I'm still knitting away on my Aeolian Shawl. I still love it so much.
Except.
(cue scary music) Nupps!
I've only knit one row of them but another is looming in the not-so-distant future.
I don't know what it is, but I'm just not thrilled with how they look. Too much like bobbles which also aren't my favorite thing. I'm knitting them in for the experience and maybe once I block the shawl, I'll absolutely love them.
The one thing I've learned so far? When they say loose, they mean LOOSE!!!!!
Well, I'm going to head back to my shawl. Maybe someday I'll have a finished picture or something. Don't hold your breath though okay?
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Butterflies
I've been mainly working on Aeolian lately but I don't feel like I'm anywhere that warrants another picture so I needed to find something to distract you from the lack of knitting content.
Enter a forgotten project.
Since we moved to our apartment in July, I've tidied up the crafting corner but I haven't really gotten over there to do a whole lot of work. (The box of mending sitting under the desk that hasn't been touched is testament to that.) I grab my yarn and needles and wander away and they end up all over the place, pretty much.
Well, last Friday hubby was home for the day and was bogarting the computer so I decided to start a bit of a list of things waiting to get done over there and at least get one or two done. One thing that was waiting? To mat and frame a finished cross stitch project.
Now, you may have heard me talk about cross stitch before. It's definitely not my favorite past time and I have to be in just the right mood as well as have just the right amount of patience. Well, long about May or something like that, I had finished this cross stitch that had been lounging around for (I kid you not!) 10 years or so. I honestly don't know what took me so long. It's even brightly colored which really helps me to not get bored. Well, immediately after, I washed it and mounted it on a sticky board, just like you're supposed to. Then I went out and bought a large mat board (they only had one size. HUGE) and a frame. Then it sat there, just waiting, collecting dust. Well, on Friday, I finally dug it out and got a mat cut. It's been a very, very long time since I've cut a mat and it doesn't look perfect. Neither is the cross stitch itself mounted perfectly straight like it should be, but it's on there, and framed and I'll live with it.
I even hung it on the wall already. No use beating about the bush. So, for you viewing pleasure, I give you: Butterflies:
It's not a perfect picture. I didn't use flash and it still glared a little bit. But, I'll show you my favorite butterfly in it.
The Monarch there on the left. It was not fun at all to stitch but it looks absolutely beautiful now. I'm pretty happy with it and I think at least that it brightens up the dining room in this nasty grey March, so there you have it. One item checked off the To Do list.
Enter a forgotten project.
Since we moved to our apartment in July, I've tidied up the crafting corner but I haven't really gotten over there to do a whole lot of work. (The box of mending sitting under the desk that hasn't been touched is testament to that.) I grab my yarn and needles and wander away and they end up all over the place, pretty much.
Well, last Friday hubby was home for the day and was bogarting the computer so I decided to start a bit of a list of things waiting to get done over there and at least get one or two done. One thing that was waiting? To mat and frame a finished cross stitch project.
Now, you may have heard me talk about cross stitch before. It's definitely not my favorite past time and I have to be in just the right mood as well as have just the right amount of patience. Well, long about May or something like that, I had finished this cross stitch that had been lounging around for (I kid you not!) 10 years or so. I honestly don't know what took me so long. It's even brightly colored which really helps me to not get bored. Well, immediately after, I washed it and mounted it on a sticky board, just like you're supposed to. Then I went out and bought a large mat board (they only had one size. HUGE) and a frame. Then it sat there, just waiting, collecting dust. Well, on Friday, I finally dug it out and got a mat cut. It's been a very, very long time since I've cut a mat and it doesn't look perfect. Neither is the cross stitch itself mounted perfectly straight like it should be, but it's on there, and framed and I'll live with it.
I even hung it on the wall already. No use beating about the bush. So, for you viewing pleasure, I give you: Butterflies:
It's not a perfect picture. I didn't use flash and it still glared a little bit. But, I'll show you my favorite butterfly in it.
