craft blog

Things have been a bit upside-down in the B. household recently, to say the least. I have found myself unemployed and unmotivated to pick up my hook or turn on the sewing machine. I hope that changes soon, because I have so many works-in-progress that I would like to see finished!

This scarf has been sitting on my “things to do” pile for ages. All it really needs is the applique and embroidery I’ve planned. The yarn is Cascade 220 Quatro, and I really like how the four different colour plies stand out when you look at it closely, but blend nicely from a distance and gives the fabric a delicate tweedy look.

I bought this skein of Malabrigo, planning to make myself another cowl. For now, it sits in my yarn bin.

This one is the start of my (bulkier) interpretation of the wool crenelle scarf. It is probably going to be a holiday gift for one of the many women I know who like this colour. It’s Red Heart Cozy Wool in Claret, which isn’t a colour I’m too hot on for wearing myself. My winter coat is red and my hair is orange-y, so this would be way too clashy. But it was $2/skein at Dressew, and perfect for washable gifts. For a thick yarn, it isn’t too stiff to work with, but the multiple plies make it a bit splitty.

Sheep! This adorable little pouch (from Christina’s at Etsy) came to me through a swap, from Not Scarlett. It had lots of nice goodies in it, like candy and darning needles and stitch markers, and and and…Thanks!

You may remember the tomato plant that was given to me back in July. Since I have no garden or even a patio/balcony to properly grow plants at home, I’ve been tending to my tomato vines on my office window sill. The window is North-facing, so not much direct sunlight comes in during the day, and the bucket is kind of small and stunted the potential growth. I didn’t mind much, just having a live plant to take care of makes my work space feel a lot less depressing. (Seriously, I have a framed print of fishing flies on my wall and a monolithic beige filing cabinet beside my desk. The window gives me a view of a house that has a yard filled with cars in various states of repair, two mechanics garages, the parking lots of two fast food joints, and our neighbourhood crack dealer with her less-than-discreet clientele. That little spot of green really makes a difference.)

For quite a while the tomato plant was looking pretty scraggly, and then it got a tiny green tomato. I didn’t think anything would come of it; that maybe it would just wither up on the vine. After all, the leaves were kind of droopy and the growing conditions weren’t the best. To my surprise, I ended up with a tiny red tomato.

Even more surprising are the blossoms nearby:

It’s a little late in the season, but I hope that they become tomatoes too!

I can’t possibly be the only one who saves pictures from the Anthropologie website from years gone by as inspiration. Lately I’ve been loving and craving scarves, and this one stuck out in my memory. Naturally, I had to do a google search to see if I could find it.

I love the width, and how the scallops rest on the shoulder. The extreme treble stitches appeal to me from a construction point-of-view. A lot of people say they hate working trebles and double trebles and triple trebles, but I find them fairly simple to do once I get into a groove. There is a pair of gloves in Loop-d-Loop crochet with bullion stitches, which are pretty and similar to work as well. I’ve read a lot of patterns and instructions that treat the bullion stitch as though it is a big secret and a highly advanced skill, and frankly, that scared me off at first. How would I, a lowly n00b, ever perfect it? I give lots of things a try to see if I can do it, and this surprised me: All that is needed to do trebles and bullions is a steady hand and patience. There is no super-secret handshake or lessons from one guru who knows and guards the technique. Now I love trebles.

I’ve been tagged by Tracie, so I’ll do my best to come up with 7 facts.

The rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them). (I generally don’t tag. Hey, seven people! If you want to meme it up, please do!)
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

1. I can scratch even the trickiest spots on my own back, and I have to remind myself that not everyone else can when they ask me to get that tough itch.

2. If my pinky fingers didn’t stick out like those of a cartoon upper-crust matron drinking tea when I have my hands on the home row keys, I’d be able to type a lot faster than I do (it varies between 40 and 60 wpm).

