Holiday Season of Sorts

This time of year is busy for me in some ways, what with Mother's Day, the birthdays of both of my siblings, and Father's Day approaching on the horizon. Hmm, just typing this reminds me that I still need to order my sister's present. Presents are always hard, because I always try to get something that people will actually use, rather than something cute and potentially unneeded. This is especially hard since I don't live in the same geographic region as any of my immediate family. But cards are the easiest thing to send, and I was reminded yesterday that my whole crafting obsession probably started with card-making back in high school. It slowly crescendoed through college with the gradual hoarding of paper scraps and stickers and stamps, to the current state of several boxes full of sparkly pens, cardstock, patterned papers, vellum, ribbons, stamps, punches, buttons, markers, glitter, embossing powder, glue, and my good old buddy, the x-acto knife. When I decide there are cards to be made, I sit on the floor and surround myself with a halo of paper scraps, only to disappear into the proper shoebox or folder when the cards are complete. I much prefer to make every card unique than to mass-produce a bunch of identical cards for future occasions, although maybe that's because some of them are so labor-intensive. But so satisfying, yum.

WIP: Lace Ribbon Scarf

Some slow progress as summer quickly approaches!

Rainy Weekend Knitting

I somehow gathered up the willpower to go ahead and again cast on the 53 stitches required for this lace ribbon scarf. Maybe now that I've attempted to start this project like 15 times, I'm finally getting the hang of the pattern! I've actually made a good amount of progress, happily knitting away in James's room as he worked on his taxes. The weather is still grey and drizzly, and it just makes me want to curl up and keep working on it! I adore the way this scarf is coming out (even though it's only 3 inches long so far) and I get sucked in (just as with crochet) so that I can barely take my eyes off the yarn mid-row. Mmm, delicious.

I also obtained a lovely 50%-off coupon to Michael's (thank you to Kevin) and could not resist going there even though I was not in need of any supplies. After browsing the entire store twice over (and annoying James thoroughly with my indecision), I picked out a yellow ball of Lion Brand Pound of Love. So now I'm fully equipped for the next time someone decides to have a baby, I can bust out a blanket in no time. Theoretically.

Errors

Bahhh! I have ripped out the scarf after 24 flawless rows! I knitted for a couple hours while James napped on Sunday, and for another hour and half on the train ride home to Boston. The first full pattern repeat was just complete, and I was starting to admire my knitting proficiency and imagine the sophistication it would soon add to my wardrobe. Then I came to the end of a row and one stitch felt weird! This is a lacy pattern so the yarn does strange things when you make a mistake or get shifted off the pattern. I counted back and realized that I'd missed a yarnover in the previous row. Now, I can back-stitch like 10 stitches, but there was no way I'd make it an entire row! I attempted to insert my other needle a couple rows back, but ended up making more mistakes than I could fix. I was torn - rip it out and start over, or somehow keep going and have a giant mess (possibly just an ugly strip of yarn)? I knew it would not hold up to my chic standards with a mangled end, so I took a deep breath... and frogged it! Ahhh it was the worst moment of my day! Then it took like 5 tries to cast it back on again, with the yarn all wobbly like ramen noodles. Apparently I cannot complete this scarf without focusing 100% of my attention every time I knit. Poo.

End-of-Winter Scarf

I was delighted to have a reason to visit the local yarn shop in Dover, NH, just a few blocks from James's apartment. What was my reason? My first real knitting project! I was ready to move beyond squares of stockinette stitch onto a real pattern, and after much (read: way too much) time spent perusing patterns online, I picked the Lace Ribbon Scarf from Knitty.com. I appreciate the chic look of scarves in any weather, and I didn't want to knit anything that wouldn't be used. I've been using a knitting video website to teach myself new stitches such as SSK and YO and k2tog, as well as various ways to cast on, and it's been tremendously helpful.

