The Price of Dillentantism

... is that you rarely finish projects, and therefore have little to blog about. Also, I've been battling a case of the Blahs-Blehs-Blues, which tends to sap one's enthusiasm for most things.

Mostly what I've been doing in the last week or so is a little embroidery, a little sewing, and a whole lot of starting knitting projects. Ravelry really ought to come with a warning label:

Bearing down on me like a vicious tornado is the deadline for Sockapalooza. Naturally, knowing that I should be working on Deadline Knitting only makes me want to do Anything Else. Like sewing a new bag!

I made this from Nancy's extremely fantastic tutorial. I love that it is reversible, allowing me to show off both pretty fabrics. I made the handles shorter than she instructed and included a flannel inner liner in place of interfacing. This latter nifty tip I learned from Amy Karol's book, Bend-the-Rules Sewing. Really, if you have any interest in learning to sew, or already love to sew, you need to run out and buy this book. It is so lovely and inspiring and really full of helpful information.

I swear, in my next post, there will be knitting.

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Link-o-Rama!

- Sulafaye has posted what may be the Ultimate Variegated Sock Pattern!
- Have you heard about Pandora Radio? It's the brainchild of the Music Genome Project. You tell them your favorite song or artist and, through some sort of computer magic, they create a radio station that will play music that has similar characteristics.
- This looks like a delicious and easy refrigerator pickles recipe. If anyone has a similar recipe for sour and garlicky pickles, please let me know!
- Cutest baby booties ever.
- I want to make this sweater right this minute. Must ... finish ... sockpal ... socks!

Falling in Love Again

... with Rib and Cables, and Cider Moon. I hope my sock pal loves them, too!

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Link-o-Rama!

* Cleveland-area crafters! Have you heard about Shannon Okey's craft studio Stitch Cleveland? It looks to be an awesome resource for every sort of fiber-y, fabric-y love. I signed up for the Katherine Shaughnessy crewel class on July 14th. Squee!
* How cute is this pencil case? You have to get excited about any tutorial that instructs you to use a hacksaw.
* Look at this GORGEOUS cotton that Yarnbee and her friend dyed with Rit Dye!
* Jen's Parade of Beautiful FO's continues with her cute Coachella.
* How could I be so late to the Craft Lit party? This podcast is so fantastic.
* Hungry for some authentic Tex-Mex and Southern fare? Or just want to look at pretty pictures of it? Pop over to Homesick Texan. Your cardiologist will thank me. Do not miss the post on cream gravy, food of the gods.

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Thanks, everyone, for the nice compliments on my yarn! I love me an afternoon of Kool-Aid dyeing. It's starting to become a nice little summer tradition!

And Even More Crochet!

Clearly, I cannot get enough of crocheting round things.

Pattern: Little Bowls, from the Crochet to Go deck
Fiber: Sugar n' Cream cotton for the one on the left, 3 ply jute garden twine for the one on the right
Hooks: Size F for the cotton bowl, size G for the jute bowl

The key with these little bowls is very tight gauge. The cotton bowl really needed a smaller hook. The jute one turned out to be pretty sturdy. Granted, it wasn't exactly a relaxing crafting experience, but it was fun in its way. The jute would make nice coasters, too.

I also finished up another crochet project, which is blocking.

More details later, but for now I will only say that it's part of my devious plot to convince Ashley to start crocheting.

You all had some great ideas for the crocheted circles from yesterday. Kim probably wins the prize for "most unlikely" with bikini top and knee pads. I really liked Stephanie's idea to seam them together and stiffen them with cork between the layers. This would have the added benefit of allowing them to be used as hot pads. For now, the circles will remain one of those "enjoy the process" projects.

