.  Wait, let me rephrase that – I USED TO knit everywhere.

Now why did I say that?  Well, I mentioned on day 1, I’ve been in a slump.  I haven’t knitted since Little Lady was born.  I just wasn’t feeling motivated!  Nothing appealed to me at all, not even baby items!

But when I WAS knitting, one of my favorite spots is my couch.  It’s a full size LA-Z-BOYZ recliner couch.  It’s a two seater so the entire couch reclines, none of that middle seat non-sense.  It is comfy, right in front of the TV with laptop on the couch arm.  What else can a geeky girl ask for?

The other spot is my Thursday SnB group.  WifeMomKnitter actually shared a pic on her blog today, although where we were wasn’t our usual spot.  We usually sit just a little further down towards the ordering counter.  I wasn’t in the pic cuz I actually took it! :)  And yes, I was knitting those adorable baby cloths yesterday.

The third spot I love to knit is in my car.  No, not while I was driving.  David and I used to take lots of long trips, so I have a lot of time on my hands.  Depending on the time of departure, you can usually find me either a) sleeping, b)knitting, or c) reading a magazine or book.  I always tend to fall asleep while doing the other two though, unless we left our house before I naturally woke up.  I finished my Swan Lake, aka MS3 stole, in the car, on the way home from 1000 Islands.  Yes, with beads and everything.  And I will also proudly add that I did not drop one bead the entire time, until we were parked in our driveway waiting for me to finish the last row, ironic much?

I now can add a forth favorite spot, which is work.  I’ve always knit at work during lunch time prior to me having Little Lady, but this is different.  Well, a little warning ahead of the time, this could be a little TMI.  At work, we actually have a New Mom Room, aka Lactation room.  So whenever I need to fulfill my “Motherly Duty” as I call it at work without actually gross out all the male coworkers, I bring my knitting with me.  Gives me something to do to pass time, since it isn’t all that exciting.

Just as a side note, I just don’t understand why people are so gross out by the fact that I’m the food source of my Little One.  I often wonder maybe if they have a mental image of a cow being milked whenever someone mentions such a thing…  Which is not the case at all, but I guess the concept is the same.

Anyways, so there you have it.  My top four favorite spots to knit.

PS.  I edited and added a little something for my Day  3 post.

A New Skill

Is there a skill related to your hobby that you hope to learn one day? maybe you’re a crocheter who’d also like to knit? Maybe you’d like to learn to knit continental, knit backwards, try cables or attempt stranded colourwork.

Well, I kinda mention on Day 2 that I have a mental block on steeking.  I just don’t think I can ever cut into something I spend numerous amount of hours to make.

We had our weekly SnB tonight and one of my BBF CostumeChick was there, despite of her busy schedule.  NutmegKnitter, WifeMomKnitter and I were chatting up about the blog week topics, and we all mentioned about steeking.  (Insert AHHHHHHH… in horror voices)

Well, CostumeChick had to do some steeking for work and she said it really wasn’t that bad.  She suggested that we go to thrift store and get some sweaters to practice on, just be sure to get a sweater that’s easy to see the stitches.  ”Pop your steeking cherry on the non-confrontational way” as she calls it.

I think I might just do that – Pop my steeking cherry on the non-confrontational way.

One Great Knitter

Write about a knitter whose work (whether because of project choice, photography, styling, scale of projects, stash, etc) you enjoy. If they have an enjoyable blog, you might find it a good opportunity to send a smile their way.

Hmmm…  Do I have to only pick one?  Well if it’s only one, then I’ll pick the first knitter that inspired me ever – Lauren.

When I first went to the Wednesday SnB, she was one of the ladies that were there.  To me, she is the knitting goddess.  She was designing for multiple famous yarn company, write a blog for one, on top of that, maintaining her own blog.  And here I am, just starting out.  I remember that first day, I was trying to make a pair of mittens at the time with three different colors.  I was having problems with the joining and the color changes, plus the constant color change with the numerous ends that I need to weave in later.  That night, I learned how to change colors without cutting the yarn after every 2 rows, I learned how to combat the disconnect of joining and I learned how to be a better knitter.

Thank you, Lauren.

Edit to add:  Although I don’t crochet much, I do find one person who inspires me to actually want to crochet more – Sarah London.  If you have not seen her blog before, I urge you to go right now.  I’ll wait.

Back?  Well, what did you think?  Aren’t they beautiful?  The colors, the shapes and everything on her blog just speaks to me, and it’s almost mesmerizing.  Maybe it’s actually trying to hypnotize me to start to crochet?  Either way, I’ll be doing something from her blog, soon-ish, I hope.

An Inspirational Pattern

Blog about a pattern or project which you aspire to. Whether it happens to be because the skills needed are ones which you have not yet acquired, or just because it seems like a huge undertaking of time and dedication, most people feel they still have something to aspire to in their craft. If you don’t feel like you have any left of the mountain of learning yet to climb, say so!

