Soylent Koolhaas!

"It's People! PEEEEOPLE!!! Tell EVERYONE!!"

Sooo. I realized that 3 pair of endpaper mitts by Christmas was an unrealistic goal… sigh.

(I should be putting grades together instead of writing this! I should be house cleaning! I should be doing a lot of other things, but here I am writing about my knitting...)

So, I back up & punt with some stash (Thanks for the de-stashing gift, Colleen!).

Looking yummy so far… The end product is very thick & snuggly!
Well worth the fussiness of the cabling!

I have to say the crown decreases are simply perfect! They are elegant like a math equation… Sometimes I am simply awed by what is possible in knitting.

The actual yardage is something like 140-5 yds, so there are yarn-y leftovers for wrist cuffs or mini mitts…
I will have to experiment with making little tubes of the pattern… I'll print up a little pattern when I finish. The only trick bit will be placing a thumb... Perhaps a little afterthought thumb should poke out of one of the diamonds. We'll see. I can only find out by knitting them up...

Ah well... Back to grading the Art Folders... Bleah.

Strike While the Iron is Hot!

I must post as fast as I can while the Sam sleeps!

More on my flirtation with crochet:

Ok… I know.

I usually hate crochet.

Why am I doing this?

One answer? LOVE.
(Plus… I think I’m developing a guilty pleasure in amigurumi-style crochet. Sigh. How could anyone fight the cuteness? I’m sooo weak!)

My friend Mary loves all thing Studio Ghibli & especially this kami-wood-spirit-sprite, Totoro.
How could I resist hooking her up for her birthday?

I found a darlin' pattern, that even though it is crochet, is the best version of this character I've found:

http://heavens-hellcat.livejournal.com/420.html

It was a bit tedious through the body, but that is simply because I personally find the crochet process itself tedious... I recommend the pattern to anyone who enjoys it.

However, I now know enough that I’ll probably knit one the next time.
Yeah… this guy is soo cute… There has to be a next time so Sam can have one.

Now I just have to crochet a leaf for his sweet little head (I just improvised a leaf using the ear pattern & then stitching it together to flatten it)…

There. Soooper Cute!

I hope Mary loves it.

Abuse & Neglect...

Oh, my sadly neglected blog...

I have so much to post I don't even know where to start!

I guess I'll start with some back tracking:

I first designed these gloves a a serious modification of the cigar smoking glove from knitty. (other than a few of the counts, it is now quite different… But, you have to start somewhere!)

Foolishly, I made them for a lover who took about as good a care of my heart as he did the gloves. He lost them in the first month of having them as a Christmas gift.
Well, I know much better now…

The version(s) you see here are lady-sized or men’s small of the same lost project made in colors I like far better. After doing the first versions, I learned that if you have a set of 2 sts of black along the gusset edge, the intarsia “jumps” do not show at all & an i-cord style raised edge is created.

That innovation pleased me far better than that man ever did…

In other news... I have lifted my "crochet ban" due to some pumpkin cuteness I found on "them internets"...

Normally, I am not fond of crochet. However, these amigurumi style patty-pan pumpkins are too scrumptious! Sam NEEDED one… Then, my Mother NEEDED one…

Ah… seasonal craft mission creep.

Thankfully, these can be quickly knocked out in an evening (Two (or so) hours at the most, I swear… ).
They use a negligible amount of worsted wt. stash yarn. Great for last-minute gifting!

(There is a useful crochet tutorial on the “video crochet” forum on ravelry... check it out if you are so inclined.)

Other images of Pumpkin related cuteness?

See what a difference a year makes:

This hat was a part of the great pregnant knitathon of 2007…

The hat is a simple 70 st stem hat (see the dred-ly pattern in a previous post if you want the walk-through...) with duplicate stitch jack o’ lantern embellishments.

Sam wasn’t so wild about the pumpkin suit, but he was accepting of the hat a year later…

Man, has that noggin GROWN!