The magic of crafted things

I feel crappy!

I went full on for a month in the recent municipal election. Then along came grey weather, the time changed which means I still wake up in the dark, but I now also get home at 6pm and its dark. Today my body told me I have a cold.

Again my crafting attention span is nil. This is a minor repeat of how I felt after the provincial election in June.

This is not depression. I can identify when I'm depressed.

What has happened is that I focus on something so full on that when its time to release, I crash. I'm not alone in this. But we all cope slightly differently.

I am a crafter and I love it. When I'm too unfocused I start lots of projects and have no desire to finish them. I am always working on a bunch of projects and I'm very focused on every project. I am also very prolific in my yarn crafts.

Well not today folks!

I just want to start lots of things and can't seem to stick to them. Thank goodness I know lots of people having babies, so I can make baby hats.

Something magical happened a minute ago.

I put on one of my shawls:

Colour Affection Shawl by Veera Välimäki
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Lightweight
Colours: Happy Go Lucky, Deep Unrelenting Grey and Peepee Weepkins

I made this in 2012 and I keep it at the office in case I'm cold.

Well I wasn't cold but felt I needed a hug. So I grabbed this and put it on.
BOY WHAT A GREAT IDEA!

My friend Haley talks about yarns and projects giving good energy. This shawl totally has this. I mean I still feel crappy, but I'm feeling very comforted by wearing it.

So I'm feeling better than I did an hour ago.

JUST LIKE MAGIC!

Have you missed me?

Hello my loves!

I have been so busy, I haven't had time to write since August.

Where did the time go?


SO WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN CRAFTING?

Well many things have passed my needles in the last few months!
I have made

• A cowl
• Stuffed things like monsters and cats
• A couple of hats
• A Tunisian crochet pillow cover
• The most excellent  hooded shawl which I don't have a photo of
• The first of many baby hoodies

The shawl I have been working on, you remember the one which had a skein of major tangled yarn? Well I'm this close to finishing the full ball that didn't get tangled.

Left over skein of yarn. Needs to be finished October 31! Only for the group participation

Unfortunately, I had to admit defeat on the tangled mess and the new skein is sitting in my bag waiting to be wound (by machine not me!).

OTHER EXCITING PROJECTS ON THE NEEDLES

TARDIS blue sparkle  knee highs
Pattern: From my head
Yarn: Nerd Girl Yarns Shimma in TARDIS

That's right I'm making sparkly blue knee highs. They will be awesome and make me happy!

Autumn Sparkle socks
Pattern: From my head
Yarn: Dream in Color Starry in Tabby & Supernatural Yarns Griffin Sock in Trick or Treat

Another fun sparkly lovely sock. 

I'm in a sparkle mood and that is a good thing. Nothing like a little sparkle to make your day a little more exciting. 

There is more exciting coming down the pipe. I will start to write a little more once things start to quiet down next week. 

In the mean time, be good but crafty.

You socksie thang!

Yarn: Sunset Stitched Super Sock
Colourway: Grindylow (From DADA yarn club)
Pattern: Temptation Top- Down Socks!

I want the rapid weather to cease! Now! Right now!

I miss sock weather. The socks in these pictures are some of my favorite pairs of socks!
You have a favorite pair of socks? What is wrong with you?

Let me explain.

KNITTING SOCKS IS A BIG DEAL!!

My sock primer
1. Choosing a yarn!

• There are all sorts of sock yarns out there. Not all sock yarns are created equal. For me there are some beautiful  but not practical for your feet. Some come apart very quickly. So as much as I love some of them, I will use them for shawls and other lovely things.  I love independent dyers who make lovely hand dyed yarns. I love superwash yarns with maybe some nylon in them. I admit my sock yarn stash is vast and I do plan to eventually work through most of it.

2. Choosing a pattern!

• There are a million patterns out there. So I go to Ravelry and look. I start with my queue of socks that I have. To me I need to look at the yarn I'm planning to use. I am not for using loud, short colour changes on some patterned socks. You lose the pattern if you do. There are some patterns that are great for pooling of yarn.
• There are also issues about knitting your sock from the toe up or the cuff down. I am ambisockstrous.* So I knit whatever I'm in the mood to!