The Monarch there on the left. It was not fun at all to stitch but it looks absolutely beautiful now. I'm pretty happy with it and I think at least that it brightens up the dining room in this nasty grey March, so there you have it. One item checked off the To Do list.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Sleep is for Weenies
So, after the last two nights, I'm starting to think that maybe I should just give up and not sleep at all.
Sunday night, I couldn't sleep so I stayed up until 4:30 am. I finished a book, which was good but I still couldn't sleep when I got to bed. So frustrating. I ended up sleeping about 5 hours.
Then, last night I had to teach a Crochet class. I decided not to take a nap, even though I knew I might feel tired later because I wanted to be able to sleep last night.
Um, yeah, that didn't work either. I went to bed at midnight (even though I really was tired enough earlier) and woke up at 5:30 from a nightmare. Often when I have nightmares, which are sometimes extremely vivid, I need to take a few minutes and reorient myself and realize that I am awake or I end up going back to sleep and either re-entering the nightmare or having a completely different nightmare because I'm still freaked out. I got up and spent just a few minutes on the computer and tried to go back to bed. No luck, my brain kept chattering at me, like 6:00 is the time to get up and do productive things. Plus, the birds chattering outside did not help. I ended up just getting up again.
Tonight is Crochet Night so I'll be out at Crafts Direct doing my Hook Thing but I don't have any plans for tomorrow so I will be sleeping in! That's final Brain, do you hear me!
Okay, I'm going to go spend a few minutes knitting something simple. My addled brain can't take much else.
Sunday night, I couldn't sleep so I stayed up until 4:30 am. I finished a book, which was good but I still couldn't sleep when I got to bed. So frustrating. I ended up sleeping about 5 hours.
Then, last night I had to teach a Crochet class. I decided not to take a nap, even though I knew I might feel tired later because I wanted to be able to sleep last night.
Um, yeah, that didn't work either. I went to bed at midnight (even though I really was tired enough earlier) and woke up at 5:30 from a nightmare. Often when I have nightmares, which are sometimes extremely vivid, I need to take a few minutes and reorient myself and realize that I am awake or I end up going back to sleep and either re-entering the nightmare or having a completely different nightmare because I'm still freaked out. I got up and spent just a few minutes on the computer and tried to go back to bed. No luck, my brain kept chattering at me, like 6:00 is the time to get up and do productive things. Plus, the birds chattering outside did not help. I ended up just getting up again.
Tonight is Crochet Night so I'll be out at Crafts Direct doing my Hook Thing but I don't have any plans for tomorrow so I will be sleeping in! That's final Brain, do you hear me!
Okay, I'm going to go spend a few minutes knitting something simple. My addled brain can't take much else.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Fever Knitting
Normally I have the attention span of a gnat when it comes to my knitting but lately it has been all Aeolian, all the time.
The biggest trouble is that my wrist still hurts off and on so I am only knitting for a little while here and there. This is good for the wrist, not so good for the blog fodder.
I also seem to be running a slight fever which makes me feel just...off. I know I am not quite right but it isn't enough to make me feel like I really, really have to be resting.
Today, I am going to fight the urge to just soldier on and rest so that I don't get worse though. That means I may not knit on Aeolian since that requires attention.
Maybe by tomorrow, I will have something much more interesting to say. Don't hold your breath okay.
The biggest trouble is that my wrist still hurts off and on so I am only knitting for a little while here and there. This is good for the wrist, not so good for the blog fodder.
I also seem to be running a slight fever which makes me feel just...off. I know I am not quite right but it isn't enough to make me feel like I really, really have to be resting.
Today, I am going to fight the urge to just soldier on and rest so that I don't get worse though. That means I may not knit on Aeolian since that requires attention.
Maybe by tomorrow, I will have something much more interesting to say. Don't hold your breath okay.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Still stuck on Aeolian
Sorry that I haven't been around much lately. The stupid wrist still hurts off and on and I'm battling a bit of a cold now too. I've been running a slight fever so I frequently find myself sitting and staring at my hands instead of knitting.
I've been wanting to finish the Yucca chart on the Aeolian shawl for several days now and I'm slowly getting there.
