Lace Cowl Experiment

Oh the joys of trial and error. This is my first original lace cowl attempt, and all things considered, it turned out okay. Not really as lacy as I hoped, but whatever. It actually turned out as a lace rib, which is perfectly serviceable if not as feminine as I was going for.

It's an 8 stitch pattern repeat: *k4, yo, k2tbl, k2tog, yo* on the odd rows, and knit all on the even rows. (Knit in the round, of course).

I used a 9 and would probably have liked it better with a 7, and I think it's a little too wide and too short, but I'm my own worst critic, and I'm sure my friend will love it.

The pictures don't really do justice to the color. It's the Knit Picks Palette in Rainforest Heather, which=gorgeous! The main color is a DEEP teal, with little bits of magenta and yellow.

Fail-ted Bag Win!

So, mama always said, "If life gives you lemons, make lemonade." I am not a huge fan of tired, cliche adages, but this one is worth something, or at least applicable here.

This bag started as a laptop case, then evolved into a tote. When I felted it, the dimensions were all wrong; it was a complete catastrophe. In other words, it was "fail-ted". I don't have any pictures of its ugly duckling phase, mostly because I didn't want any photographic evidence.

I had pretty much written it off by this point, but it continued to haunt me.

Slowly, over the course of several weeks, I began to get ideas about how I could fix it.

When I attempted another felted bag (you can see it here) with only slightly better results, I dug this one out to finish it, and hopefully get some gratification.

I cut the excess material off of the top of the bag, then cut it into strips to use for the handles. The flower was also made from the excess, by cutting out the petals and hand sewing them on.

And voila! My personal fail-ted bag win, or The Lemonade Tote.

Look what I got in the mail !!!

My long awaited (10 days . . . ) package has arrived! 600 g. of beautiful imported silk yarn, hand spun from sari waste. Gorgeous.

I think I'm going to make the Okranana bag from Ravelry. Any other suggestions?

It's a slightly smaller gauge, and a little over twitsted, but perfect for a bag or garment.

One step at a time

So my Mom had an idea for a cool (Grand)Mother's day present--a homemade mosaic stepping stone out of all the dishes we kids have broken over the years (my Mom collects blue and white china, so there was already a color scheme in place). We bought the stone mix and the molds at the craft store, so all we had to do was finish smashing up the plates. I have to say this was my favorite part, not because I was so good at it, but because I love breaking things--especially when I'm supposed to. This is our full mold and broken peices, pre-assembly.

They were super fun and easy to make--we just pressed the peices into the top of the wet cementy-like stuffs, leaving a enough cement-space between the china pieces to hold them in.




Voila! Here are the final products, still in the drying phase:

Super cute! Just like the toad we found . . .



Rrrrrrrribit! (Do toads say "ribit", or just frogs?)

The Hissing Couch

So I am dealing with the transition to Houston really well. My kitty on the other hand, is having a little tougher time. After several days under the passenger seat of a Jeep Cherokee (I would like to state for the benefit of all the PETA members that this was where the cat chose to be. I like to think it's because that's where he felt safest-- a warm, dark, small, isolated place. I offered him in flight refreshments, but he was uninterested.) I finally deposited him safely in my parents laundry room. They have two cats and I wanted him to adjust a little before making the "introductions". He spent the first 36 hours behind the washer, but given the whole family of six thing eventually my Mom had to do laundry. This turned out to be an excellent form of motivation for the kitty to seek out bold new life and new civilizations, like under my parents bed. He hung out there all day yesterday, much to my chagrin. This morning I was really starting to miss having him around, but no one could seem to find him. As the inhabitants of the house cycled through on their daily business, every one took a turn looking for the kitty, but to no avail. He was simply not to be found. By dinner time, I was a little upset. After I had a minor meltdown, my gallant little brother took it upon himself to find the damn kitty, come hell or high water.

And found him he did! Using a revolutionary new method known as "kitty-to-kitty sonar" my genius little brother was able to locate the kitty by carrying his own pissed off cat from room to room until they started hissing at each other, ultimately betraying my cat's clandestine location inside the couch. I am totally serious about this. Every time Adam (the little bro) tried to gesture towards the couch to show me where the cat was, it hissed at him. I didn't believe it at first, and was poking and prodding all over the couch, with no response. Adam gestures, and the cat hisses. Pet love is darling. We pulled out the hide-a-bed and the cat ran off, but I felt a little silly because I was sitting on that couch knitting and missing my cat all day.

Sagaciously

having or showing acute mental discernment and keen practical sense; shrewd

prurience:

having, inclined to have, or characterized by lascivious or lustful thoughts, desires, etc.

Welcome Home

There are so many wonderful things about being in Texas--I don't know how I managed to stay away for so long. The nights are warm, the booze is cheap, the people are so much friendlier! And then there's the shopping . . . oh, the shopping! The dichotomy of my emotions is overwhelming--on one hand I love shopping, on the other hand I am all too aware of the havoc cheap over-seas goods have wreaked on our economy. After watching The High Cost of Low Prices I feel guilty even looking at a Wal-Mart, but I let myself have one small indulgence:


That's right, the wonder and beauty of a real craft store. Acre after acre and aisle after aisle of crafty goodness. Seattle has lots and lots of wonderful things, but they are seriously lacking in decent craft-related emporiums. Texas, thankfully, is not.


After perusing the handles at the craft store I have officially decided I am not making a laptop cover, I am making a purse. I made a mistake on the color variation, but I think it actually looks better. My gauge was off, so I've ended up with a fairly wide tube; hopefully this will yield a fairly spacious purse. (You can't tell in the pic, but that bottom stripe is a very limey green.)