This is a little hard, because there are so many patterns out there that I think challenges me and make me want to “conquer” them!  But I think of all the items out there, this is my one:

Oh Autumn Rose, how I love thee.

When my friend Sneaksleep mentioned it to me when the pattern first came out, we decided that we wanted to host a knit along.  We called it In Love with Autumn Rose.  The blog is still there, but we are both so busy we have not keep up.  And the funny thing is, we both didn’t start!  We both bought the kit right away, eager to start.  But then we both said to ourselves that we have to finish the current WIP then we can start…  well, you see how that went.

I think my hesitation to start is because of steeking.  Why do you want me to cut into such a beautiful piece of garment that I work hard to complete!?

So the book of patterns and yarns sit in the designated cubby awaits my courage to grow…  One of these days…

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On a separate note:  I’ve finished two baby cloths already!  Yeah! Go me!

I’ll admit.  I’v been in a slump lately, on blogging, knitting and sewing.  The past few posts were short, in fact they were my fast “post a pic and use some words via email from work” so that I don’t appear to be lacking on the blogging side, but as we all know, the first step is always Denial…

Anyways, so I’m back – I hope.  I started a baby wash cloth today at work while doing my “motherly duty”.  And I saw WifeMomKnitter and NutmegKnitter posting this and thought it would be a great way to get me back into a rhythm on blogging.

Starting Out

How and when did you begin knitting/crocheting? was it a skill passed down through generations of your family, or something you learned from Knitting For Dummies? What or who made you pick up the needles/hook for the first time? Was it the celebrity knitting ‘trend’ or your great aunt Hilda?

I taught myself how to knit back in 2004…  I think it was right before when there is a huge knitting movement going on.  I had saw a beautiful scarf at Neiman Marcus.  It was knitted with woven ribbons, it was Gorgeous!  And so was the price tag – a whopping $250.  Yes, you read that correctly, TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS!!!  So I decided that there’s gotta be something that I can do to recreate that!

I picked up one of those “teach yourself how to knit kit” things from one of the big box store, but I wasn’t successful at first.  This lady at work saw I struggle, so she gave me a few tips, next thing you know, I was knitting a 16 stitch wide, garter stitch, fun fur skinny scarf!  It was pastel pink, and I certainly wouldn’t recommend using fun fur to anyone who truly wants to learn how to knit!!!

I googled on how to cast off as well, and next thing you know, I was onto my next project.  I googled patterns and came up with this really interesting rib pattern.  I still remember it –  multiple of 6, on one side, it’s knit 3, purl 3, and on the other side, it’s knit 1 purl 1.   I remember working on it while home for Christmas.  My grandmother is a huge knitter, so I got quite a few tips from her that Christmas.  This is when I learned long tail cast on and also a way to make nice edging.

My grandmother is so good she makes up her own pattern!  I don’t recall ever seeing her following a pattern at all! I still remember a sweater she made me.  It was a fuzzy warm peachy sweater with this pearly threads in it.  It was the fanciest thing I’ve ever owned, or so I felt at the time.  I loved wearing it – sometimes I wish I still have it.

I haven’t put down the needles since.  But I really advanced my skills when I found my local SnB group.  I was googling something about knitting, and the SnB yahoo group showed up.  I’ve been living in CT for a year by then, but I didn’t really know anyone around here but work people, so I decided to venture out and try out this group.  I figured if I hated it, then I don’t have to go back.  Well, needless to say, I didn’t hate it.  I made some really good friends while going to the Wednesdays group, and about two years ago, I decided to switch to the Thursday group due to numerous reasons, and I’m glad I did, because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have met my BBF – Best Bitches Forever.

As for crochet…  Well, I saw a beautiful sweater pattern in Interweave Crochet Spring 2006 called Pink Frosting.  I was in love, and determined to make it.  I remember working on it on my Forth of July vacation.  If you see closely, you can tell that the shoulder straps and the ruffles on the bottom were all crochet.  I studied the charts, I googled the terms, and I youtube’d the crocheting techniques so I can follow along.  I think I ripped out the first shoulder strap 5 times before finished the first one, and the second one was a breeze.  I learned how to do single crochet, double crochet, slip stitch, making a shell and reading a crochet chart all from this project.  It was tough, but I didn’t give up, and now I have a beautiful sweater that I wear whenever I could.

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Just as a side note, I know I’m way passed Little Lady’s 5 month birthday, but I got a video clip about it.  Now if I can only figure out how to edit the clip on my new iMac and post it…

All I can think of is the song “All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth”! They are not even the same front teeth! None the less, this mama is full of gleeful smiles. J

My Little Lady turned 5 Months Old! She will probably disown me when she is older after seeing this video, but hey, that’s what moms are for!

PS.  Please excuse the voice!  I have no idea I sound so horrible!!!!

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