Self portrait Monday: February 21, 2011

Today's self-portrait is neither taken by me, nor taken today, but I am using it. I look like garbage today, and feel about the same. I've had an ongoing headache for a few days, and I slept horribly. I also had a pretty ridiculous nightmare which involved getting walked in on while using the bathroom, Sprawl*Mart, running from some terrifying people, breaking into a bathroom, and someone allergic to bee stings. Ridiculous and terrifying. I'm surprised I didn't wake Rick or Winston up.

Yesterday, Rick took a bunch of photos of me "modelling" a few of my knitted things. Most of them made me look completely crazy and unattractive, but Rick managed to get a few to look alright. I make some really gross faces when there are cameras around. I really don't know how to smile properly, as far as I am concerned. But, I really like this one, and this cowl is probably my newest favourite. It has one cable down the front and the rest is seed stitch. I'm really getting the hang of cabling, and I've already made another cowl with three cables on it, and it looks pretty nice, too. I'm going to make more cabled items soon. I love the technique, and it makes everything it's on look so much more luxurious. I'm so glad I learned how to do it, I don't know why I was so scared to learn before.

I tweeted yesterday about making some earrings. One of my followers, Crissi Cochrane, who is an awesome musician, and an awesome crafty person, asked if I could post some photos of them. I just took one of all of them with the built-in camera on my computer (as all of my self portrait photos are) and managed to keep my face out of it. I'm pretty happy. I made 6 pairs out of buttons I found at Value Village, the Salvation Army, and an et Cetera shop. I was looking for nice buttons a while ago, and I was super excited when I found all of these. I am going to keep these ones as my personal stash for now. I don't want to start selling them if they are going to fall apart. I did use really good adhesive, so fingers crossed, they'll all be ok.
It's a holiday here in Canada (maybe just Ontario? I don't know, Family Day is kind of a silly holiday) and there is a TON of snow on the ground that fell yesterday. It's going to be a nice day to relax.

A new skill learned

Late last night, I finished a neck warmer, and had no idea what to knit next. Rick has been bugging me for a while to make him a large cowl with cables. I've never cabled before, and had no idea where to start learning.
In comes YouTube. I searched for "cable knitting" and watched a few videos. It's way easier than I thought!
I grabbed my yarn, a circular needle, and  a plastic yarn needle to use as a cable needle until I go get some.
Cast on 20 stitches or so and get to it.
I decided to do cables 4 stitches wide, I figured it would be easier for me to manipulate 2 stitches on my cabling needle than anything more than that.
It went incredibly well! I did two columns of cables, crossed them three times each, and decided to cast off. I'm going to practice a few more times before I start Rick's cowl.
Overall, I'm pretty happy.

Have you learned any new skills lately?