Frog Is A Four Letter Word

Today is so good.

The sun is shining and I finished a UFO that was going on two years, Wavy.



I used 2 skeins of Cotton-Ease and #7 needles. My ebony circs are now liberated! This will be a gift for a friend who can make use of a cotton scarf.

But the best part of today has definitely been watching them put the for sale sign on my Domestic Disturbance, White Trash, Child Endangerment, Unemployment, Tweaker loser neighbor's front lawn. There have already been two prospective buyers stop by so far today!

There has been a long history of horrible tenants in that house and I always told myself if it ever became available I'd buy it. But I have put into action the plan to move to Chicago next spring. So buying another house that needs improvement is silly. But it's nice to know that there is a chance for my last year here to be more peaceful. Of course I'm not guaranteed to get better neighbors, but just about anything would be an improvement. And it had concerned me having those fuckwads live there when I would be trying to sell my house--trash in the yard and constant law enforcement visits and the like.

Also, today is great because it will be immediately followed by another day off. How's your day?

My theme for the year is Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Reduce the amount of stuff I have. 80% of it is not necessary. This would also include using up my stash. Reuse stuff like boxes and bags until they absolutely fall apart. This would include all the cute shopping bags I use to carry knitting projects around. Recycle stuff myself in addition to taking it to the recycling center (no we don't have recycling pickup, yes I live amongst cavemen). Recycling stuff myself would include making old sweaters into new things!

What happens when you take an average wool sweater...


...hack it with scissors...


...sew it in the shape of massive mittens and a hood...


...then felt it?


This is a bad pic, but the project turned out great! My mom had requested a hood to wear to the barn when she takes care of the horses. Of course I didn't have time to make one for her, so I bought this sweater at Goodwill and sewed it up!

The mittens were made from the sleeves and the hood from the side of the body. I wrapped the ribbing in plastic wrap and rubber banded it tightly so it wouldn't felt. You can't really tell in the pic, but it worked! I have felt mittens with knit ribbing! For the hood I undid the side seam of the sweater for the front edges of the hood--since it was the side of the knitting and I wasn't cutting it, I didn't have to worry about it unraveling. Then I seamed the center back.

The pieces only took about 7 minutes to felt. They were fine before I felted them, but now they are more windproof and water resistant, which is really what mom needs at the barn. I'll get a pic of her (and the horses!) this week.

I was inspired by a thread on craftster and I'll be damned if I can find it now. Well, I mean actually there are several threads about reconstructing and felting sweaters, but I can't find the original one. Oh! Here it is! I read it a couple weeks ago and ran over to Goodwill to get wool sweaters. Yes, plural, so stay tuned for more recycling! And I just noticed that Jenna at Pink Monkey Knits recycled a thrift sweater into yarn this week!

Do you have a theme for the year?

As of Tuesday, Uli has a new member of her family! Congrats! I know she's been cranking out the baby sweaters/hats/booties/blankets so I'm sure Jonathan's comfy and warm.

I would have photos of this groovy recycling project I finished this weekend, but myimgs.com has decided to go off its meds today. Stay tuned for "What To Do With An Old Sweater" episode 1.

Do you know how hard it is to take a picture of both your hands? Even with a tripod, it's a bit clumsy and humorous.



Look at that gorgeous floor! Glad I kept the lighting low so you couldn't discern the dustbunnies. I made these armwarmers yesterday using some delish yarn M gave me for xmas last year, Berroco Softy. It's just a 2x2 rib knit flat, then seamed before and after the thumb. I did not swatch or anything, I just made a guess that turned out to be accurate. Joy!

My wrists have really been hurting again lately so these are to cover my beautiful braces or wear alone to keep my wrists warm. I have been doing exercises, too, for my wrists. But I'm convinced that spending less time opposite a computer would make me feel better--not just physically (as I sit here and post about it--genius, Laura).

What are some things you've knit up out of necessity?

If you're a fan of Cute Overload then you know about Product Cuteness. (Incidentally they are featuring a panda-like puppy on yesterday's main post as well as panda products on the top of the product cuteness page. Run over there NOW!) So I'd like to suggest a new category, Handmade Cuteness. Again, following the panda theme.





This was a Happy-6-Month-Birthday-Tai gift for M, but I did not finish it in time for our visit. But I did have time to add a little removable stalk of i-cord bamboo for him to munch on while in the mail.

This is of course Tai Shan, denoted by the stumpy fat hind legs. It is based loosely on the fingerpuppet patterns from Weekend Knitting and is made from sock yarn on #1 dpns. Check out the other fingerpuppets I've made.

