You guuuuuuuuuys I got my package from the Whedonverse swap last week and I need to show you the awesome things I received from FaerieCyn.

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This TOTALLY SWEET mug. It says “Love isn’t brains, children, it’s blood” around the bottom, one of my favorite Spike quotes. I’m not sure how it’ll stand up to washing so I haven’t been using it for coffee, it’s just up on the shelf.

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Willow Rosenberg

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You guys probably know about my desperate love for Willow. And vamp Willow. So yeah. Yay. Both embroideries are up on my nerd/art wall.

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And finally, this TOTALLY BITCHIN Serenity hoodie. Ignore my face and the cat hair. You know I can’t resist a good kitty snuggle, pictures be damned.

So yeah. Yay!

I actually finished knitting this sweater like a week ago but then KCBW happened and pictures got pushed back. Anyway, it’s all done.

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Pattern: Hexagon Petal Tee from IK Spring 2011
Yarn: Takhi Cotton Classic
Needles: US 6/4mm
Mods: None. Worked as written.

I quite like how this sweater came out. My mannequin is a bit smaller than the recipient, so this isn’t the final fit. Once I figured out how to work the damn hexagons, it was pretty smooth sailing. The motifs make it seems like it’s going a lot faster than it probably is. It was a fun knit.

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I’m thinking I might make another for myself but I haven’t decided yet. I would make some mods for me, namely that I would leave out two hexagons for purposes of fit. I think this top is supposed to be a bit loose and that look doesn’t always work for me.

I’m still working on my Carousel socks and am just starting a new sweater in some sock yarn. Also, I have to post what I received from the Whedonverse Swap, and it is completely awesome.

Today is the official last day of KCBW and I’ve apparently been a little lax in participating. I may get a couple more topics in this week. Anyway, today’s topic is crafting balance, specifically between knitting and crochet. I’m gonna expand that a little.

As you probably know, I do about a million different crafts. I like to make things. I knit, crochet, spin, sew, embroider, cross stitch, dye, paper craft, and do the occasional bit of painting. I am very much a Jill of all trades. And I’d love to learn more crafts–weaving, quilting, glass blowing, pottery… I really like making things.

I mostly knit. Which is why most of the pictures in my blog header are of knitted things. It’s portable, enjoyable, and productive. The vast majority of my crafting time is spent knitting because I can take it anywhere. I crochet much less than I knit, mostly because the things I want to make look better knitted. I crochet where it’s better suited, like when I made these nesting bowls:

I love to cross stitch but at a certain point, there’s only so much room on the walls, y’know? And I love stitching words on aida cloth. So I try not to cross stitch as much as I’d like to.

I like sewing but I’m impatient and rubbish at it. I can pretty much only use rectangles.

I LOVE painting, but I can mostly only draw if I’m copying another picture. I’m pretty boss at that too.

Spinning is fun but I haven’t done it in a while. Too many things to knit.

I have too many paper crafting supplies for the amount I do. If I still got hard copies of photos I would totally scrapbook. But I don’t take that many pictures anyway. I like making cards mostly.

I do a lot of things. I like yarn. And I like fabric and floss and roving and stickers and stamps and scrapbook paper.

Basically, I love to make things.

Soooo I totally spaced yesterday. So today’s post will be from day four of KCBW and I’ll do day five… sometime. Anyway. Today/yesterday’s topic is about seasonal knitting. Basically, do you knit seasonally appropriately?

I think I try. But I live in Virginia:

It’s the truth. So when I finished this hat in November

I really thought I was on the ball and SO READY for winter.

And then winter never happened. We had like three days of winter where it was in the 40s and then it was the 60s for the rest of the “winter”.

Ravelry tells me I finally finished these shorts in mid-March:

Notice how I have tights and a sweater on. Because even though winter never happened and it was officially spring, it was bloody cold that day.

If Virginia had proper seasons, I think I’d knit for them. I finished my Karlsro in September

which should have been just in time for the cooler fall weather. And then there… wasn’t any.

I made my Great Gatsby Dress in July:

and that seems perfectly suitable to July.

Of course I also knit heavy knee high socks in July…

I try. It’s not my fault if the weather’s made up! I think I’ll go to Boston. I hear it’s nice in the summer. Some snow would be nice….. /Augustana

Today’s KCBW topic is knitting heroes. Someone in the knitting (or crochet) world (or not) that inspires you. Let me tell you about a secret knitting crush I’ve had for years. I don’t usually gush about designers too much, but this one seems to have the style I wish I had. I literally want to knit almost everything she’s ever designed. This designer is Connie Chang Chinchio.

Seriously people. This is a sample of patterns that are on Ravelry:

This is a screen shot from Ravelry. I want to make ALL THE THINGS. I currently have definite plans for the Apres Surf Hoodie and I am currently lusting over the Alexandria Cardigan and the Cayuga Hat (seriously I am IN LOVE with this hat). Plus, y’know, everything else. Because seriously, do you see the cardigans?