3. I’m scared of swimming in deep water because I have terrible buoyancy and always end up at the bottom of the pool and have a hard time getting back to the top. Part of the fear might have to do with nearly drowning in my uncle’s pool when I was four. I thought it would be a good idea to go for a swim before anyone woke up. Luckily, my aunt had the same idea. (Related: I can only float if I start on top of the water and arch my back just so.)

4. I’ve worn glasses since I was twelve, but until I was about 18, I only needed them if I was sitting at the very back of a classroom and trying to read text from an overhead projector. Each pair except the last pair I replaced met an untimely end; they were somehow unwearably busted before I needed a new prescription.

5. I used to know how to count to ten in Ukrainian. My grandmother taught me, and claimed that she couldn’t remember how to say anything else. I later found out that she can speak Ukrainian, and mostly uses it when gossiping with her sisters and relatives in Saskatchewan.

6. I have never had a driver’s license, not even a Learner’s. We didn’t have a car when I was a teenager, and if I wanted to go somewhere, I’d catch a ride with someone or get bus fare or cab fare from my mum. I can drive a bit, just not legally or very well!

7. Let’s make this one craft-related: After seeing the lap looms on MonsterCrochet, I’ve been missing the ones I had as a kid. I don’t really need another crafty hobby, but I kind of want to pick up weaving. (I also have a soft spot for knitting looms, and have to restrain myself from buying them. I’m fairly sure my old one is in my mum’s basement if I want to go get it.)

I don’t think I can go to the launch, but I figured that some of you locals might be interested. There is also a list of other related events and the details for the US book launch on the Interweave site. (It starts around 6 on a work night, and I work until 5:30 in Burnaby. If I had a job actually in the city, I know how to rush my ass out to West 10th in about 30 minutes from nearly anywhere. Perhaps I’m just a little bitter that the place where Joe B. works moved their office to Gastown and he can sleep in and get to work from home in fifteen minutes or less if he hurries. Fifteen minutes! Clearly, if I want a shorter commute, I need to learn software development and cultivate a trendy personal style to work in Gastown, or leave my desk job to do retail on Commercial Drive.)

Anyhow, before I get more carried away, here are the details for the launch in Vancouver:

Calling all crocheters! Join us for the Canadian Launch Party on October 23rd for Kim Werker’s new book, Crochet Me! Join us at Urban Yarns for the Canadian launch party for Kim Werker’s new book, Crochet Me: Designs to Fuel the Crochet Revolution. Kim is the editor of Interweave Crochet magazine and founder and creative director of CrochetMe.com. She’ll be signing books and demystifying crochet techniques in an engaging talk about the creative possibilities of crochet: think drape, drape, drape, shaping in garments, and hook size + yarn + stitch! You won’t think about crochet in the same way again. This talk is interactive, so bring your hook and yarn-you won’t want to miss out on the fun. We’ll also be previewing some of the outstanding fashions featured in her book in our exclusive trunk show. Advance registration is required online at www.urbanyarns.ca or by calling (604) 228-1122.

Tracie has started a weekly blog prompt for crocheters called Stitch Stirrers. This week’s prompt is to write a limerick about crochet.

Let’s see if I can use a little CLR to scrub up my rusty rhyming skillz:

There once was a girl named Kazumi,
Who made and sold amigurumi.
She stitched Donald Duck,
But was plumb out of luck,
Disney attacked; she said, “Sue me!”

and I know that Tracie said, “No man from Nantucket!” but I’m nothing but contrary:

There once was a man from Nantucket,
Who kept all of his yarn in a bucket.
He had quite the cache,
His friends envied his stash,
and when he turned ’round, they all snuck it.

and lastly,

A Captain named Hook was irascible,
And his booty of yarn was immatchable.
His skills, they were strong,
But his gauge was all wrong,
“I wish that this thing were detachable!”

