Monday, October 27, 2008

Earworm of the day

So here's what I just can not get enough of, it's an awesome song, and an awesome earworm. You're all welcome in advance. :)



-cheers and happy knitting!

Monday, October 20, 2008

I'm a good blogger

Media: Television, The Hour. My boyfriend (George) is doing his intro *swoon*

Projects: Two Monkeys on a Stick (two at a time Monkeys), Paca Cowl (Zig Zag cowl), Flowers on Fire (Firestarters)


So look at me, I'm a good blogger, keeping up to date and stuff. I even have pictures this time too! I've been a bad shopper though, more about my recent purchases in a moment.

I tried the two at a time on two circs, and I found that there was just way too much cable/needles, so I changed it to two at a time using Magic loop. Not only are things much less tangled, but the rounds are quicker. I've got two repeats done already and I think I might just do the short row heel next rather than go any longer (I like short socks). I'm liking how they're going so far and if I were to make them again though, I might try the purl-less monkeys, just to see the difference. And lookie! Picture.


I finished the first Socks and Stripes sock a few days ago. I didn't go all the way up to the knee, I'm pretty sure that I didn't have enough yarn to do that, but I did get them up to about mid calf. Of course, castonitis jumped me, and I didn't do the second Socks and Stripes, I cast on a different pair of socks. I need to cast on the second pair soon because damn, it's cold in my house (I broke down and turned on the heat, watching the budgie shiver wasn't a pleasant sight).

I've done about 3 repeats done on the Paca Cowl, just one more then a few rows of Garter stitch and BAM! I have a light warm cowl, I'm really excited. I tried to take pictures the other night when I did my latest photo shoot, but it kept coming out way too orange so I deleted them. It wasn;t even a nice orange, think radioactive gross orange, and this was still worse.

*Knock Knock Knock* Oh yea, Castonitis came to visit and left me with a toe for a pair of firestarters our of BMFA STR in Flower Power. I got dad to help me wind the skein into a ball, and I have to say, mom does it so much better. lol. I tried the firestarters a while ago, but I was doing them on Addi Turbos Size 0, which have a fairly blunt tip, all the cabling was killing me so I frogged them. I'm doing them on Knitpicks Size 1, which have a relatively sharp tip, so it should be better this time.

And now, I would like to introduce the latest addition to my knitting addiction, her name is Sally Fedora.
She will be helping me by modeling all of the hats and probably cowls that I make in the future. Here you see her in the Lolipop hat I made out of Twilley's of Stamford Freedom in the Lolipop colorway. I plan on giving this hat to the hospital, I just have to remember to bring it up to my Nanny's before she goes to donate all of the finger puppets that she makes.

I did some spinning and plying this week too. I bought some Fleece Artist fiber the last time that I was at LK with Crystal and the baby. It was an absolute dream to spin, pretty much like butter through my hands. I tried to navajo ply it, but I couldn't get a good rhythm going, so I canned that pretty quick and went back to my trust andean plying method. I got 132 yards out of the 50 grams. I'm very happy. It's soft too. Did I mention that I really love it?



I finally got pictures of the Vihevaara (Vogue Fall 2008) that I'm working on out of Cascade 109 Tweed LE. I don't think I have enough of the black, so I might have to do the sleeves out of pink and somehow try to figure out a way to make it look alright. Black really doesn't photograph well, but you can kinda see what's going on.