Anyway, I after brunch I beelined straight for the yarn shop (Spinning Yarns), enjoying every minute of yarn-browsing with the intent to buy. The pattern called for Classic Elite Alpaca Sox yarn, which is gorgeous, but out of my price range for my first ever knit. Plus they didn't have any solid colors. But besides, I didn't want to waste really amazing yarn on my possibly nonexistant knitting skills. Instead I picked out a neutral grey-blue color of Dalegarn Baby Ull yarn, which is thankfully machine washable and very soft.

Anyway, I was itching to try out the pattern when I got home later. Dude, I must have cast on, knit, and ripped out the pattern like 8 times without getting past row 4! The problem is that when I make a mistake, I don't know how to fix it except for starting over. By the time I got to attempt 10, I'd made it past that dreaded row 4 and I'm still going strong at row 22. Yay! But boy I was ready to kill someone after ripping out those stitches so many times. Aiyo!

thinking ahead

Woohoo! A week's worth of steady crocheting has yielded me this lovely slouchy bag! I used Lily Sugar'n Cream in Soft Ecru, with an I-hook and the pattern from Lion Brand. It's supposed to be a market bag, and I can just imagine going to a summer farmer's market and filling it with tomatoes and peaches and pluots. Oh, yum. Of course, this fantasy scene in my head seems to be in Berkeley rather than Boston. But I certainly can't wait for summer to arrive here, and today we got the first taste of warmth at probably 45 degrees in the sunshine (when the wind paused for a moment). Anyway, I'm quite proud of my progress here, and I'm trying to decide what project to start next. Perhaps something knitted...?

stash busting in progress

Never one to finish a project before starting a new one, I crocheted half of a basket tonight according to the pattern by Chickpea Sewing Studio, in some Peaches & Creme yarn I have had lying around for like a couple years. The skein ran out and I haven't started adding a new one, so the basket is not as tall as it will finally be. I was sort of hoping it would come out with a larger diameter, so that I could keep my mittens and scarf and hat in there when I get to my office every day. Hmm, must think of another pile of junk that needs containing...
In other news, here's some of my knitting progress! This is from a skein of Cascade yarn that I partially used for a pillow front for my mom, but the yarn is gorgeous and I've always wanted to use the rest of it for something nice. So now it's being transformed into a scarf! Sungyon is helping me to knit some of it, and we've definitely made some progress... at least, it looks like one end of a scarf. I'll probably need to find another skein of yarn pretty soon though.

New Skillz

I'm learning to knit! My parents gave me two sets of knitting needles for my birthday, sizes 8 and 10.5, and Sungyon taught me some of the basics (knit and purl, at least). With a little extra online tutorial-watching, I figured out how to cast on and bind off, so now I'm fully equipped to make rectangles! Here's my first test swatch, in Peaches & Creme cotton yarn:

I basically tried out a stitch pattern to see how it would come out, and I think I'm getting the hang of these stitches. It's hard coming from crochet, where I know exactly how each stitch will look and how to create what I want to make, whereas knitting is still very mysterious to me - I don't know how the yarn will behave! I see all these gorgeous patterns and objects on ravelry and knitty, but I have no idea how they came from these two skinny chopsticks! Well, I guess I'm one step closer to figuring that out. Next project: semi-ribbed scarf in gorgeous seafoam-green yarn that's been sitting in my yarn pile for a year!

green baby socks

I made these baby socks for Marie-Eve and Daniel's baby, due in a couple weeks. The pattern came from "Simple Crochet for Cherished Babies" by Jane Davis, which has a ton of adorable patterns, but all the patterns seem to have egregious mistakes! Even the pattern for these simple socks had a mistake in how much ribbing to make. Kind of inexcusable, but luckily I was able to pick up the slack and still finish these in a few hours.

progress on purple socks!

Although I abandoned these poor socks for a few months, I have recently made some progress! Sock #1 is done, and Sock #2 is coming close to its final few rounds. I swear I did the same exact pattern for both socks, but the second one is coming out much wider and longer. I had to frog a bunch of stitches and redo them to fit - at least I'm learning how to create custom shapes and fits.
I love how my crochet hook matches the yarn. Scrumptious.