I had to go on a hunt to find more beads on Sunday. It did not go well but I managed to find something that was close enough. You really can't tell the difference but the new ones are just a teeny tiny bit darker.
What was that? You wanted a close up? Okay.
As usual, lace looks like yuck until blocked but it is coming along and when I stretch it out it looks pretty good. Well, I'm going to go lie down and knit now. I think my fever is up again.
I've been wanting to finish the Yucca chart on the Aeolian shawl for several days now and I'm slowly getting there.
I had to go on a hunt to find more beads on Sunday. It did not go well but I managed to find something that was close enough. You really can't tell the difference but the new ones are just a teeny tiny bit darker.
What was that? You wanted a close up? Okay.
As usual, lace looks like yuck until blocked but it is coming along and when I stretch it out it looks pretty good. Well, I'm going to go lie down and knit now. I think my fever is up again.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Aeolian calls out to me.
So, yesterday morning I got up and had in my mind a post all written about what I was crocheting. Then, something happened. I got distracted by this. I love almost all the patterns so I decided to just queue things on Ravelry and then print later when I cast something on.
About fifteen minutes later, I had broken my own rule. What happened? I scrolled down in this pattern: Aeolian. I saw the larger version in the cream and I saw the purple. I absolutely fell in love. Fourteen printed pages later, I was stash diving and I had cast on.
Whoops.
Well, it turns out that I'm not the only one. A friend on Plurk (hi KarenB!) was also going to knit it so we talked about doing a plurk knitalong. Then, a few minutes later, I had created a group on Ravelry. We have 37 members already. Here's my version:
I have a 32" Addi Turbo in Size 1 (I'm okay with the fact that it is slightly smaller than called for. 90" is pretty large so if mine ends up slightly smaller, so be it.) I'm using Knit Picks Shadow in Lost Lake. I am doing the beads too. I have a whole bunch of the green and then when I run out I have some that are blue and green mixed together and since the yarn is kind of blue and green heather, I think that might be interesting.
Well, I hate to disappoint the crocheters so I will move along to the Crochet project.
Awhile back, I found a skein of Aunt Lydia's Crochet Thread. What's so interesting about that? It was bamboo. I was surprised and I picked it up and put it in the cart (this was at Wal-Mart of all places.) It has a lovely sheen to it and it is silky and soft so I bought it. It was about the same price as the cotton crochet thread also.
The ball has a scant 300 yards (as opposed to 350 on most cotton crochet thread) so I searched through my crochet books to find a pattern that I liked but that called for less than 300 yards. I found a beautiful pattern in Absolutely Gorgeous Doilies its called Peacock Pride. I started up right away. I'm still taking lots of rest for my wrist so I've been only working on this slowly but I have to say:
I'm LOVING it.
The thoughts I had about it were that the shiny factor would make it slippery and difficult to work with and that I would have issues with splitting since I could easily see the plys in the thread. I found neither of these to be the case. I haven't had any issues with it splitting and the shiny and smooth factor makes it a dream to work with. While I was purchasing it, I saw only the one color but I see that it comes in many colors on the website I linked to. I would love to see it in many other, brighter colors since I have heard bamboo takes dye very well. I will definitely be using this again.
Sorry for the awful pictures. It's hard to get a decent picture of this project. I'll keep trying.
But for now, I'm going to go knit Aeolian.
About fifteen minutes later, I had broken my own rule. What happened? I scrolled down in this pattern: Aeolian. I saw the larger version in the cream and I saw the purple. I absolutely fell in love. Fourteen printed pages later, I was stash diving and I had cast on.
Whoops.
Well, it turns out that I'm not the only one. A friend on Plurk (hi KarenB!) was also going to knit it so we talked about doing a plurk knitalong. Then, a few minutes later, I had created a group on Ravelry. We have 37 members already. Here's my version:
I have a 32" Addi Turbo in Size 1 (I'm okay with the fact that it is slightly smaller than called for. 90" is pretty large so if mine ends up slightly smaller, so be it.) I'm using Knit Picks Shadow in Lost Lake. I am doing the beads too. I have a whole bunch of the green and then when I run out I have some that are blue and green mixed together and since the yarn is kind of blue and green heather, I think that might be interesting.
