Yarn Bombing

Start something... Tuesday?

I missed Sunday! I ended up sleeping for a good portion of the day. I haven't been feeling 100% for the past little while, and sleep seemed like a good remedy. As far as I can tell, it was a great choice! Yesterday was a great day, and today, despite the rainy weather, I feel awesome.
This morning, I was checking Twitter (Feel free to follow me! I update fairly often about everything from knitting, to what I'm eating, to where I am headed for the day) and noticed that a local person with a lot of influence was talking about guerrilla knitting. He wanted his business to be "tagged" at some point this summer. Little did he know that I had already cast on his tag.
I am using size 9 needles, and some random acrylic multi-coloured yarn I found in one of my boxes. I am doing mostly garter stitch, with the occasional stockinette , or lacy area.
As soon as this piece goes up, I will update with more information. I plan on making several tags and going out sometime this week and throwing them all up.

I can't find my cotton!

I was looking to start a few dishcloths for my apartment, because at the moment, I am using face cloths to wash my dishes. And then I realized I can't find any of my dishcloth cotton!
I have small bits and pieces, maybe enough to knit a full cloth, but my full skeins are still tucked away in the black hole that is my craft closet.
I plan on clearing out some of the non-crafty things, like boxes of DVDs, blankets and stuffed animals in the very near future.

In baby blanket news, I'm just past half way finished the one I started Sunday. I want to work on it, but the beautiful weather we've been having over the past couple days, and into the next few, might slow down its progress.

What do you knit when the weather says it's too warm for wool?

Condolences

Knitters are a close group, I've said it before.
I'd like to send my condolences to Kay and her family on the passing of her husband, Peter.

A knitted hammock

I am a LiveJournal user, and recently, in one of the knitting communities I follow, an other use by the name of gernboken posted about his adventures in knitting a hammock.
As soon as I saw it I KNEW I needed to speak with him! Through the magic of the internet, I bring you this:

Knitting needles

A skein of yarnA hammockGernboken's real name is Sean, and he's been knitting off and on since the winter of 2007. He is lucky enough to be from Moultonborough, NH, so he can shop at the brick and mortar location of Pattern Works.

Sean started knitting the hammock out of necessity. He and his wife purchased a nylon camping hammock that rolled up into a ball, but it was left outside all winter, and suffered from the elements. Rather than forking over around $200 for a new hammock, he decided to try to make it himself. Many of his crazy crafting ideas come from asking "I wonder if I could make..." And a knitted hammock was born.
Sort of...
There aren't any patterns out there for this sort of thing, so it was all trial and error. He started with a giant circular needle, made with 2 pieces of dowel, some eye bolts and a piece of nylon rope in between. After realizing this would be unnecessary, he continued on with "regular" straight needles.
After knitting and frogging a few times, he's still in the trial and error stage. More updates will follow!

Being male in the knitting has always seemed to me like something that would bring a lot of attention. Turns out I am somewhat right about that. As Sean says, single guys should all take up knitting, "Knitting in public is second only to having a puppy if you want random women to come over and start talking to you. Of course a lot of them are pretty old. Maybe stick with puppies."

In addition to knitting, Sean draws and writes, has sculptures in the works, and would like to start working with polymer clay. He and his step father also brew hard cider, which, in my mind, is a craft, and the end results are probably more fun than a knitted scarf.

Sean does warn that knitting a hammock may not be as cost effective as he initially thought. A friend told him that knitting is a cheap form of entertainment, but if you're "in it for the sweaters, it's cheaper just to buy one"

Thank you so much for the interview, Sean!

Start Something Sunday!

Today is Sunday! I was planning on adventuring through the city again, but the weather isn't as nice as I thought it would be, and I got called into work.
I did take the time to start a baby blanket though. I am using the same sort of baby yarn that I usually do, in a very, very pale blue. I'm only a couple rows in, but I am enjoying it! I think this is just what I need to get out of my scarf and cowl funk!
More about the blanket soon!

Yet an other cowl

I promise I will start knitting more interesting things soon!
I started knitting an other cowl, this one in some left over Wool Ease that I've had laying around for quite some time. I'm not sure what the colour, but it is a nice sky blue. It's slightly smaller than the rest of the cowls I've been making, only because I don't want to run out of yarn before it's long enough.

I am going to start using my Knifty Knitters more often. If anyone has any patterns or ideas for them, please share!

I am cheating today!

For those who celebrate, Happy Easter!
I didn't start anything today, I admit it. I did finish casting off the other cowl I started the other day, though. It's done using the same "pattern" as the other cowl, same yarn, different colorway. I used the Gypsy colour. Which is amazing. I'm not a blue lover, but it has every other colour in it, plus sparkle. It's pretty sweet.

I'm running out of ideas on what to knit next. I have TONS of leftover bits or all sorts of random yarn that I want to use up, but I never know what to make out of them. If you happen to have any suggestions of what I should knit next, please let me know! Keep in mind that I can't use copyrighted patterns, because I usually sell what I make.

The Siren Cowl

I told you I would update! I come with much information about the Siren cowl. And a cell phone picture!
I started knitting this Sunday, because Sonia told me she wanted a gold cowl. I didn't have any gold yarn, but I thought this might be a reasonable substitute. There is a strand of sparkly running through this yarn. If she doesn't like it, I will probably just bring it to one of my future craft shows.
It's knit in 5x5 rib on 8mm circs. If i remember correctly, it's 60 stitches around. It may be 50 though. I'm not a big fan of patterns, I tend to make things up as I go along, so if I ever want to make this again, I will have to go through the cowl itself and get all the details out.
In any case, here it is! Pardon the terrible picture quality, and the fact that it's a mirror picture, I still haven't found my camera in any of the many boxes I have unpacked.
AHH! the picture doesn't work! Sorry everyone, here is a link!
ALSO! I actually took the time to weave in the ends before I photographed this! I think that's a first!

It's Still Sunday!

I didn't forget about you today, I promise! I've just been busy.
Today was my first day back to work since moving on my own, and I decided to stay out late last night anyway.
In the in between time, I managed to start a new cowl. This one in Moda Dea "Cache" in the Siren colorway. It's being done on... Circular needles? (I can't recall the size at the moment, but I will post a more accurate description later this week.)
I'm actually very close to finishing it, more will come soon!

I'm Back!

Mostly moved in, and I'm loving it!
I have put all my yarn into storage containers of all different sorts, and that feels great! Since I am using clear containers for most of it, it's easy to see where everything is without pulling it all out.
I have been knitting on many of my moving in breaks. A few dishcloths have been finished, but also blew the dust off of my Knifty Knitters. I have seen some awesome hats made on them by some friends of friends, and I decided to try some out. I used the green loom, 3 strands of yarn and made a slouchy hat. Well, attempted to make a slouchy hat. The resulting fabric was a little thick to slouch properly. And the hat is a little small.This photo was taken by Owen, an absolutely lovely local photographer who I finally met in person at Craft Night At Phog.
More posts and photos soon!