Welcome! And more Fixation Socks!

June 18, 2010 in blog, knitting | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

If you’ve followed me here from The Adulterous Whores Club, welcome! I hope you’ll stick around! To start things off on the right foot with the new blog here, here’s a short post about some socks:

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Pattern: It’s a 40 st. toe-up sock with a garter stitch short row heel.
Yarn: Cascade Fixation
Needles: US 3/2.75 mm dpns

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I love knitting socks out of Fixation. The turn around time is amazingly fast–I knit these almost entirely today on the train from DC to Virginia Beach (though I started the toe of the first one yesterday on the Metro). They’re thick, cushy, and comfortable and great for wearing in the spring and fall. Love ’em. I have at least another ball in red and another ball in purple, so I’ll probably be making more. : )

I have two more finished knits that I’ll be showing off soon, and an interesting challenge/contest that I’ll be talking about later. : ) Stay tuned!

Fibre Space!

June 15, 2010 in life, stash | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

Today, the boyfriend and I journeyed to Alexandria to visit Fibre Space:

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The shop is lovely and bright and full of pretty, pretty yarns. Mostly stuff that’s a bit out of my price range, but I was pleased to be able to fondle things like Malabrigo and Blue Sky Cotton and MadTosh, which I hadn’t previously seen in person (they’re all lovely). The staff was wonderful and my non-knitting boyfriend even managed to strike up a conversation with another woman in the shop about knitting styles (I knit continental and noticed when the woman (who was throwing) was knitting differently than I do).

Anyway, I came away with a couple of things (and sorry about the flash photo, but the colors are basically accurate:

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That’s a skein of Cascade Fixation (I love me my Cascade) in a lovely teal, which will become socks, two skeins of Malabrigo lace in black, which will most likely become another Featherweight (provided I have the patience), and a 4 oz. braid of BFL in “Ledroit Park” from Neighborhood Yarn Company, which is based in DC. Pretty pretty.

I’m in DC until Thursday (which is earlier than I intended, but the reason for my early return is partially my sister is graduating and partially very long and sordid, so we won’t get into it), and after that, I’ll have some big news about the blog (don’t worry; nothing bad).

Went to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo

June 11, 2010 in life | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

You’ll have to forgive me for the non-crafty posts over the next week and a half. I am knitting (I promise!), I just keep forgetting to take pictures of the wip when there’s natural light outside. In my defense, I didn’t have a lot of time yesterday as the boyfriend and I went to the National Zoo. We saw things like elephants:

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and prairie dogs:

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and a large bird that tried to eat Joe:

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I’d say it was a productive afternoon.

Greetings from DC!

June 10, 2010 in knitting, life | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Specifically from inside of Borders, where I am spending the afternoon (or was at the time of this writing) because my boyfriend works there. It’s been a lovely couple of days and I am highly enjoying being here (well… DC. Not necessary specifically Borders). Yesterday we went for a walk to a very pretty park with a trail:

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and tomorrow (today, when you guys get this) we’re planning on visiting the zoo (so I expect there will be pictures to share of that later).

I have also been knitting: I started a summery tank out of some Cascade Pima Tencel which is super soft and super wonderful to work with. I brought yarn for a variety of projects (including several socks) and I’m also planning to visit Fibre Space in Alexandria while I’m here, so on the off chance that I finish this tank (highly unlikely), I’ll have plenty of things to knit. As for pictures for this here blog of mine, I recently finished a gift for my friend Sarah’s birthday, but I still need to photograph it and send it, so a post about it will happen once she receives it.

Dollar Store Swap! Part One

June 8, 2010 in embroidery, Misc. Crafts, sewing, swap | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

(Though I wrote this post before I left, when you all read this, I’ll already have been in DC for a few days. So greetings from DC!)

So I signed up for a swap on Craftster that is Dollar Store themed–that is, participants must spend between five and ten dollars at the dollar store (or the equivalent of such for other countries) and craft at least two items for their partner. Well, my partner was A2JC4life, and here’s what I sent her:

Out of two dishtowels, this bag:

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Out of some wedding favors, some ribbon, and scraps from the bag (as well as some stash buttons), these pin cushions:

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(The button one also has a fabric bump for pins, it’s just lower in the bucket.)

Out of another of the wedding favors and some more ribbon, a little container for storing small things:

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And finally, out of a piece of flour sack cloth, this little patch, which she can sew on whatever she chooses:

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Another bit of embroidery! I love it. I was going to sew it into a zipper pouch, but then I realized I would have to use a bunch of non-dollar store stuff, so I just left it as a patch. It’s pretty though. : ) I used a pattern from Jenny Hart’s book “Sublime Stitching”, which I borrowed from the library (I just put the cloth over the pattern and traced it with a disappearing ink pen). I shall have to make myself a zipper pouch with a bit of embroidery.

For more dollar store crafts, the rest of the gallery is here

FO: Swap Monkeys!

June 6, 2010 in knitting, swap | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

I finished the Monkey socks I was knitting for a swap. : )

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Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A.
Yarn: True Love Fibers merino superwash sock yarn in “Further Under the Sea”
Needles: US 1
Mods: None!