Well, I hate to disappoint the crocheters so I will move along to the Crochet project.
Awhile back, I found a skein of Aunt Lydia's Crochet Thread. What's so interesting about that? It was bamboo. I was surprised and I picked it up and put it in the cart (this was at Wal-Mart of all places.) It has a lovely sheen to it and it is silky and soft so I bought it. It was about the same price as the cotton crochet thread also.
The ball has a scant 300 yards (as opposed to 350 on most cotton crochet thread) so I searched through my crochet books to find a pattern that I liked but that called for less than 300 yards. I found a beautiful pattern in Absolutely Gorgeous Doilies its called Peacock Pride. I started up right away. I'm still taking lots of rest for my wrist so I've been only working on this slowly but I have to say:
I'm LOVING it.
The thoughts I had about it were that the shiny factor would make it slippery and difficult to work with and that I would have issues with splitting since I could easily see the plys in the thread. I found neither of these to be the case. I haven't had any issues with it splitting and the shiny and smooth factor makes it a dream to work with. While I was purchasing it, I saw only the one color but I see that it comes in many colors on the website I linked to. I would love to see it in many other, brighter colors since I have heard bamboo takes dye very well. I will definitely be using this again.
Sorry for the awful pictures. It's hard to get a decent picture of this project. I'll keep trying.
But for now, I'm going to go knit Aeolian.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Resurfacing and a movie review.
I didn't mean to disappear off the face of the earth, honest. I just got sort of distracted there for a few days.
Last weekend, hubby went down to see some friends and I opted out and stayed home so I thought I would work on some knitting and have a little fun. I did. The issue, however, was that I knit with cotton for about 2 hours. Yeah. Ow! I hurt my right wrist with a little overuse so I couldn't knit at all for several days. This left me feeling listless and odd. I did get some housecleaning done though. At least I was productive. Then, just as the wrist was slowly starting to not feel like I wanted to rip my own right arm off, I had to make a little trip down to the parents'. We were supposed to go see my grandma and also go down to the Metrodome to see a baseball game. The baseball game included our favorite former babysat player who is now in college. The game changed and the circumstances changed so we didn't get to the game. Then, we were having so much fun playing Canasta and snuggling little fuzzy kitties who have to get fixed next week, that we sort of forgot to go see Grandma. Whooops.
I got home on Saturday, with no knitting whatsoever done, although I did get some cross stitching done on the cross stitch I started to commemorate our wedding. Please ignore the fact that our 4th anniversary is coming up in a couple of months ok.
I was home just in time to change out the dirty clothes for clean ones in my overnight bag and get into the car to head down to see our friends for gaming and an overnight stay. We usually come home on Saturday nights but we were asked if we would stay so we could all go and see a movie on Sunday. Watchmen. I will talk about that travesty later.
I wasn't in that particular game so we played Cribbage instead. It was fun, I haven't played in a REALLY long time so I couldn't remember how and we lost all 3 games. It was still fun. Then we bowled on the Wii.
Sunday morning dawned an hour later thanks to the icky Daylight Savings Time. (Man, do I hate that) and I got ready in time to gather up the friends and get to see the movie at the noon showing. We all wondered where the bad weather was we were supposed to have gotten. It was nowhere to be found. So we went and sat in a dark theater for about 3 hours while we watched the single worst movie I have ever seen.