Yarn: Nerd Girl Yarn's Bounce and Stomp
Colourway: Earth Death (from Who's your Doctor?) yarn club
Pattern: Aquaphobia socks

3. Actually knitting the things!

• So when you knit anything you need to use needles that match the size of the yarn. Which means that socks are knit on some of the smallest needles on the planet. It takes a significant amount of time to make a pair of socks. When I make a pair on a slow cycle, it takes me 10 days to knit a pair. That's 10 days of primarily knitting and not much else going on in the world. Hours of time. I'm am considered a relatively fast sock knitter. I have been in competitions where people finish a pair in 24 hours. The best I've done is a pair in 5 days. THAT IS ABSOLUTELY CRAZY!!!!!

A friend of mine says you can feel the energy off of things that have been crafted. To me socks are the ultimate in good vibe crafting. They are like hugs for your feet. I don't quite get why my feet get  energy from wearing my handmade socks. But no matter what, I always feel great. 

I am very selfish in my sock knitting. It's not personal, its just that the time it takes me to make them. The only other person I actually enjoy knitting socks for is my Mum, she has truly embraced the hand knit sock and it is a frequent request for gifts. She even inherited a pair that didn't fit me.


In closing, I will say that all my socks are my favorites! If I've made them and they are on my feet, they are amazing!

Yarn: Supernatural Yarn Mermaid Sock
Colourway: Cunning
Pattern: Hat Heel

I could go on and on about socks but I think I'll stop here today.

Sock on Dude!

*Ambisocktrous- A word I created to say I do both toe up and cuff down.

Fine art of creating and trying to fix yarn barf!

Hello all!

I want to talk to you about yarn barf!

This lovely yarn arrived in the mail on Friday:

Blue Box exploding in w00t
A lovely hand painted lace yarn from Nerd Girl Yarns!

I couldn't get to a swift* this weekend. But was eager to wind it.

BIG MISTAKE!!!

Welcome yarn barf:

Yarn wound without swift! OOPS!

Normally, I would freak out and cry. But not this time. Here may be a few reasons:

1. I have another skein so I can start working on that one while I fix this. Lesson learned: I can have patience in fixing my mistakes when there is something else to distract me.
2. I probably won't need this for a month. Lesson learned: I can be calm and rational when I do stupid things. But always remember to take my time. Patience is good!
3. I have made a tennis ball sized ball and a golf ball sized yarn. It is slow but if I give it enough time, that all will work itself out. Lesson learned: even a small amount of work is progress and that if I keep at it, I will succeed.

I have given myself a whole month before I begin to panic. But it will get fixed and it will be part of a beautiful project already in progress.

I will show you my progress when some more has been made!



*Swift = a device that helps yarn be wound when using a ball winder!

Baby, you've got a stew going!

Chart of the afghan square I am currently working on!
It is the 2nd of the Sherlock blanket I had mentioned in a previous blog post!

When I began knitting, I couldn't understand a pattern.

I was scared that every little thing was wrong. It looked funny. Why was there a hole in that thing? I'm horrible and nothing is ever going to look any good.

Of course, I was just starting out and unless you are some special wunderkind, everyone is like that!
I finished a project. Time to move on to the next one.

I spent the beginning of my knitting life picking a new technique to conquer.

• Cables
• Blankets
• Toe-up socks
• Steaking
• colourwork
• lace (still working hard on this one!)
• Reading those crazy charts that look like a completely different language

I'm an intelligent woman who "suffers" from a learning disability.
I say suffer in that term as I don't really suffer at all. My brain just processes information in a different way which takes a bit longer to get things. But once I get it I am on fire.

The way my brain functions explains why more complex lace patterns make me cry. I want to do them so badly, but my brain isn't quite there yet.  I've got a stew going. I have the tools and the want. I have attempted to try, but the brain needs a little more time to simmer around that specific technique.

Baby, I've got a stew going!

CHARTS! As you can see in the above photo, I have gotten to the point where I can read a chart and amazing things can happen.

For those of you not in the know, before the charts there are often written instructions to complete the chart.