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Okay. Guys. I’ll talk about the patttern and the socks in a sec, but first: This yarn? AMAZING. Holy crap I loved knitting this yarn. Squooshy and plump and wonderful. And soft! I generally think socks in 100% merino are a bad idea (cause that’ll wear through in a hot second) but this yarn is so wonderful and lovely. I’m so happy I have more to knit (I received a skein in a reddish pink in return for knitting the socks.

Sadly, these are currently en route to their owner and not in my sock drawer. Sad. Because they’re lovely. The pattern is great too–this is the first of Cookie A’s patterns that I’ve knit, and it was great. The pattern was simple and easy to memorize and these socks flew by. I love ’em. Sadly… not for me.

These socks were my first top-down and my first flap/gusset heel. It went pretty smoothly. I can’t say I really like the plain stockinette heel (I think I’d just continue my pattern down the heel flap) or the way the heel turn fits, but I may be able to fine tune that. I don’t really knit top-down socks that often, but I’d love to find a good tutorial on how to knit a flap heel toe-up, if for no other reason than to play with fit issues.

Anyway, if you’re reading this, I’m hopefully on my way to DC. : ) On Tuesday I’ll have a post about some swap crafts and after that? Who knows….

Bird Swap part two!

June 4, 2010 in life, other people's crafts/cool things, swap | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Remember the bird swap I mentioned a week or two (or three or something) ago? Well, I received from my partner PinkChick today!

She sent me a t-shirt with this pretty embroidery:

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and some lovely earrings:

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I love them! For more bird goodies, check out the gallery.

Now, on a different matter, I’ll be going out of town on Sunday (no use trying to rob me; the rest of my family still lives here). I’m spending a wonderful two weeks in DC with my lovely boyfriend, during which time my access to internet and my laptop will be somewhat limited. I’ll be doing my best to continue posting what I’m crafting (and perhaps some nice pictures of the city and such), and when I get back, I’ll have a nice big post about my trip. And then back to regularly scheduled posts about things I made. I have a few things to post yet, so that’s two posts I’ll schedule before I leave, but after that, it’ll be more sporadic.

Daring Adventures in Sewing

June 2, 2010 in sewing | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Happy Wednesday all, and a belated happy Memorial Day to those in the US. I hope it was suitably barbecue-filled (mine wasn’t; we flea bombed the house so I had to be out of the house all day and went to the movies with my sister. But I digress).

Anyway, so I drove all the way out the Jo Ann’s in Virginia Beach on Friday for the Memorial Day sale (and also because I’d never been to that Jo Ann’s before). I did not know that it was one of the smaller ones, but I managed to buy things none the less. Simplicity sewing patterns were 5/$5, so I bought three along with some elastic and some fabric.

Now, why are these going to become daring adventures? Well… I don’t usually sew from patterns. I had no idea how Simplicity patterns will fit. Was I going to make a muslin? Hell no! Brinn sews with abandon!

And, as it turns out, things worked out rather well. I’ve since turned the fabric into the shorts pattern I bought:

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They are a bit snug. I cut the pattern for a 5/6, which is a 32″ hip (which is my hip measurement). Apparently Simplicity thinks teens don’t actually have asses (which I do have). I also had to improvise the button because the waistband wasn’t long enough. I fully intend to make these again, but I’ll have to make a larger size. Since I already cut out the pattern pieces, I can’t do it according to pattern, but I should be able to wing it to make them larger.

The fabric I used it some sort of cotton/poly blend. I don’t actually know about fabric, so I can’t really tell you more about it. It works well with the pattern, though I suspect a knit would allow the shorts to actually fit properly.

Jewelry and Things

June 1, 2010 in Misc. Crafts, swap | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

So the other day I received an OWS package from one of my favorite OWSers, PheonixFireDesigns. She claimed me for a wisty surprise, and sent me a GORGEOUS necklace and a rubber stamp:

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I also made a necklace of my own:

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Basic necklace chain from AC Moore (usually a dollar, on sale for Memorial Day for half off), some thin wire, and some buttons from my stash. : ) It hangs a little funny, but I do like it a lot.

In other craft news: I’m expecting a swap packing round Thursday, I’m hard at work on more swap socks, and I have been working on another swap. So stay tuned for lots more crafts. What are you guys working on?

FO: Gryffindor Socks

May 28, 2010 in knitting, swap | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Yay, I finished my first socks for my outstanding sock trades!

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Pattern: Skew Socks
Yarn: Regia Nation Colors
Needles: US 1
Mods: None!

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So… I am disappointed these socks are not for me. Because I love them. And the recipient even has my same shoe size. So I’m totally jealous. They’re totally great socks. And the pattern is wonderful and fascinating. They knit up pretty quickly, and even though they’re stockinette socks, the increases and decreases keep you interested. Fun and wonderful for self-striping yarns. I’m totally going to make another pair from this pattern for me at some point.

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I love the way the stripes swirl around the heel. : )

I’ve started, by the way, the second pair of swap socks, and they are wonderful. The yarn is SO NICE to knit with. But more on that later. : )