Crafting with Chocolate

After a long hiatus from crafting due to one of my busiest semesters yet, I found a few things finally were off my plate and a crafty opportunity opened up! James and I spent our cold slushy Sunday in the kitchen, making mint-chocolate cookies for xmas presents for our east-coast friends. Man, we are an awesome crafty duo, because these cookies looked beautiful and tasted scrumptious! Here they are in the fridge, chilling so the melted chocolate would harden.

Next, we boxed them up in little white boxes lined with color-coordinated tissue paper, and custom-made tags and gorgeous ribbons that I had been drooling over for weeks.

It was so incredibly satisfying to see them all lined up on the refridgerator shelf, I almost wanted to keep them there just to look at! I'm such a paper-crafting freak!

Oh, Pretty Closet Door!

When I pulled my sewing machine out of its inner-desk hideaway, it was covered in black dust and kind of groggy. But after a quick wipedown with a q-tip and a tissue, it was ready to sew me a curtain!

I'd had this red and white fabric for several weeks, sitting next to my desk and bugging me to make this curtain for my closet (in place of a closet door which does not exist). I was just getting tired of seeing all the crap in my closet all the time. I bought a short curtain rod and then hemmed all 4 edges of the fabric. Being so sheer and lightweight, it was tough to sew a straight hem, but hopefully nobody will notice the curling and curvature of my curtain sides.

James was playing around with the new batteries in his camera, nerdily testing their stamina by snapping pictures of everything in my room. Luckily he's a pretty good photographer, but I don't necessarily appreciate all the pics of my rear end. Anyway, he also befriended this little guy, Mr. Tomato Head. :)

Eek! A Mouse!

After spending a couple weekends at James's apartment in New Hampshire and listening to his roommate's cat meow incessantly out of boredom, I decided to whip up a quick mousie toy for him to play with. It's mostly full of regular stuffing, with a little pinch of catnip for added intrigue. Check out Mr. Mouse's first encounter with Easy the cat. :)

Axel's Baby Blanket

I finally finished the blanket! Fortunately, I got to drop it off personally at Sanji and Michelle's house on Monday, and hang out with the little guy for a bit. Axel is 3 months old now, and can give a toothless smile and squirm around and put his little fist in his mouth. So adorable! I want to babysit!

Update: Purple Sock!

Hello all! The crafting continues, as classes have not started yet for the fall semester. I took my purple sock project to California with me, and got a little bit done on the plane and on the drive to Lake San Antonio. Now it looks more like a sock! From this point, it's being put on the back burner until I finish up little Axel's baby blanket, and then until I finish the present for Amy's upcoming baby. Which will probably be a cable-crocheted hat. Which will require me to visit the yarn store. Yay!

Handmade Wooden Signs for "Orchard"

Wow, I'm sorry it's been so long that I've posted here, but I have still been crafting! My latest project was to create some custom-made signs to label my parents' fruit trees in their backyard orchard. James and I designed and created them out of a redwood plank. First we put a coat of polyurethane on the front side of the plank and cut it to the right size for each word that we would write. Then we printed each word in a nice big font on pieces of paper, and traced each one on the wood with pencils or ballpoint pens, making indentations in the wood.
Then we carved out each name with a dremel and a carving tip - here's James in action. This was the most time-consuming step - each word took 15 minutes on average to carve.
Here's an example of how they come out after carving. Nice!

Then we used a dark wood stain (color: Red Mahogany) to darken the areas we carved out , wiping excess of the polyurethaned area with a spare cloth. We didn't get to it, but the next step would be to put a final coat of polyurethane to weatherproof the whole sign, and drill holes in the bottom to insert a peg so each sign could be staked in the ground next to each tree.Possibly related to my pickyness, it took us a while to decide on the actual method we would use to make each sign. Some of our trials/errors are displayed below, including painting inside the letters, using a wood burner tool, and carving outside rather than inside the letters.