As promised, my recent purchases: Men with Yarn (an amazing calendar from the Panopticon), a set of mini prints from the Dreamy giraffe (I got Knitting is Love, Part Cookie Monster, Blonde Dream Big, and Makes Ordinary Things Extraordinary), I also bought a couple new books with some babysitting monkey, they are Free Range Knitter and Everything I Learned from knitting, both as you guessed it are by the Yarn Harlot. I finished up The Secret Life of a Knitter, and I've started Free Range Knitter, it's just as good as The Secret Life, I think I mgiht need to get more knitting books. I thought that my yarn stash was bad, and then the fiber stash was gettig bad, but now I'm starting a book collection. Great. Because my room isn't small enough already. I guess thats why dad and I put up a shelf on Sunday, it's currently holding some books, Sally Fedora, my newest handspun (Fleece Artist), and my small scale. Don't laugh, my room is tiny, my parents took pity on me in September, and told me to put a couple bins in the corner of the hall that has all my fiber in it. Gave me a bit more space, but I'd still like more. The wish of every knitter/fiber enthusiast.

Well that's it for now!

-Cheers and happy poly-crafting!

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

argh, brains

Media (TV): The Hour, currently Fineses Mitchell (the black guy from SNL)

Projects: Socks and Stripes.


So I broke down and bought a book and omg I love reading it. I got the Yarn Harlot's "The Secret Life of a Knitter". It's hilarious, it's an easy read, and it's my life. Everything she says is like "omg, I've been there, done that and got the Ravelry t-shirt!". I highly recommend it to any knitter (or knitter sympathizer) who wants to laugh at real life.

Socks and Stripes would most likely be done right now, if laundry and the blogging bug came in the way. BTW, none of which are done, my knitting ADD has spilled over into-oh look, an angora-ooooo shiny. What was I talk about? Oh right, Noro Socks. I've got like 20 more stitches to bind off, then weave in the ends and one sock is done. I didn't do knee socks (insert knitting ADD here) because I really didn't think I'd wear them. So now they're mid calf, which will be great for wearing in boots of just about any kind, because as we all know, I'm in Canada, and it's October 15th, snow should be here any day now. (Just kidding, it's not that bad.)

There may be some super secret Giftmas projects that will be talked about over on plurk, but the URL for my blog is on my facebook, and certain people might stumble on over here (even though they taunt my knitting and say "Of course, what else would you be doing?").

Sounds like about it for now.

-Cheers and happy poly-crafting!

(and now my boyfriend George (The Hour) is setting up the List: Top 5 Dragons)

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Mark Your Calendars!

Media (Music): In Cars by I See Rowboats from the Album Music & Image 4 (Atlantic Film Fest album)

Projects worked on today: Socks and Stripes (stripped Noro socks, toe up, short row heel, 4 row striping), Alpaca Cowl (zig zag cowl, as per pattern)

I blogged twice in a week... well, a month too. I've been a bad blogger recently, but I'm back, and with a blogging bug that has bit me hard. I'm also thinking of trying something different (ie: the layout of this post). Media and projects right up front, so y'all know what I've been working on and listening to.

I turned the heel on my noro socks. *insert joyous chorus here* They're going so quickly and I don't really fear the SSS for these just because they are actually going so quickly.

I was kinda ticked that the yellow went to orange so quickly, but it wasn't a knot, just a really fast color change. Oh well, it still looks awesome. I love the bright colors, espescially the pink and the orange.

I'm going to try to make them knee socks, but I don't know if I'll have enough yarn. I'll weigh the sock VS the remaining yarn and go as high as I can until they're just about equal, and then I'll finish up and start the other sock, I can sort of see terror in my own eyes thinking that they'll end up no being the same length at all, but oh well, they can be fraternal socks, or I can take out the first one and frog back till they're the same length. It'll work out fine in the end...I hope.

The Alpaca Cowl is just that, a Cowl (ZigZag Cowl) that I'm making out of Alpaca yarn that I got for my birthday. Not sure what brand it is, but I'm pretty sure it's locally grown, sheared, and spun considering who I got it from and the fact that there were no labels. It's really light and lofty and I can't wait to wear it. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of it yet, but they'll come in time.

