Mac Cozy

My Macbook needed a home. Less than half a yard of black fleece and some white felt later, the mac cozy was born.



It fits snugly like one of those pricey neoprene sleeves, but was a lot cheaper to make.

I thought it needed to match and have its own little apple, if you couldn't tell. This solves the problem of throwing my laptop into one of my tote/messenger bags and not worrying about having my stuff scratching up my computer.

Hemp... and a winner.

I'm in the middle of Eiffel and Revolution. In both sweaters, I am plodding along in repetitive, somewhat boring stretches. Nothing exciting in either.

Although, this allhemp 6 is such a weird yarn. I'm using black, and we got off on the wrong foot; it made an awful tangle when I tried to wind it as it wasn't wound up into its hank correctly. And working with it is so weird... it's stiff, and reminds me of that craft hemp that was popular in friendship bracelets in sixth grade.

So I really, REALLY hope this softens up nicely upon washing. I've heard it does.

I must, MUST finish one eiffel or revolution before starting Mariah! The world at large (six people) chose Mariah over the other two sweaters I've been admiring. So, congratulations to Mariah for winning.

Perennial Knitters' ADD

There are so many choices. So many.

I want to make Knitty's Mariah.



I know it's old and everyone's made it, but the funny thing is, I was going to make it two years ago. I even bought the pink yarn necessary to do it. But then Revolution came along and I changed my mind on what to do with the pink yarn. I've been working slooooooowly on Revolution ever since it came out. Two years and the back is still only fourteen inches long. I fear I'll never finish it; the split stitch goes so slow. But I still love it as much as the day the pattern came out! Pulling it out of the depths has reminded me of Mariah, and how I was going to make it...

I also downloaded the lace inset cardigan thinking I'd like to modify it a bit...



I was somewhat disappointed that an $8 pattern only had one size which might be a smidgen too big for me. Lame. However there are other modifications I wanted to try, namely making the lace panels symmetrical.

And this one I actually have the yarn for. It looks so cozy and comfortable...



So, tell me:

Which sweater should I make next?
	Mariah
	Lace Inset Cardigan
	Barcelona Bolero
pollcode.com free polls

I leave it to you. You will also be indirectly deciding if I should work from the stash (Barcelona Bolero) or purchase more yarn (the other two). Choose well!

Satisfaction... kind of.

I've always liked a quick knit. They're so satisfying in between larger projects, you know?

So when friends get a pair of kittens, they NEED handmade cat toys, right?



It's a shame I don't have pictures of the kittens that this was gifted to. They're six weeks old and not even named yet! So cute. Camera was dead.

Anyway, I made a little mousie from this pattern. He was leftovers from my Tubey, actually. I've used this pattern a number of times, and it's always turned out quite cute.

Then I decided I wanted to make another toy, but something more interesting than a gray mouse. I found a lot of patterns that seemed great. Like the swirl ball? Too bad it turns out as big as a grapefruit and I somehow missed this detail. What cat wants a toy bigger than it?

Several other failures left me pouting and with a new appreciation of this mouse pattern: it's well-written, cat-sized, cute, and can be made with straight needles and stuffed with like five cotton balls.

FO: Tubey photoshoot

Okay, so it was cold and I didn't really feel like like standing around outside for very long. There's one other photo that looks pretty terrible.

Anyway, used Knitpicks Andean Silk in cranberry, slate, hyacinth, sangria, and black. Ran out of all of the stripe colors except cranberry and a second ball of slate... Glad I had the presence of mind to buy one more ball of yarn for free shipping.

The stripes are somewhat freestyled because there's one additional color in the original sweater. I started doing my own thing near the bottom. I'd run out of a color and just pick up another. I also moved up the arm stripes; I wanted them to fall around my biceps but they actually ended up a bit lower...

The other major alteration I did was that I did this in two pieces and then sewed them together; I couldn't get picking up stitches to look right, so I just skipped it. It worked out like a charm.