I apparently haven’t knit anything by her yet, but I WILL. Because the sweaters. All the sweaters. I must have them.

Day two of KCBW Round three! Today’s topic is a photo challenge. Set a scene or a story with a photo. Given that I am crap with photos and didn’t exactly plan ahead (which obviously I should have), I’ll just share the one photo I actually took while on vacation:

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Yes, that is a terrible photo of Mr. Smee holding both my in-progress Carousel sock and his nose. I was going for a “hold my sock” photo a la Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and this is what happened instead. I guess that’s what happens when you take pictures with Disney villains. Next year I’ll have to go with a princess. Or some sort of furry character.

AWW YEAH day one of Knitting and Crochet Blog Week! Today’s post is all about COLORS. I like them. Especially jewel tones cause I’m a slob and it’s harder to stain dark colors. My stash would support this statement and so would my projects. Out of all the things I’ve made for me, there are only a handful made in light colors. There’s this:

and some other things. But my favorite knits are darker colors. Like my Girl Friday, my favorite sweater ever:

It’s kind of hard to tell judging from my projects what colors I tend towards because so many of them were for swaps where I didn’t choose the color. So going to my stash, for which I apparently did not select actual colors, there’s a lot of undyed/white/ecru/natural. That is because the vast majority of my stash is recycled yarn because I’m poor (and it’s fun) and that’s the most common color of sweater I find.

If I could get my stash to filter correctly, I would show you this pictorally buuuuuuuuuuuuuut I can’t. Possibly I should start adding the color family names when I upload new stash.

This is sort of a lame post but I got home yesterday and I had to work today and I can’t find my camera charger. So forgive me. At some point I’ll have pictures of the Hexagon Petal Tee, which is finished, and the Whedonverse swap package I received. At some point. And there are some KCBW posts and stuff.

I’m gonna go back to marathoning the X Files (I’m on season five and OH GOD I LOVE THIS BUT THE UST I AM DYING) and knitting. I’ll see you tomorrow.

I am participating in Knitting and Crochet Blog Week again this year! I have participated for the last two years and it’s a lot of fun. I love meeting new people and new blogs through the tag system. Fortunately, KCBW starts the Monday after I get back from Florida, so I won’t have to worry too much about planning my posts ahead.

If you have a blog, I hope you participate too! Information can be found on eskimimimakes.com. Topics include color, knitting for seasons, and a photography challenge.

In regular knitting news, I have finished all the hexagons, the neckline and 1.5 armbands on my swap Hexagon Petal Tee. I should finish it up in short order but I’m not sure when I’ll be able to post about it. We’re going to the Magic Kingdom tomorrow, MGM/Hollywood Studios on Tuesday and Animal Kingdom on Thursday. It’ll be a busy week but fun I think.

I’m down to the last hexagon on my Hexagon Petal Tee but it’s too bulky to tote around Disney parks, so I started something smaller. I cast on for Clapotis in some recycled merino from a J Crew sweater. I haven’t done too much so far because I’ve been rather engrossed in a book (Insatiable by Meg Cabot, which is basically if Twilight was good), but I’ve got a bit:

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I’ve been doing a lot of reading this week. I finished The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played With Fire and I’m waiting desperately for my hold on The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest to be available. I’m reading them on my Kindle (which, by the way is amazing and love). I’m also reading the Castle tie-in novels, which are delightful, if transparent. I don’t even care. I am picturing all of the characters as the ones from the show (“Lauren Perry” is OBVIOUSLY Lannie and Ochoa is OBVIOUSLY Espo and that’s who I picture speaking). I finished the first one, Heat Wave, and am about halfway through Naked Heat.

On my reading list for the next couple of weeks is the rest of the Castle books, the Wrinkle in Time trilogy (I think I’ll actually understand them this go round) and the Hunger Games. I really want to get to the Hunger Games, but I bought the ebook trilogy so I’m reading my library books first. Impatiently.

Kind of paused on the X Files because I’m away from my internet, but chatter on that will resume when I get back to it.

So I’ve been working on this top for a WWFY swap. It’s a pretty easy knit once I figured out how to read the dang pattern. It’s going pretty quickly and I intend to make one for myself when I’m finished. Here’s what I got so far:

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Here’s what the back looks like:

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In life news, I am leaving for Florida tomorrow, where I will be for two weeks. I suspect I’ll get a lot of knitting done but I’m not sure I’ll be able to post as much as I’d like. So there’s that. I have several other things on the needles so I’m sure I’ll have lots of things to show off either while I’m gone or when I get back.

In fandom news, I am about halfway through season three of the X Files and I am LOVING. IT. UST for real, but it’s so good. I’m also about halfway through The Girl Who Played With Fire and I’m really liking that so far too. And yes, I will probably do some X Files crafts at some point. It’s kind of a thing now.