Alas, we had to fly back to Boston before seeing the signs installed in the backyard, but I'm hoping my mom will send me pics of them all set up!

The Green Side of the Family

While they may do some of the work themselves, plants are almost a work of art. I nourish them with water and sunshine to produce a beautiful green sculpture of nature for all to admire. First, check out my orchid. This was originally a gift from my advisor when I got my Master's, and then all the original stems and leaves died... but luckily new ones appeared, and now there are at least 3 stems competing for the first flower! I can't wait! Next to the orchid is Arnold, James's plant, which has followed him here from California. Arnold never seems too happy, but he's still hanging in there.

This lovely I-forget-what-kind-it-is was purchased from an MIT craft fair in Lobby 10, and at the time it had lots of little pink flowers. Two years later, I have not been able to coax it to flower again. For a while it had these crazy-long stems that hung down before going up, probably trying to grow taller to get more sun. I finally snipped all those stems off and all these lovelies have regrown on my sunny windowsill! Crossing my fingers for a bloom!

In this pot lie my newly-acquired basil seeds! They sort of look like baby mouse poos. I got a packet of the seeds at the Earthfest concert in Boston last weekend - woohoo! Homegrown cooking ingredients! Although there are no sprouts yet... maybe I'm getting ahead of myself.

And this is our prized money tree! This guy has sprouted at least 5 new stems off the main stalk, each with larger, shinier leaves than the last. If only our actual financial situation reflected this guy's growth status!

We also have another little plant whose picture I didn't take, because he's ugly. Haha.

Ripple Baby Blanket!

Never one to finish a project before starting another one, I have put my crocheted socks on hold in order to start crocheting a baby blanket for my cousin Sanji's newest addition, due to arrive in 2 weeks! He and his wife don't like to find out if it's a boy or girl beforehand, so I'm stuck with white yarn again, but I'm banking on the fact that there's no possible way I will finish this blanket before their baby is born, and when that occurs I can hastily throw in some pink or blue ripples! Wee! In the meantime, I still have a lot of crocheting to do... I'm using Bernat Softee Baby yarn, with a "ridged chevron" pattern I found in my Harmony Guide to Crochet Stiches book. What a great resource that book is. It's like 100 blanket patterns listed as different stitches, so you have so many possibilities if you apply your creativity to the basics they provide. Supah.

Purple Socks, Finally!

I got this beautiful sock yarn at Building 19 1/2 like two years ago, because it was well-priced and lovely. But unfortunately there are precious few patterns for crocheted socks, so these pretty skeins sat under my bed for quite a while.

To my delight, the latest issue of crochetme.com has a crocheted sock pattern! I was so excited, and within two days I started making the first sock, below, with an E hook. So far it is looking more like a closed tube than a sock, but I'm getting close to the heel part, so I hope it will grow into its sock character soon! I know it's not that practical to start making socks right when the Boston weather is starting to feel like spring (at last!!), but I really couldn't resist. This is also my first experience with stitch markers (I'm using paper clips), and so far it's pretty convenient. I never realized how great it is not to have to physically count your stitches in the round. Wee! I can't wait till one is finished!

More Squares for Afghan

While I have been updating this craft blog only sporadically, my actual crocheting progress has been slow but steady! Check out some of the squares I've made recently for my 63-square afghan. I got a few of them done on our spring break road trip to Cincinnati (14 hours of driving each way!). For some reason, the last few squares came out like diamonds. I think I've been following the same convention as before, but several rows together give a slanty edge. I've been trying to pay more attention to guage for the squares, ever since I read that you can't block with acrylic yarn, and that's exactly what these are made of. My first ~10 squares are all different sizes, but maybe I'll just add wider borders to the smaller ones to even them out. I'm still hoping to make some attempt at blocking if not to just flatten them all out!

I always thought these flowers looked kind of old-lady-ish, but I really like the way this square came out!