Frog Is A Four Letter Word

I have suffered your baby talk and carrying me around and dressing me up for over ten years now. I tire of this. Please put me out of my misery--I am 100 years old! I appreciate your attempt to clone me, but I do not want to come back. You embarass me and have removed any vestige of my inner beast by controlling my climate, feeding me regularly and making me sleep in your bed which, by the way, is creepy as hell. I am not your puppet!



Love,
Charlie

Sorry for the crappy picture, but we won't have sunshine here for quite some time. I have added whiskers since I took this picture and my bf commented that the ears need to be floppier and goddamn if he isn't right. The black yarn I used is Patons Grace. Bleah, cotton does not work for fingerpuppets! I started on a duck this evening so stay tuned.

FYI: Intarsia in the round on teeny tiny needles is way fun!

If I had to guess what the least popular yarn on the planet is, I'd confidently say black sock yarn. I have been to all but one of the yarn shops in a 100 mile radius and no one keeps it in stock. I have checked out all my favorite online yarn sources and I found one (maybe two? I forget) that carries it. But when I received my order confirmation they said the black sock yarn was out of stock! The other things I ordered just to save shipping were in stock of course.

So progress on the fingerpuppets has come to a screeching halt since all the animals I saved for last are the ones that require black yarn: the beagle; the sheep; the cow. The beagle is half finished and I think I'll start on a grey goat tonight. My nephew's birthday party is Tuesday so I'm in improvise mode now. I'll call the last shop tomorrow and if they don't have it, looks like Laura will be dyeing.

Speaking of dyeing (like that segue? because this is really what I wanted to talk about). Over the weekend I read Shibori: Creating Color and Texture on Silk by Karren Brito. Very awesome. My mother had given me this book a couple years ago and I have no idea why I didn't read it before. Anyway, Brito provides incredibly technical assistance alongside stunning inspirational photos of her work and the work of other shibori artists. The section on dyes alone was fascinating. I'm going to set up the kitchen in my studio now.

This is the "unexpected cool thing" that I was looking to make for my mom's birthday. I'm really glad I decided on this, however, her birthday is Sunday. SHIT! I have plenty of silk, but only Rit dyes on hand. It's worth a shot. Here are some links for shibori. I didn't even read this article, I just looked at the pictures on the right. The World Shibori Network.

Do you dye?

This has to be my favorite fingerpuppet so far. How cute is (s)he? El Cerdo only took a couple evenings to complete. Look at the little curlique tail!



Either a dog (beagle, natch) or a horse will be next. But for now I need a break from tiny little faces and ears on size 1 needles. So I may go back to the baby sweater set in gold and green now that I have the right size needle. I love these FO's that only take a couple days!

Well I have two animals in the barn now. Not enough for a herd or a flock or a pride, but it's progress. This is El Gato (I don't know why the spanish names, they've just stuck).



El Gato was born with an oversized head and no legs, but he has accomplished more in his two days on this earth than most fingerpuppets ever dream.

Next up are el cerdo, caballo y loro.

So I signed up for a gym membership (mostly to encourage the bf to go) and I had my introductory training this evening. The kid-that-I-probably-babysat-when-I-was-in-high-school who was my trainer for the evening showed me all the different machines and one in particular really caught my eye. It was called the cable crossover and you all know what I was thinking.

I wish I was knitting right now.

I'm almost done with a cat fingerpuppet, but it really looks like a rat right now. A tiger-striped rat. The nose is too pointy, so keep that in mind if you ever make these. Haha, what's up with my animals having identity crises?

And when they say "knit through the back loop of the YO from the previous row to prevent holes"? Yeah, they mean that. Did I fix it? Hell no. Because frog is a four letter word and these are for a two year old boy. They will be lucky to last a day.

What puts holes in your knitting?

I bought some rustic cotton yarn on Saturday when I went to get my tiny dpns. It's Patagonia something, maybe Natural Cotton? Same people who make Araucania. Anyway, it's lumpy and thick and thin and variegated. Very cool. Plus it's cotton and it must be obvious by now that I have Cotton Fever. Maybe just because it's summer or maybe because cotton is the most awesome fiber ever, but I really dig it. I bought one skein of the blue and one of the green/navy combo just to play with it and see how it would work up. I made this washcloth out of half a skein (kitchen scale to the rescue!).



I plan on whipping up three more cloths out of this cotton then maybe pairing it with some local handmade soap for gifts. I need to start on Christmas gifts. Oh yeah and my mom's birthday present. Artist's Block! I have no clue what to get/make for Mom. What is your most funky suggestion?

First Semester: Animal Husbandry

I don't have much to say except "Isn't This The Cutest Thing Ever???" and "Jesus H. Yarn, what a lot of work!"



Second Semester: Amateur Woodworking

I was using 7" metal dpns to make the fingerpuppets and they were getting very clumsy and several times I almost poked myself in the eye! (Okay, I poke myself in the eye on a regular basis, so it wasn't much more dangerous than usual.) Saturday I went to The Fine Needle because I was pretty sure she had Bryspun glove needles. She didn't have them, so I bought some 6" bamboo dpns with the intention of modifying them. With a tiny serrated knife and an emory board, I made 4" dpns! They turned out great and are far easier to make those little arms and ears.



Have you ever modified or made your own needles?