Are you a Cute Overload fan?

Haven't seen much knitting here lately, huh? I've been cranking it out, don't worry. But I have three projects that are all -mostly- complete. Stay tuned for a landslide of FO's in the coming week.

So, other news. I, uhm, will be buying a "new" car. In reality, it's very very old and has already been sitting in my driveway for three years. I've been babysitting it for a friend and finally decided to buy it from him. No, I'm not into cars. But my bf and his sons are and we're going to make this a family project. The bf will work on the body--welding and painting. His older son will work on the engine, exhaust and electrical. And his younger son will help with the welding and painting. What does that leave for me, you ask? The interior of course! That's right, time for knitted seat covers and fuzzy dice!! Oh this is going to be the most tricked out stockinette ever. I need a new phrase--"Purl My Ride". Yessssss.

Do you have knit or crocheted car accessories? Come on, you know you do. Spill it.

I did more dyeing when I had some time off for New Year. I call this my Underwater Scarf. This is a 36" square silk kerchief. First I tied some round areas with rubber bands.



Then dyed it with Rit Tan, which yielded this FRICKING AWESOME copper.



Leaving the rubber bands in, I pole-wrapped it.



I discharged the pole in the sink using Rit Color Remover. Then submerged the whole deal into a dyebath of synthetic indigo.



I didn't have soda ash or the other chemical needed, so the indigo didn't take. Then I just overdyed the pole in WashFast Navy.



It came off the pole and I removed the rubber bands, let it dry and washed it. It is gorgeous...



...and also, not what I envisioned. My dye results are very pretty, but not intentional. I am not at the point yet in my experiments where I know what I'm getting into. But I take good notes, so at least I can repeat my mistakes. Hee hee. For example, I learned with this scarf (and an experiment before this one) that the Rit Color Remover is too strong, it seeps under my twine and does not leave my base color. Or perhaps my wrapping isn't strong enough. I really wanted some of the gorgeous copper color to stay.

I promise one of these days I'll dye some yarn. But the silk is so captivating, it's hard to resist. HAR HAR, dyers will get a laugh out of that last sentence. cough*dork*cough Anyway, speaking of resists!! M and I also went to The Textile Museum this weekend where the current exhibition is Rozome Masters of Japan. Gorgeous and inspiring and lots of other passionate adjectives! We had a great time playing in their learning center and--the gift shop! Oh, the gift shop! They had fabulous shibori wraps and scarves, awesome felt objects (one followed me home!), books to drool over and a million other fascinating things that M and I decided we need to make. Okay, I should stop before I cause a worldwide shortage on exclamation points.

Do you have a textile museum near you?

So this would be the post where I sell all my earthly possessions in order to volunteer at the National Zoo. Today M and I went there and were so close to heaven we can both now die happy. How close? About six feet away.



I haven't squealed and giggled so much since...I have no idea when, but I was probably high. Today we were just high on peaceful mountain and beautiful fragrance!



So we got coveted tickets to see Tai Shan and his parents Mei Xiang and Tian Tian today. We got up before dawn and hiked across town in the cold (stupid weather people, serves us right for listening to them) to stand in line with hundreds(?) of other Tai fans. It was all worth it! He was so hilarious and cute and FUZZY! M and I have been worshipping at the temple of Mt. Tai Shan since he was very young and this was the awesome day where we finally got to meet him.

If you're not familiar with Tai Shan, here are some links to save your soul:

The Zoo's official panda page with web cam
Animal Planet's web cam (same view, but better picture)
Pandafans' Tai Shan Blog *edited 1/10
Sacred Mt. Tai Shan in China

For panda related knitting, stay tuned!

Well, I really wanted to say Thanks! but couldn't resist using the phrase I just discovered via the JenLa Knitblog awards. I think I will refer to all units of yarn as skanks now.

Thanks to Jenna at Pink Monkey Knits for trading her extra copy of SnBNation for some sock yarn. And thanks to T for my awesome xmas present, a new knit tote! She made it herself, too! It's great--plenty of room inside for three or so projects and a huge pocket on the outside for patterns.



Also, I just emailed Cookie so I could join the Delph-KAL--for knitting Delphine Wilson inspired stuff. I have some green Sirdar Snuggly in mind for a rugrat version of something Delphiney. Stay tuned.

What have you knit from SnBNation?

