Felting Fun

Today's Guild workshop was felting 3D faces with Jane Davis, the author numerous felting, crochet, knitting and beading books. Jane lives in Ventura and teaches at my favorite LYS, so I've taken classes with her before. This was my first attempt at 3D felting and I wasn't sure what to expect. I thought I'd need some 'artistic' ability (which I don't have; creative, maybe. Artistic? Not a drop.) - but it turned out to be a great class where, like tole painting, once you know the tricks and techniques, it's pretty easy. And fun.Only five people signed up for today's class so it was very individualized instruction. We started by wet-felting the general face shape - then adding details with needle felting. We pushed and poked and needled until we had something we liked. Every face ended up being entirely different from the others - isn't Darlene's pirate wonderful? And all the others . . .
My final version looks like a sad 70's kinda dude. I struggled with the lips more than anything but for a first attempt I'm pretty pleased with my guy.And I only stabbed myself once with the *very* sharp needle. I definitely want to do more of this!

Done!

And I love it. I swapped the light pink yarn for a darker rose and it's perfect. I added the half diamond rows last night to make it square and put the new border on this afternoon. As soon as it's done blocking, it will go in the mail to Anna's mama. Sure hope they like it!

Tech Specs: Pattern is based on 'Beautiful Baby Afghan' by Carolyn Christmas. (Ravel It) from her book "Gourmet Crochet: How to Make Easy Tunisian Entrelac" (which I highly recommend; great visuals, very easy to use.) Yarn is Plymouth's Bella Colour in #014 (multi - 5.5 balls) and #112 (rose - 1 ball); and the white is Bernat's Softee Baby (about 1 skein). "I" crochet hook.

Oh, Horse Puckies

Decision time. And I'm pretty sure I'm not going to like this.

I finished Anna's blanket and started on the border tonight. Went through one ball of yarn before I looked at the overall effect. I think I hate the pink. Now that I see them together, there's not a bit of stinkin' pink in that entire rainbow-hued blanket. I have to rip that border off, don't I? D**n it. I was so close to being finished.

CBAM

I've probably mentioned it before, but I love teaching crochet classes and my favorite of all is the crochet block-a-month class. It's a small group of fairly new crocheters and it's exciting for me when they "get" a new technique.

Rather than teaching 'pretty' squares like last year, I'm concentrating on techniques and stitches that can be used in other things. Like sweaters. Or shawls. Or anything else they want to make. Sort of like Crochet 102.

This month's block was pretty complex - the Celtic braid square.(This is the smaller test version I'm using for my afghan. The class project was bigger, with crossed cables on each side.)

For next month, I want to do something a little easier, so I'm basing the square on a stitch pattern I found in a vintage magazine - I'm calling it the Starry Eyes Square. Can you see the eye in each little star?It's pretty, it's unusual and it's easy. The perfect combination.

Yosemite, Part One

Our trip to Yosemite was wonderful. It was a little strange (for me at least) to have no cell phone service and no Internet for three. whole. days. Definitely restful though.

We spent the first night in Modesto, about an hour outside Yosemite; we wanted to enjoy the scenery going into the valley during daylight hours. The wildflowers were in bloom, carpeting the hills with orange and purple. Hwy 140 was reduced to just one-lane in two separate places - including where this rock slide had taken out the two-lane highway. The road is totally buried, not even a hint of where it used to be. Cal Trans is going to have lots of fun cleaning up that mess.

The next two nights - Wednesday and Thursday - we stayed at Yosemite Lodge at the Falls in Yosemite Village. The rooms are rustic, like you'd expect in a national park, but clean and comfortable. (Hot running water and a king-size bed; that's definitely my kind of 'roughing it'!)Our room was upstairs, at the end of one building. The view from our balcony was spectacular; looking to the right - and to the left - where we had a clear view of Yosemite Falls (it's kind of hard to see through the trees in the photo.)

Bill and Carolyn's room was next to ours and they had a view in just one direction, but they saw more wildlife than we did - including a coyote chasing a squirrel (squirrel got away but not before the coyote got a nibble on him) and a raccoon who made a midnight raid on their room. Note to self: even if you're on the second floor, never leave your balcony door open when you drift off to sleep. You too might awaken to the sound of little paws emptying your purse onto the floor, looking for treats. And that's after the little darling had 'liberated' a carton of yogurt and taken it onto the balcony to eat. Carolyn heard him during the first entry, but thought it was her hubby moving around. The second time she turned on the light just in time to see Rocky Raccoon make a run for the door. Good times. Especially at 1 in the morning.

