Friday, June 23, 2006

One knitted thing, one not.

So, on one of my favorite blogs, Slipped Stitch, the lovely Alice recently wrote up a tutorial on beaded i-cord jewelry, a concept that had not previously occurred to me, being a much less inventive knitter. I had some beads leftover from Grandma's scarf, so I decided to use those plus some newly acquired glass beads (Findings is an amazing store, by the way!) and a bit of leftover yarn got me this:



It's clunky, and funky, and I think I love it. The tutorial is here. I personally used Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Rainbow and size 0 needles, which definitely complicated matters. It's just that those darn teeny gold beads won't go through anything much larger than sock weight, so I decided to just go with it. It's a first attempt, what can I say? I just need to go back to Findings and acquire a fastener, because in the photo I just tied the thing on. If I were better with beads, these things would make great gifts; especially with the awesome prices in Findings' orphan bin!

My other recent accomplishment is a cross-stitch! Now, cross-stitching is something I hadn't done since... well... About the age of 9? But it's very easy to pick up re-learn since there's truly nothing to it. I may never have picked it up again if it weren't for the book Subversive Cross Stitch. Here it is on amazon. It was cheap and deliciously funny and... yeah, well, couldn't resist, especially with my mild hatred of children:



It just seemed so ironic. It's not framed or anything yet, but I need to soon. It's going to be hanging in a prominent location... Next cross-stitch: "Bite Me."

Saturday, June 17, 2006

This is me, and all of my yarn...

I had an old knitting blog that got boring fast, so I moved it. Go me.

I've been accomplishing a lot lately as far as knitting goes. Homework is entirely another story. My Malabrigo sweater is shaping up awesomely; I'm using the loro barranquero colorway. Of course, Malabrigo's picture of the color is ass-ugly. It's really a nice, purty fiery looking colorway. There are so many more reds and browns than the picture on Malabrigo's site shows.

In case you're wondering, Mr. Sinister likes to wear a scrap of Artful Yarn's Flirtation as a scarf. What a ladies' man.

Of course, my photo is so much more accurate as far as the color is concerned. That shit knits up so beautifully, I'm merely ignoring the fact that I know that it's a single ply yarn that will totally pill with wear. I guess that's why the sweater shaver was invented. It's a really sweet pattern, which rules because it can be made with about any yarn in existence. It's fully customizable in size, shaping, and edges. I'm tempted to put bell sleeves on the thing because I'm a dork like that. We'll see.

My other big, fat accomplishment was finishing a scarf for grandma for her birthday. She's turning... old... How old, exactly, I'm not sure. But that's using a skein of Koigu, a tube of beads, and an elongated stitch pattern dreamed up by one of my co-workers. Yes, one of my jobs is at a yarn store, and yes, I love it to death.



So, fellow knitting nerds, drop me a line in one way or another if you'd like to trade links or be cool friends. *Nods*