What I've been up to: Autumn edition!

Hi Readers!

It's been a while since my last blog update, so I thought it would be a good idea to let you all know what I've been doing for the past month:

First, I finally finished up and blocked this sweater...

 Pattern found here, btw: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sweetheart-sweater-5

...and I have to say that I am delighted with how it came out! The yarn is a mite bit itchy, though, so if I were to knit this again I'd use something different.

But my word. I love this sweater. I wore it for two days in a row after it was completely finished.

I've also been working on building up Lace Mountain 2014...

...which is considerably smaller than last year's Lace Mountain. I'm aiming to have at least thirty flakes, though.

I haven't had a chance to crochet as many snowflakes as I'd like; my inner ears are acting like divas so I can't crochet on my bus commute like I usually do. I'd make more time to crochet at home, but I've been distracted from my crochet projects because WE GOT A PET!

 Readers, meet Carl Sagan the Angry Fish, the newest member of our family!

Here he is showing off his gorgeous fins <3 He's his most impressive when he's hacked off. 

FISHY LASER BEAM POWERS ACTIVATE!

...thus named because the very first thing he did when we put him in his bowl was to attack his own reflection.

He's also known as Carl, Sagan, Fish, and Fishy (depending on our moods).

While it has been noted that there is the possibility of this little guy developing an identity crisis, Carl Sagan the Angry Fish doesn't really seem to care one way or the other about what we call him.

Because...you know...he's a fish.

It's been a lot of fun having a pet for the first time in goodness knows how long. Cats and Dogs are strictly forbidden in our rent agreement (And keeping Carl Sagan the Angry Fish is...kind of toeing the line on what exactly is allowed), so it's nice to be greeted after a long day.

Even when that greeting is coming from a homicidal Betta fish; swimming out with his gills and fins all puffed out in an attempt to destroy any and all who try to intrude on his fish bowl.

I caught a nasty head-cold last week and had to stay home from work for a couple of days. Carl isn't nearly as comforting as a furry kitty cat, but he did come out of his favorite hiding place (behind a large, flat rock) and followed my finger around the fishbowl glass.

Then he puffed his fins out and swam/crashed into the side of his bowl in an attempt to kill my finger.

He shows his affection in his own 'lil fishy way.

So anyways, that was my October, Readers! I'll try to be better about updating this blog, although it may be a little while before I have anything to report apart from Carl Sagan the Angry Fish's murder attempts.

Until next time!

Haiku Friday

Soft, lullaby sheep
Sweet berceuses, "Baa Baa Baa",
Have you any wool?

I finished up this sweet little sheepy sheep sweater for a friends' baby shower tomorrow, Readers!

You'd better believe that when Mr. Orb Weaver and I have our baby, I will be knitting one of these in every color.

Until next time!

Knitting Projects and Lace Doodles in Progress...

Hello, Readers! It has been entirely too long!

It's true that I've been neglecting this blog, but I haven't been neglecting my knitting!

The Year of the Sweater is off to an excellent start, I must say! Look what I finished a few weeks ago!

Pattern found here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/plain-and-simple-pullover

I'm still waiting on some blocking supplies to arrive in the mail before I model this sweater properly. I'm VERY pleased with how the sweater looks, but I have to say that the yarn I picked out is....itchy. VERY ITCHY. If I want to actually wear this sweater outside of the house (which I absolutely will, once it's been blocked), I'll have to wear a long-sleeved shirt underneath.

Plus, I'm going to re-attach some of the buttons to make it just a bit more aesthetically pleasing. I'm not going to wear it with the turtleneck buttoned up, anyway.

Too itchy.

Serves me right for picking out the cheapest yarn. Ah well. It looks lovely, at the very least.

I'm making very good progress on sweaters two and three as well! I'll be posting those in the coming weeks.

In addition to the Year of the Sweater, I've been knitting lots of little lovely things for all of my family members who are having babies.

Three cousins have had their babies within the past two months. That's THREE knit baby gifts!

I'm VERY pleased with knit baby gift number one:

Pattern found here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/foglie-su-legaccio---leaves-of-garter-stitch

Just needs buttons and blocking!

I'm also working the kinks out of a new crochet snowflake pattern. I've been inspired by some gorgeous macro-photography shots of snowflakes; one Russian photographer in particular has been catching my eye lately:

http://chaoticmind75.blogspot.com/

His name is Alexey Kljatov, and oh my sweet holy mother he takes gorgeous pictures.

I've crocheted a flake that's based off of this photograph here:

http://500px.com/photo/22899889

...and the finished result, I find, is just kind of "Meh".

The flake was also VERY sloppily starched. Yuck. 

The flake NEEDS just a little something, but I don't want to over-work it and make it into a jumble of un-necessary do-dads. In the few years that I've been designing crochet lace, I've learned a few things:

1. Less is More
2. Always make one more chain than you think you need
3. The popcorn stitch doesn't starch well.

I'm thinking the best thing I can do for "Kljatov 1" is to make it bigger, for one thing. I want the negative space in the center of the flake to stand out a bit more, and making it larger will give me a little bit more freedom in playing with the shapes that the negative space can create.

I may also do a row of single crochets along the outer-most edge, but I think that may draw the eye away from the center.

If anybody has any suggestions, I'm all ears! Leave me a comment, Readers!

Until next time! <3

Sweater concepts

Hullo again, my dear Readers!

First of all, I wanted to thank those of you who have sent my family messages of love and support regarding my mom's chemo. She did beautifully, and will be going in for another round in a couple of weeks. As of now, things are going VERY WELL.

I'm proud to say that I FINALLY finished knitting the second half of the space-invaders afghan. I will post pictures once the whole piece is sewn together and finished.

Now that I've got one of the BIG projects out of the way (mostly), I thought it would be fun to return to the idea of creating my own knitting patterns.

I've always admired a smart, nice-fitting, ladylike sweater. After perusing the Internet and knitty.com, I came up with a couple of ideas for a modified drop-shoulder cardigan:




Wee strawberries? Yay!

 Doesn't necessarily need to be strawberries. Wee pears, apples, cherries...I dunno if this is my inner old lady coming out, but I love prints that feature itty-bitty fruits <3

Ideally, I'd like the pattern to keep the "polka-berries" as tiny as possible. I KNOW that this will be a challenge...but I'm confident that after some trial and error, SOMETHING will come out of it, even if it turns out to be an entirely different garment! Another instarsia project? Perhaps this is simple enough for fair isle? Or should I embroider the berries/pears/apples whatever over the finished knitted fabric?

Only time will tell, Readers! Stay tuned!