Yo Sa Mite* Bound

How did I spend the first leg of our trip to Yosemite? Winding yarn. That's 500 yards of the softest, prettiest alpaca I've ever seen. It's Great Adirondack Yarn Company's Sierra Trillum, Tweed Alpaca, that I bought on our New England trip last fall.

I'd been saving it for a special project and it finally told me what it wants to be - a knit Peace Shawl. Who knew?

*That's how I pronounced Yosemite when we first moved to California.

Baaaa-ld Butt

Dick couldn't resist cutting this out of a local magazine and giving it to me. We have a standing joke, whenever we see yarn-on-the-hoof, that I'm going to shave their butts for my stash. Guess somebody overheard us.

Getting There . . .

The body is finished and I'm over half way done with one sleeve. I love how soft this yarn is. The stitches are wonky in places but I'm hoping that soaking and blocking will fix some of that. I'm still planning to wear this in Yosemite next week. If the Knitting Fates are kind.

Better Photo

Here's some better photos of the finished baby blanket. It was gifted today - hope the new parents like it! Close-up of the cables -

Baby Blankie FO

I made this for a friend whose first baby was due April 1. Baby came a day early and I finished this a day late, so that evens things out, right?
It's hard to tell in these photos - I'll try to get better ones tomorrow when it's light out - but the color is 'blue marl', blue and white threads twisted together. The lacy-looking sections are crossed double crochet cables; thus the pattern name, 'Crisscross'.
I like the completed blanket and I liked the pattern, but I doubt I'd make it again. The lack of stitch variety made it a loooooong haul to the finish line.

I'm still working on Baby Anna's blanket. Although she arrived February 29 (a Leap baby!), she was originally due the middle of April and I think I'll be done right about then. The crochet entrelac pattern is taking (much) longer than I expected.

Tech specs: Pattern is 'Crisscross' by Carole Rutter Tippett, found in Leisure Arts "Make One For Baby" booklet. Yarn is Bernet Softee, 2 and a smidge skeins - about 1000 yards - in Blue Marl. Size "G" hook.

Start 'em Young

Cat toys? Nope, grandkid toys. A few weeks ago Nai'a expressed interest in learning to crochet. I thought she'd probably forget about it - she's only 7 - but when she walked in the house today she immediately asked for yarn and a lesson. We got only a little way into it before she was distracted by all the fun her brother was having with his ball of yarn. We ended up with most of the downstairs wrapped in yarn and at least one very happy, very tired cat. AJ had a hard time deciding which of the many twitching strings to chase. I'm taking Nai'a with me to the yarn shop tomorrow afternoon to see if we can get further into crochet. And I'm moving to Plan B - employing the assistance of a 10-year old left-handed crocheter, who is spending spring break at the shop, to help show lefty Nai'a the basics.

Baby Names

John has been teasing (I hope) Rachel that if they have a boy, his name should be Tiberious. As in "James T.(iberious) Kirk." Yep, John's a Trekkie. So I teasingly (she hopes) suggested that Rachel tell John if they have a girl, her name should be Tourmalina. Ruby and Pearl are popular again, so why not go with another gem? I thought I was being original. Then I found this -

The name Tourmalina is a girl's name.
The origin of the baby name Tourmalina is Sri Lankan with the meaning being 'the tourmaline gem'. Variations include Tourmalyn, Tourmaalyna, Tourmalyne, and Tourmaline.

I guess there really is nothing new under the sun.

Rip N Knit

I have a new hobby. Knittin'-n-rippin'. I may never finish another project; I'll just knit for awhile, then rip it out.

I'm determined that this sweater is going to fit. I think the top third is done. I like the collar and the start of the raglan sleeves. I had another 10" or so knit - including the waist and hip increases - but it didn't fit right and I rrrrrrrrrrripped it all out again. On the plus side, I'm getting really good at moving live stitches on and off waste yarn. And I've learned several ways to do decreases - including this pretty little sl, k2tog, psso (slip stitch, knit 2 together, pass slipped stitch over) - and how to make increases lean to the left or right so they compliment each other.