Link-o-Rama!
* I am really enjoying seeing all the book recommendations on Minty's and Lolly's blogs. My to-read pile is going to be totteringly tall!
* Speaking of books, I am practically biting my nails waiting for my pre-ordered copy of Amy Karol's book, Bend the Rules Sewing. (And the new Harry Potter, too, of course!) And Alicia Paulson announced on Posie Gets Cozy that she is working on a book, due to hit the shelves in fall 2008. ::swoon::
* Have you seen Scout's new colorways? Amazing!
* It must be summer, because I am itching to knit socks. Nona's astounding Sidewinders are about to be cast on, in spite of having three others on the needles. After seeing Sulafaye's finished ones, how could I resist?

By the way, I got my Ravelry invite last week. If you're there too, look for me! I chose the surprising name of "affiknitty."

In Love

Colors, from left: Istanbul, Chocolate Mousse, June Carter

I have found a yarn that joins Jessie's and Sundara's among my very favorite yarns. It's Cider Moon Glacier DK superwash merino. As I noted in my last post, I recently started a pair of socks in some of this delicious, dyed-here-in-Ohio yarn. I bought it at the Knitter's Mercantile, while I was in Columbus taking the bar exam. Finally, it found its way on my needles. I am besotted. So much so that I dashed off to their website, fortuitously soon after a shop update. I may have gone a little nuts.

This yarn is buttery soft and the colors are simply amazing. Plus, great customer service -- the shipping was very fast and they included four little yarn samples: three more Glacier colorways and one in Flurry, a fingering weight yarn. I am looking forward to trying some of their other yarn styles! As for those socks, I imagine you'll be seeing an FO post soon.

Link-o-Rama!

- More babies! Faith from The Knitting Cook has welcomed a little girl to her family! Yay!
- Lately, I've felt the desire to cast on some lace ... next new project! You too? Not into triangular shawls? Check out JennyRaye's fantastic compendium of rectangular shawl patterns, both for sale and gratis.
- From the Department of Very Extremely Beautiful Things, check out these socks!
- On a non-fibery note, Sister Diane recently posted about a cheery little vintage Betty Crocker cookbook she scored while thrifting. I have a SERIOUS weakness for these cookbooks and have a little collection of my own.

Lost: My Focus

Call it a swatch, call it a coaster, call it what you will. But these are the only "FOs" I have to show.

I am knitting (and crocheting), but the only things I manage to finish are swatches. Here is a reasonably comprehensive list of what's on my needles:

Three pairs of socks
Two sweaters
Two scarves
Three blankets
Two pairs of mittens

She cannot resist the siren song of the shell stitch!

Also, I have started and nearly as quickly abandoned several other projects (the Cable-Down Pullover from the Spring IK, Tiffany mittens, Chevron scarf, Pomatomus socks, etc., etc.). The reasons for aborting these are varied and predictable: gauge totally off, colors all wrong, yarn not working for the pattern, size ridiculously too large. I especially seem to be having problems with socks (sob!), as many of the patterns I really want to knit have not been working out for me. I knit too loosely. I have trouble getting gauge. These socks would fit someone with a wicked case of edema. Waah waah waah.

Helen asked about the patterns in this book, so I thought I'd share my $0.02 about it. I do really like the book. It's very attractively photographed and clearly laid out. On each left hand page is a knit stitch pattern and on each right hand page, a crochet pattern. One really nice feature of the book is that the table of contents includes a thumbnail picture of each stitch pattern, which makes browsing the book very easy. The book includes some very introductory information on color theory and choosing colors, as well as appendices in the back that illustrate how to make the basic knit and crochet stitches.

I only have a few little quibbles. First of all, the book contains "200 patterns" because each stitch pattern is illustrated in two sets of colors. Granted, with some of the patterns the look can be very different and how many ripple patterns can there be, but still. To me, that's more like 100 patterns. I wish the book included detailed information about the yarns that are used in the pictured swatches. And I really wish the knit patterns had charts. Some of them are lacy, and I just prefer to knit lace from a chart. But, all in all, I think the book is inspiring and well-executed, and I'm glad I added it to my burgeoning craft bookshelf. If you both knit and crochet, I'd say it's definitely worth purchasing.

Link-o-Rama!