When I started chart work, its scared the heck out of me! It looked like a foreign language. But I wanted to conquer the chart. So I took both at the same time to help me figure it out. Gradually I walked away from the written instructions to the chart. I would force myself to chart only with the occasional look at written instructions to make sure I understood what I was doing.

Along the way I learned an awesome technique from my friend Haley of Knit-o-matic. Colour coding awesomeness. Now I don't do it every time, but for a crazy chart, colours are your friend. THANKS HALEY!

So what have I learned? With a little bit of this and that. Let it work bit by bit, I can now get a chart stew on!
I can't look at written instructions anymore! To which I say HUZZAH!


Please note that the title is in reference to Arrested Development. Same can be said for HUZZAH! Seriously if you haven't watched Arrested Development, please do. It can be found on Netflix!

Tallulah's Great Afghan Adventure....part one

So when I left the blog previously, I had made a plan forward that both excited and inspired me.

That  was then.

In less than two hours, that plan was scratched and gone.

So my indecision is still going strong. But I have moved forward with the new, new plan from a couple of days ago.

I have decided to participate in a MKAL/ Read-along.
What on earth are you talking about?
A MKAL = Mystery knit-along. Someone creates a pattern and releases it over a period of time. Usually it is a way of getting buzz for the designer.

Read-along is kind of self explanatory.

So this one is a Sherlock Holmes themed along. Every month for a year a pattern will be released for an afghan square. The design is inspired by a Sherlock Holmes story and we read the story to go along with the square.

I had planned to read some Sherlock Holmes a while ago and this is giving me the impedes to actually read it. Books are on route to the library right now!

It started in March, and 5 of the designs are out right now. So I'm behind and inspired to keep going (I have only finished one mystery knit-along ever:see rat from last blog post!).

Here is the progress as of today:

All yarns are Malabrigo Worsted
Top: Clue one in progress "Sunset"
Bottom l-r: "Fuchsia," "Stone Blue," "emerald, " and "intense."

Well I'm a bit farther along than that, but you get the idea. Each one of these will use approximately 200 yards of yarn and the size of the square is huge.

I think I can finish this along! One a month!

To be continued.........

Inspiration and indecision

INSPIRATION!

So where did it come from?

I grew up with a Bubby who used to knit and crochet when we were kids growing up in the 70s and 80s. She mostly crocheted us blankets in weird coloured acrylic.  Sometimes she knit us things like mittens and balaclavas. My father has taken ownership of the blanket that Bubby made for me and the one that was my sisters.   The other thing that we all remember is the crocheted animals that she would make. I still have one that sits in my room on my shelf.

This month one of the Harry Potter Knit Crochet House Cup (That's for a whole other blog post! But you can find the group on Ravelry!) prompts was to craft something that is inspired by someone who influenced your crafting. So I made a knitted creature.

This was a MKAL by Rabbit Hole Knits and has been named Rats!
This guy is actually really cute! Rats are misunderstood!

The inspiration is this cat:

The bottom is the cat that Bubby made in the 70s so its almost as old as I am.
It came with the pins for the face and the yarn is squeaky to the touch!

I didn't learn to knit until well after my Bubby passed away in 1992. She never really knit or crocheted in the end as she had Alzheimer's. But I remember her crafting. 

Often when talking to my Aunt, she reminds me that I seem to have caught my crafting bug from Bubby. I always knew it.

INDECISION!

The biggest problem now is that I want to start something, I have no idea what to start. 

Logical people will try to finish what is sitting in the to be finished pile. I am actually working on something right now from that pile. But I don't want to. I wanted to last night, but I have decided I need to embark on something else.

I started 4 projects yesterday and each one of them was taken off the needles and yarn wound up again.

I had to work on THAT WIP (WIP = Work In Progress! Get your mind out of the gutter!) and nothing else. But I couldn't THAT WIP!  I tore apart and organized looking for it. Finally I found it. Where I had put after I went to sleep and had been asleep for an hour or so.  I've been working on it on and off today.

BUT I WANT TO START SOMETHING NEW! So I have decided that a compromise is in order! When I'm at  home, I will work on the new project & I leave the WIP at the office and finish it slowly but surely.

But that's the plan today. Tonight it may change.