This is a section of a motif I’m working for a lace camisole. Crochet thread is surprisingly nice to work with, it has a nice weight to it that keeps it from floating out of my hand when I breathe or a breeze comes in through the window, like laceweight wool does (which is why I’ve put aside the top from Loop-d-loop Crochet for a while. It’s going to come back out after the weather turns and I no longer like to have the window open or the fan on). The thread is a bit less brassy coloured (in reality, it is a very soft natural cotton colour), but my camera and photo adjustment skills were misbehaving last night.

As part of a summer camp themed swap I took place in on Ravelry, there was a contest for the best letter home from camp. To my surprise, I won without having to vote for myself or ask my mom to vote for me! (Actually, you know how there’s that joke about kids saying things like, “But my mom thinks I’m cool!”? My mum thinks I’m uncool. She says I’m very nice, but just not hip or popular.)

This is the prize, a hank of yarn from Spunky Eclectic. I love how the orange parts touch both the blue and the purple. Mmmm. I bet this would work up into a lovely scarf. Thanks, Amy!

I love the giant sparkly one. I have two, and haven’t decided what to do with them. Maybe an embellishment on a scarf?

I have to be in the mood to blog, and August has been so busy that I haven’t been sitting still long enough to get into a bloggy mood. As fall approaches, I hope to spend rainy nights by the computer (as I am lacking a fireplace), making things and writing.

This is the toe for one sock, as a part of a crocheted sock-along. I think I may actually bite the bullet and sit down to learn how to properly knit. Sure, I can make a garter stitch quadrilateral shape, but that is not enough to create socks (unless I want to sew them together and create blocky socks for a robot). Crocheted socks are nice in a folksy sort of way, and they have a really cozy crunchy crafty look. But the available patterns are mostly sc-only patterns (this pair of socks is going to be my own concoction), and take a lot of yarn. I can’t afford lessons right now, but it is something I’m going to keep in mind.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to the Knit and Stitch Shoppe on Marine Drive in West Vancouver, and they had baskets upon baskets of Malabrigo Merino Worsted. Thanks to the Internets, I had heard tales of this yarn, how it was softer than a newborn kitten’s purr and may possibly be softer than an angel’s kiss. I was skeptical at first, but I was sold from my first pat of the yarn, and wanted to rub it all over my face. Of course, I needed a way to do this appropriately, and a cowl seemed like the perfect project. Now I have something to snuggle into on damp and foggy days this autumn. I’ve taken to calling it my Leonine Cowl, because of the colour and the way it reminds me of the part of the lion’s mane that grows about the neck. I still have a skein of the worsted in blue waiting to be used, but I’m chomping at the bit to try Malabrigo Laceweight. Three Bags Full is bringing in Malabrigo this fall, and if they have lace, I might have to break my resolve to finish my lingering unfinished projects before getting more yarn. I know there are people out there with yarn stashes that fill closets, and even rooms. Mine is a 10 gallon Rubbermaid that isn’t even full, and I feel a bit like overkill if I am not going to use it soon. Perhaps I just like the idea of turnover, making things and replacing my supplies.

Last Wednesday, Joe and I went down to Stanley Park to sit on the Seawall and watch fireworks.
For those of you unfamiliar with Vancouver tradition, for four nights in July and August, three countries compete in a fireworks contest and have a finale featuring all three countries before the winner is announced. Most people crowd the beach at English Bay to get the most direct view, but there are plenty of other places where you can watch the show without having to deal with drunk jerks and stoned teenagers. (Can you tell I hate crowds?) One of my favourite parts of sitting near Second Beach is looking down the waterfront to English Bay and seeing thousands of camera flashes go off when the fireworks start.

Of course, we went early to stake out a spot. To whittle down the time, I took pictures and crocheted on the not-a-shrug-cardigan.

I chose to believe my camera manual when it said that the camera has a fireworks setting. I am a big believer in the principles behind RTFM. I selected the setting with the little icon that looked more like a snowflake than a firework (maybe that should have been my first clue), and you’ll have to trust me when I say that the fireworks were a lot more exciting than my photos let on:

Well, except for the squiggly thing in the second one. If I saw something explode like that, I’d be pretty impressed.