Let's talk about that, shall we? Okay, I knew the story line would be dark, I was prepared for that. I was also prepared that it would not be a typical superhero movie. Since I am married to a comic-geeky sort of guy, I have seen more than my share of superhero movies, I wasn't expecting the typical. Let me just say, despite my low expectations, I was appalled. I did not want to really see it in the first place and when I noticed the R rating while we were buying my tickets, I should have caught on and picked something else to watch alone while the friends watched this. There was some wonderful cinematography in the movie but most of the time, I was completely lost. The timeline jumped forward and backward so often I got whiplash and mostly had no idea whatsoever what was going on. When I wasn't confused about what time it was, I was appalled at the nudity, graphic sex and overkill violence. I expected the swearing but even that was overdone in my opinion. I was shocked when I saw a family with children under the age of 10 at this movie. I was embarrased to be sitting there watching it and I can't imagine children seeing it. Overall, I wish I could un-see this movie. For me, there was nothing redeeming about it. Hubby enjoyed the special effects which, while I did think they were well-done, did not make it any better or enjoyable in any way for me.
I'm sorry to people to enjoyed it if you are offended but I felt I had to say my piece and this is my place to say it so thank you for your patience.
Today we are getting a snow storm so I will be doing laundry and staying in. (No crochet night tonight due to the weather, but you might be able to see some crochet here tomorrow.)
Last weekend, hubby went down to see some friends and I opted out and stayed home so I thought I would work on some knitting and have a little fun. I did. The issue, however, was that I knit with cotton for about 2 hours. Yeah. Ow! I hurt my right wrist with a little overuse so I couldn't knit at all for several days. This left me feeling listless and odd. I did get some housecleaning done though. At least I was productive. Then, just as the wrist was slowly starting to not feel like I wanted to rip my own right arm off, I had to make a little trip down to the parents'. We were supposed to go see my grandma and also go down to the Metrodome to see a baseball game. The baseball game included our favorite former babysat player who is now in college. The game changed and the circumstances changed so we didn't get to the game. Then, we were having so much fun playing Canasta and snuggling little fuzzy kitties who have to get fixed next week, that we sort of forgot to go see Grandma. Whooops.
I got home on Saturday, with no knitting whatsoever done, although I did get some cross stitching done on the cross stitch I started to commemorate our wedding. Please ignore the fact that our 4th anniversary is coming up in a couple of months ok.
I was home just in time to change out the dirty clothes for clean ones in my overnight bag and get into the car to head down to see our friends for gaming and an overnight stay. We usually come home on Saturday nights but we were asked if we would stay so we could all go and see a movie on Sunday. Watchmen. I will talk about that travesty later.
I wasn't in that particular game so we played Cribbage instead. It was fun, I haven't played in a REALLY long time so I couldn't remember how and we lost all 3 games. It was still fun. Then we bowled on the Wii.
Sunday morning dawned an hour later thanks to the icky Daylight Savings Time. (Man, do I hate that) and I got ready in time to gather up the friends and get to see the movie at the noon showing. We all wondered where the bad weather was we were supposed to have gotten. It was nowhere to be found. So we went and sat in a dark theater for about 3 hours while we watched the single worst movie I have ever seen.
Let's talk about that, shall we? Okay, I knew the story line would be dark, I was prepared for that. I was also prepared that it would not be a typical superhero movie. Since I am married to a comic-geeky sort of guy, I have seen more than my share of superhero movies, I wasn't expecting the typical. Let me just say, despite my low expectations, I was appalled. I did not want to really see it in the first place and when I noticed the R rating while we were buying my tickets, I should have caught on and picked something else to watch alone while the friends watched this. There was some wonderful cinematography in the movie but most of the time, I was completely lost. The timeline jumped forward and backward so often I got whiplash and mostly had no idea whatsoever what was going on. When I wasn't confused about what time it was, I was appalled at the nudity, graphic sex and overkill violence. I expected the swearing but even that was overdone in my opinion. I was shocked when I saw a family with children under the age of 10 at this movie. I was embarrased to be sitting there watching it and I can't imagine children seeing it. Overall, I wish I could un-see this movie. For me, there was nothing redeeming about it. Hubby enjoyed the special effects which, while I did think they were well-done, did not make it any better or enjoyable in any way for me.
I'm sorry to people to enjoyed it if you are offended but I felt I had to say my piece and this is my place to say it so thank you for your patience.
Today we are getting a snow storm so I will be doing laundry and staying in. (No crochet night tonight due to the weather, but you might be able to see some crochet here tomorrow.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)