I finished another block for my Lizard Ridge Blanket. That makes 4 blocks, half of what I've been planning on doing. I have 6 more balls of Kureyon, so I'll need 2 more. Oh yea, I'm making the blocks out of two balls from the same dye lot, working until I have 20 ridges, or ten of the short row repeat sections done. It'll make more a more uniform blanket I think. I just have to find some way of blocking them. I'm probably going to end up buying those rubber mat puzzle things so I can do blocking inside without worrying about having to weight down a blanket that I pin the knitted item to.

Well, that sounds like it's it. Amazing how much more concise I can be when I'm a good blogger eh?

-cheers and happy poly-crafting!

(btw, music now is Leave by Slowcoaster from Music & Image)

Friday, October 10, 2008

The Adventerous Adventures of...













Onto details now. Jack is all Cascade 220 with some beads in the base as a weight and poly fill stuffing. Jake is all 220 except the hair which is Vana's Choice (acrylic yuck, but leftovers), he has small pebbles in the base as a weight and poly fill for stuffing. The eyes and Jack's moustache are made out of air drying clay and then painted...with black nail polish. I didn't have any black paint and I tried to color them with a Sharpie, but it didn't come out how I liked, so once I bought nail polish, I used it instead. I'm happy with them both, Jack will go to Shawn, and Jake will go to ADONIS.

-cheers and happy poly-crafting!

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Once again, no cookie for me.

I'm a terribly horrible blogger. Been far to long between updates. I don't think I can keep up with all that's going on. Not too much has been accomplished in the way of knitting FO's, but I have managed to start a few more projects, and then promptly put them down and pick up older ones for a few minutes. Let me tell you, that is not the way to get things done.

In better news, I have some pictures. Nothing really totally interesting, but I have decided to start selling some Stitch Markers. I only have 5 sets right now, and don't know if it'll be an informal thing on my blog/plurk or if I'll open up an ebay or an etsy store. Right now it's just going to be informal. I'm thinking that I'll sell them for $7 a set plus shipping ($1 Canada, $2 US, $3 elsewhere). If you're interested you can email me theaudiochick[AT]gmail[DOT]com just make sure to put "stitch marker sale" in the subject line.

Christmas Balls


Goldies


Tubies


Purple Rain


Woody Zebras

Since it's been so long, you'd figure that my WIP's will have changed, but nope. Here's what's on the needles/spindle (and omg what's on my spindle is drool worthy). I've still got the Lizard Ridge blanket on the go, working on the 4th panel currently. The Malabrigo Lace scarf (Leaf Lace Scarf) is coming along well, I've got about 14 pattern repeats done so far. I've nearly finished the Corporate Zombie and the Day of the Dead guy from Creepy Cute Crochet, they just need eyes and features put on to them. I finished a Turn a Square toque from Brooklyn Tweed and then Crystal and I tried to felt it because it was way too big, I don't really know how it has turned out though, Crystal said it didn't get much smaller, but we'll see, who knows, maybe I'll have a nice box. lol. I cast on Vihevaara from Vogue Fall 2008 in some Cascade 109 tweed that I bought last year to make a different sweater. It's going fairly well, I've got....at least 6 inches done I'd say, about a repeat and a half. On the spindle, get this, Fleece Artist Merino Silver. It's butter. Amazing to work with, firm (I like firm) but still slides along itself well. I'm also finding that my spinning is getting faster and faster, all of a sudden it's like "woah, how'd I get all this?" lol.

Ebay purchases this month.....Knit picks needles, 2.25mm 32inch circulars in both wood and metal. Sixteen dollars for both with shipping included in that. I thought it was a pretty good price, and considering that I dont have a credit card to buy from the Knit Picks site, it worked for me. And my favorite purchase of all times, a head. I bought a foam mannequin head. It was $10 with shipping, so once again, I think I did good eh? A while ago I also got a stapleless stapler, it's pretty much the coolest thing ever. I use it at Brownies all the time.

Well folks, that's it. A long time between updates, I'll try to be better, and I'll also try yo take some pictures of my WIP's for my next update.

Cheers and happy Poly-crafting!