What makes a vest? What separates it from a tank? Or a shell? I like to think it's part structure, part attitude. Modern vests say, "Yeah, I'm wearing this over an oxford, so what? I've paired it with an orange leather miniskirt." Vests can be sexy librarian, casual politician, wacky costume designer or comfortable desk jockey. I was into vests when they weren't cool (geek? or trendsetter? hrm) and am still into them. Except now I like to knit my own.

Below I have gathered some fun knit vest patterns in no particular order for you to be geeky and/or trendsetting. Again, I tried to include as many free patterns as possible.

1. Boogie by Amy King. Free at that link on knitty.com. Fun, quick to knit, adaptable. Check out the one I made here.

2. Highland Vest by Sasha Kagan. From Vogue Knitting Holiday 2005. The shape and pattern is simply tailored, letting the colorwork be the main attraction. I see this with a black silk shirt and red pants!


3. Scoop neck by Rebecca Rosen. From knit.1 Fall 2004. I like the shape of this one and the use of two different textures. I bought some greens to make this last year--it's still waiting.


4. Primrose Plaid vest by Lorraine Ehrlinger. From Cast On Spring 2005. Very cute idea. But the pattern has you do all the vertical plaid in duplicate stitch. There must be an easier way!


5. Tweedy Vest (pdf) by Mona Schmidt. From Knitscene Fall/Winter 2005 and available free at that link. This is such a relaxed yet polished style.

6. Highland Fling by Annie Modesitt. Available free at that link on Magknits. Now here is a plaid vest! Think of all the groovy color combos from saucy to subtle.

7. Drunken Argyle by Holli Yeoh. Even though Holli says this is a man's vest, I would totally wear it.

8. Nubbles by Crystal Palace. Available free at that link. This is just fun and one of the few open-front vests I like.

9. Menswear Vest by Jordana Paige. From Vogue Knitting Winter 2004/2005. Sorry I couldn't find a better pic. This is like the classic vest but slimmed down and shortened.

10. Asymmetric vest by Jenifer Paulovsky. Available free at that link on Blue Alvarez. So much fun! And looks like it would be fast to make, too. You could do all sorts of things for the closure.

I have also added links to Top Ten Shrugs and Top Five Flowers to my sidebar. Check 'em out!

As promised, here are some pics of the shibori scarf I gifted last week. I started with a rectangular silk scarf and dyed it lime green. Then wrapped it on a pole like so...(note: it helps to have a bf in the construction biz for a supply of various pvc pipes)



Then I scrunched it all together in one spot on the pole, to create pressue resists.



Then I poured fuschia dye over it. Please note how I strategically left my new faucet and sprayer in the pic. You can't see the awesome gooseneck, but you get the idea.



Sorry for the crappy finished pic, but I had planned on doing more to this scarf, specifically discharge and pleating. Anyway, it's very subtle, understated. Like one of those pink pointsettias.



I did more dyeing yesterday and almost finished my Wavy scarf. I'm on a roll!

Happy New Year, gang! I finished Dobby's Big Bird sweater yesterday, but could not get the internet working at the place we were staying. For some reason I really wanted to get that sweater out of the way before the end of the year. I guess so I could finish something that wasn't a Christmas gift. So may I introduce Dobby and her bright shiny ridiculousness!


This is a good shot of the shoulder increases and the little cuffs.


I could have made it longer, but I was getting impatient.


Yes, it really is that bright and shiny. This shows off the belly ribbing and rump decreases.

I used Patons Kingfisher doubled up for the body and Bernat Boa for the collar and cuffs. The pattern, Esther Bozak's Original Custom-Fit Dog Sweater, is free and fabulous. It may take some math but you will really get a custom-fit sweater. I should have continued on to make Dobby's longer but I was tired and wanted to do some decreases. Ironically, this will be my first completed entry in The Poochalong that I'm hosting. I definitely want to make her another sweater--something more casual and practical--and I will absolutely use Esther's pattern again. Charlie may even get a washable something out of this.

Also, take a gander at the side bar--I've updated a couple things. I've always had an atom feed with Blogger, but I just now put up a link so you can subscribe here with Bloglines. I'm still undecided about Bloglines. It's nice to easily tell who has posted since the last time I checked, but I wind up going to those sites anyway because I don't like viewing the post in Bloglines. I have also completely redone my FO listings. I had admired the albums that typepad users have and wanted a simpler one-stop area to show my finished goodies. I don't know why I didn't think of it before, but last week I loaded everything onto Flickr. Now you can see all my stuff here. Enjoy!