Chickadees

I have started a cross-stitch called Chickadees in Spring. It's snowing like crazy right now in State College, so it's a nice reminder that it won't be snowy forever.

New craftiness.

I am really enjoying it. I haven't done a cross-stitch since I was about 10 years old. That cross-stitch was a teddy bear in a heart-shaped frame. I never actually finished it because I shifted a huge portion of the pattern off one stitch. After I realized what I had done, I got frustrated and gave up. But this time, I will go slowly and enjoy the picture that is forming.

Extreeeeme close-up.

I find the whole cross-stitch process a bit like tetris. :) Different shaped blocks of different colors, all falling into place. It takes more concentration than knitting, so I have a feeling it's going to take awhile. Have a great day! ♥

In Memory of Abby

Mike's cute little dog Abby passed away last night.

Sweet little Abby.

Kisses for Mikey.

Rest in peace Abby. We will miss you. ♥

Clapotis Photo Shoot!

So as I said, there are tons of pictures of the lovely Clapotis in this post. I made them smaller in size to help out the ease of viewing, but you can always click for bigger pics. :)

First a little story. Clapotis was whizzing along and I couldn't stop! Would I have enough yarn? The suspense was too much! Let's just say, I was up until 4am when OH NO!!! The picture below is when I ran out of yarn. I had about 4 more decreases until the final section of the pattern. I was defeated. I went to sleep and resolved to finish/fix it in the morning when I woke up.

Denial isn't only a river in Egypt.

I ended up using some long ends I had left myself when changing balls (in order to match up color) to spit-n-splice myself 2 more feet of yarn. With that much length, I cobbled together this semi-graceful end to Clapotis. Not ideal, but it works just fine for me. You can see the beginning and the end of Clapotis below.

We will MAKE it work.

And now on to the photo shoot. Ok. Just a warning. I got progressively creative (and perhaps a bit scandalous by the end). But I was having fun with this amazingly versatile scarf!

First, the shoulder wrap. Sweet and sophisticated.

Shoulder wrap Clapotis.

Now a shot of Clapotis as a shawl. It's amazing how this baby stretches. She's probably 2' by 5.5' fully extended.

Shawl Clapotis.

Then I discovered that Clapotis was at home... on my head! As a babushka! Heh.

Babushka Clapotis.

Or maybe a more "chic" head wrap?

Head wrap Clapotis.

She then got back to her roots, as a scarf.

Scarf Clapotis.

Clapotis as a belt is not so practical... But practicality is not really important in these next few pictures.

Belt Clapotis .

After the belt... I got really creative. "This would make a cool tank top..." I thought to myself...

Asymmetric tank top Clapotis.

And then came this...

OH MY Clapotis.

LOL. I hope I did not offend anyone's sensibilities. Needless to say, Clapotis will not be worn in many of these configurations. However, with inspiration from others, I could not resist! Have a great night! ♥

Give me an F! Give me an O!

I finished Clapotis! Many pictures to follow. I had fun modeling this one. So verstile!

♥

Progress!

I've been knitting! Quite a bit actually. First, the swirly girly gloves. This little experiment has been slow going. Very much one step forward and half step back. I'm enjoying the process though. I have decided on fingerless gloves and a mitten flap. I definitely have enough yarn. In hindsight, I would have done the increases on the palm differently. I would have increased on the left of the stitch marker so that the increases made a "V" instead of a section of parallel increases. Does that make sense? Now the question is, do I make the second glove differently? Or keep them the same? I think I'll keep them the same. But for the next pair, I'll know.

Glovin' it.

I also checked-out of the Sleeve Island Hotel. I went incognito as to not prolong my stay. Now I have two fronts to do... which are rather like sleeves... darn. I'm hoping to finish the two front pieces simultaneously as I did the sleeves. I can't wait to finish this!!!

Fresh off sleeve island.

And this is actually a dated picture. I have actually finished the first ball of Lion&Lamb. Half way done!!! I love this yarn. So silky smooth.

Almost half a Clapotis...

Hopefully, I'll finish something before Spring. It's fun to switch between projects though. I need the variety. I am easily distracted... :) ♥

Growing

Clapotis is growing. I am aiming for a repeat a day. I am enjoying the purly side very much. The colors are starting to make me worrisome though. Too rainbow-y?

Clappin' along...

I don't know... time will tell. I currently have a rainbow-ish scarf that I love and wear all the time, so it should seem that I will wear this one too. Oh well. It sure is fun to knit!!! Off to the lab... ♥

Re: Designing

The one thing about designing is you can't be afraid to take a trip to the frog pond. I was knitting the thumb gusset on my glove when I realized the glove wasn't getting wide enough. My wrist is much smaller than the widest part of my palm so I have to increase to accommodate the difference. I should have charted this out before starting just to get an idea of the increases I need. So I printed out some handy dandy knitter's graphing paper in the appropriate gauge, traced my hand, and charted out some increases.

Bad news for le Swirly Glove.

Eek! I guess I should be optimistic and remind myself how fun it is to knit with Koigu. *sigh* And that this glove will actually FIT my hand. Like a glove. Kind of important.

Ribbit, ribbit.

It's fun to post in the morning. :) OH! And in the picture above you can see my stitch marker/safety pin/darning needle holder. It's the Very Cherry Gum tin I bought it at Target. After I finished the gum, I decided that it would be a great "thingy" holder. I highly recommend these snappy tin things. They are fun to open and close too. And they make cool *POP* noises when opening. *POP* ♥

Color!

Here are some pictures of my newest yarn: Lorna Laces Lion & Lamb Happy Valley. This is cool on two levels.

One, I love the sherbet-y rainbow colors.

Two, I am currently in my last semester at Penn State University Park a.k.a. Happy Valley!

Happy Valley.

That picture is currently my desktop background... I have begun knitting the addition that is Clapotis. Such speedy knitting when compared to the tiny gauge of Koigu. Fun!

The Clapotis has begun.

I have actually knit much farther than this picture shows. I have turned the corner and dropped two columns of stitches. The colors pool a bit, I still love them and can't wait to have a new scarf! ♥