What I'd really like to learn is how to wear a finished hand-knit sweater. Maybe in my lifetime.

Coolness

Check this out - Knitting Daily developed a free waist shaping calculator for knitters AND crocheters. You put in your measurements and your gauge and it does the math for you. How cool is that?!?

Frogged It

Took the sweater to the yarn shop, got several opinions (2 said rip it, 1 said leave it) then rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrripped that sucker back to the sleeve holes and started over. Tonight was spinning night but I knit on my sweater instead. I've got about 3" done and I like it much better now.

Special thanks to Anne who put all the stitches back on the needles for me and who held my hand while I worried about picking up stitches for the sleeves. She's also the one who taught me to knit sweaters in the first place. And may I say she's looking mighty good for someone who's having a wee one any day (any minute?) now. (Anne - send pictures!!)

Rip It, Rip It

I kept knitting last night until I had the 20" from shoulder to hip that's called for in the pattern (yes, I'm compulsive.) I put the hem stitches on waste yarn so I could try the sweater on and . . . blech. Too boxy. I want something that shows a bit of shaping and doesn't look so much like a sack. After spending all this time - and all this $ - I want a garment I'm proud to wear and feel good in. (On the plus side, this yarn is incredibly soft; tossing it on the "never ever" pile is not an option.) I've been reading Sandi Wiseheart's excellent series of articles in Knitting Daily about sweater shaping. I think what I'm going to do - subject to input from the ladies at tomorrow's knit night - is rip this back to the arm holes (I'm cringing as I type that), do a gentle decrease to my waist, and then increase back up for the hips.

I don't want something that's form-fitting, but a little shaping would be nice. Anybody have other suggestions for this knitting novice?

Compulsive Again

I'm sure you're shocked that I'm being compulsive. But what may surprise you is what I'm being compulsive about. Knitting. Specifically, my newest knit project, the Weekend Pullover from Knitting Pure & Simple, that I started Saturday night - that's 3 days ago.

It's a top-down project made on size 17 needles with super-bulky yarn* - 2 stitches per inch. Needless to say, it's going fast, even for a novice knitter like me. I'm going for a length of 25.5" so I still have a little ways to go (that's slightly longer than called for in the pattern, but the same length as a favorite sweater)

I worked on it for 2 hours this afternoon and finished almost 4" around the body.I want to wear it when we go to Yosemite on April 9, so I need to have it to the point that I can put the sleeves back on the needles when I go to spin night at my LYS this Thursday. I think I know how to do that, but I'll feel better having one of the experts watching and critiquing when I actually take the plunge.

*Yarn is Sirdar's Denim Ultra in #509-beige. It's squishy soft and made of 60% acrylic, 25% cotton and 15% wool. Should be a good year-round sweater.

State-ly Travel Bug

Several weeks ago I read a newspaper article about the fulfillment of the author's dream to visit all 50 states. It got me thinking about where Dick and I have been and where we'd like to go. We often talk about traveling throughout the U.S. but we didn't have a concrete idea how to accomplish it. Now, we have a plan.

Marie went to a local store for teachers and came home with this puzzle map. I glued down every state that Dick and I have visited and put the remaining puzzle pieces in a bag. Whenever we get the travel bug for a weekend trip or just want to GO somewhere, we're going to pull a state from the bag and that's where we're heading.

The 'glue down rules' I used are:

• we have to have visited the state together - my trip cross-country when my family moved from Georgia to California doesn't count; neither does his early childhood sojourn in Michigan.
• we must have spent significant time there and seen more than just 'drive through' sites for the state to make the 'been there, done that' list.

We've done pretty well on states in the southwest U.S., the northeast - from our fall leaves tour last year, a few in the south, and Alaska (twice) and Hawaii (3 times.)

We'll knock at least two more states off this year. We have trips planned to Kansas - a two-week road trip in May so I can take a weaving workshop in Lawrence - and Oregon - another road trip in June to visit the Black Sheep Gathering in Eugene.

And if we get more travel bugs? I'm getting out the state bag and we're going someplace we've never been before.