- Baby Lug is here! Go see!
- I'm sure you probably already know this, but Sockapalooza 4 signups are open!
- Greetingarts loves blue-green and so do I.
- At risk of appearing to be stalking Alicia, I will point out that there is a free crocheted baby blanket pattern that is too sweet up at Posie Gets Cozy.
- A little late, but if you are either (1) wondering what to do with Peeps or (2) in the mood for a lovely tune by the Roches, visit alt-gramma and indie mom at Speed of Dark.

Too Much to Resist

Maybe it was the idea of using up all those little leftover balls of yarn...

I knew I was saving these for a reason.

Maybe it was the tools...

Ooh! Shiny! Pretty colors!

Definitely, it was partly Nona's doing. I could no longer resist the siren call of the crochet.

Now what do I do with all those ends?

Because, really, who doesn't need another craft to practice?


Today's Link-o-Rama!

- See the Ur-Ripples here at Posie Gets Cozy. Alicia started the craze!
- Miss Periwinkle has made two exceptionally lovely blankets: a Ripple and a Vintage Stripe.
- There's also a Ripple-Along and Bella Dia has a great tutorial for the Vintage Stripes.
- See even more Ripples and Vintage Stripes at their respective Flickr pools!
- And, to end on a knitting note, Margene has a great post today about the endless allure of sock knitting.

And the Answers Are...

Well, that was fun! Pretty much everyone recognized the Koigu.

I have no idea what the brown tweedy yarn is. I was curious what people would guess. This scarf is from my early days as a knitter, when I didn't fully comprehend the idea that you can always frog something that isn't really working. This scarf is ridiculously too wide and too short, but the yarn is nice. It might be Classic Elite Waterspun. Not sure.

These lovelies are, from left, Colinette Jitterbug and Cider Moon Glacier. The Jitterbug was a very generous prize from Cat (I was the 100th commenter on her blog). The Cider Moon is made by talented hand-dyers here in Ohio. I bought this at the Knitter's Mercantile in Columbus the evening after the first day of the bar exam. The people there were extremely nice, helpful, and sympathetic about my ordeal. They agreed that yarn was definitely in order.

There seemed to be a split among the guessers with respect to the garter stitch project: many thought it was Cotton-Ease and almost as many guessed Knit Picks Shine.

Sorry. Wrong. It's Red Heart Soft Yarn.

Lolly recently posted about a cute, cute shrug she is knitting from Caron Simply Soft Shadows. She opined, and I tended to agree, that not all acrylic yarns are created equal. Some of them are actually nice. Her commenters had many suggestions for good acrylic yarns, which naturally I felt compelled to road test. We'll see how this stands up to the washer and dryer. But right now, I am tempted to dub Red Heart Soft Yarn the "Two-Buck Chuck of Yarns."

Now, I'm not going to argue that this is as good a yarn as, say, Rowan Felted Tweed anymore than I would suggest that Charles Shaw Sauvignon Blanc is as good a wine as my favorite French Sancerre. But, for the price, this yarn is excellent. It is soft as can be, feels silky not plasticky, knits up nicely, and comes in some decent (read secondary and tertiary) colors. And it was $2.99 a ball. For items that will take some abuse, where allergies or woolphobias are concerned, or when you're on a budget, I'd say this is a good choice.

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Link-o-Rama, Baby!

I have really been enjoying the links that Faith at No More Sweaters and Vera at freehand sketching have been closing their posts with. So much crafty goodness! So much inspiration! I decided to shamelessly steal their fantastic idea!

- Pamela Wynne at Flint Knits has made two of the Cutest Blouses Ever.
- Soe at sprite writes has a lovely recurring theme of "Three Beautiful Things" on her blog.
- Consistently hilarious Ellen at Knit Sisters blogs about the Healing Power of Jello.
- If you're looking for something good to read, you might check out this post and this one at Fig & Plum.
- Theresa at Knitting Underway is looking for manly sock yarns and patterns. Did I mention she's having a contest?