Girl on the Rocks

formerly known as Knit This… Knitting, spinning, crafting - it’s all here.

 

Amigurumi Swap and more May 31, 2007

Filed under: Karrie's Current Projects, non-knitting related — karrie @ 7:41 am

I made a few tiny amigurumi’s and it was so fun, that I decided to host a swap over on swapbot.


From Ana Paula’s Pattern

Partners will be assigned on June 1st, so sign up before then. You will have until June 20th to make one large (~ 8 inches) or two small (4-5 inches) amigurumi creations to send to your partner.

I have had tremendous luck with most of my swapbot swaps. I was lucky enough to receive the most appropriate granny square in the fancy granny swap that I hosted:

Can you tell what the one on the right is?? Bacon. That’s right. A stranger crocheted bacon for me (thanks purplesparkler!). Awesome. I will have the most fantastic granny square afghan ever.

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Sock Needle Case May 30, 2007

Filed under: Etsy Shopping, Sewing — karrie @ 1:45 pm

A few years ago I made a lot of knitting needle cases. Downsizing apartments makes dealing with more than about a half of a yard of fabric at a time difficult, so I quit sewing as often. I do however, have just enough room to make one of my favorites - Sock Knitters Knitting Needle Cases.


I designed the cases to hold skinny crochet hooks (for provisional cast-ons and dropped stitches), double pointed needles and circular needles. You can even toss in a tape measure, stitch markers and a little ball of scrap yarn for casting on. They are small enough that you can take the whole case with you and your portable sock project.

See the notes in this photo for details on where to keep everything…

I listed a few in my shop, along with some newly dyed merino rovings.

Okay, I am of to scrounge for contest prizes… I am trying to think up something good….

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Earth Day Daisy Crocheted Pin May 28, 2007

Filed under: Crafty Projects — karrie @ 4:53 pm

Earth Day Daisy Crocheted pin

Crocheted Daisy pin

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I didn’t buy all of it…

Filed under: Etsy Shopping — karrie @ 12:00 pm

While we weren’t talking I did some shopping/trading on etsy. I thought I would share my finds with you since some of my friends claim that everything on etsy is crap. Okay, that’s not true. They said there is a lot of crap on etsy which is true, so I will help you wade through some of it.

What have we here…. clockwise from the top:

  • Fork easel from Whimsylove. More about this later
  • Crochet covered button from Jezze. This is so special it is going to live on my favorite lime green wool jacket. Cechk out her shop - she now has cool looking prints too…
  • Chapstick for Zombies from my old friend at Made in a Treehouse. Homemade chapstick is delicious. And this one says “mmmm… brains” on it. you can’t beat that.
  • Donut keychain from Sweet Honey Complex. For some reason I thought it was much tinier, but I still love it.

And in case you are wondering what that fork easel is for….

Holding my new recipe cards, of course!

Saturday Night Specials
On Saturday nights, many etsy sellers offer special discounts. It is a little clunky and you sorta have to work for it, but you need to watch the forum (bulletin board) for the announcement. Then individual sellers post their sales there. I have found several great sellers this way.
If you are new to etsy, tell them I (girlontherocks) sent you….

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Who, me? May 27, 2007

Filed under: non-knitting related — karrie @ 5:49 pm

Hi! Remember me? I didn’t forget about you, I have just been busy lately. Expect a lot of posts in the upcoming week because I have a lot to tell you. This post is mostly to let you know that I am still alive. It will not contain any knitting or crafting content, as I plan to play along with the ‘Seven Things’ meme. Many of you may wish to tune out now. Come back tomorrow for crafty fun!

The idea of this tag is to tell seven random things about yourself, and I have been tagged by both Arachne and Elizabeth. I have previously played along (partially) with the 6 weird things meme which you might be interested in if you are still reading.
I usually don’t actually tag anyone with these, but we’ll see how I feel when I get to the end of it.

1. State Science Fair As a gradeschooler, I achieved a truly nerdly goal of going to the state science fair. On the way there, my project (”Can a plant grow upside down?”) spilled in the car. Then I arrived to find out that you were supposed to bring your own table and chair. While I hid, dying of embarrassment, at my friend Kelli’s project (something about taste and locations on the tongue that I am pretty sure has since been debunked) my mom raced home to get a table. Meanwhile, the large cardboard barrel that was the main housing of my upside-down-plant-apparatus was being used by strangers as a garbage can. I returned to find it filled with many doritos bags and pop cans. One contributor was the little bitch with the oscilloscope (clearly her dads) in the space next to mine. If I remembered her name, she would be my scientific rival. Anyhow, I managed to not die of shame, and nervously present my project. I got a superior, but did not advance to the national science fair (kinda like getting all excellents on your NSF proposal, but still not getting it funded). I was inspired to tell you this after reading about the bad start to mediatinker’s day, but things worked out okay for her, too.

2. Adult Science Fair Several years into grad school, I was to present my work at a conference in Denmark. In true ‘adult science fair’ fashion, I had to make a poster of certain dimensions. The requirements were cryptic to me even though they specified some size (A10?, B10?) but I managed to get a bit of info from some that had attended before and made the poster. After I dragged the freaking poster tube all the way across the Atlantic, my poster was located in the back corner of a tent outside the venue - a little discouraging. Then I unravelled my poster and noticed it was a really tight fit in the space given, but was grateful that they provided the pins and the bulletin board to hang it on, preventing a flashback to number 1. When I returned later, and all the other posters were hung, I realized that I had printed mine with the long dimension horizontal, and the correct way was with the long dimension vertical (I landscaped when it should have been portrait). I was rudely covering up my neighbors. Flashback to number 1.

3. Peanuts I am allergic to peanuts. When my “friends” offer them to me, I remind them that they just tried to kill me.

4. California Cuisine I have a theory that whenever anything is called “California-style” it just contains avocados, tofu, or both.

5. Worms My only pets are worms. Not really surprising I guess, since I used to catch nightcrawlers as a kid. I like cats, but never know when I am going to move, so I can only commit to a composting container of worms that live on my fire escape. My dad and I used to admire worm composting systems on display at the home and Garden show, but ever since my pet snake escaped, my mom put the smack down on new pets. Would you like to know more about worm composting bins? I am proud of my apartment sized one and was thinking of telling you how I made it.

6. Blythe I have a Blythe doll. You have never seen her because she is not ready for photographs. I blame Crafty Ginger.

7. Contest I am going to have a contest. stay tuned.

Edit: I added a photo so this wasn’t too dreary. Behold! Recent Fllickr faves:

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I am not worthy May 15, 2007

Filed under: Tales of Knitting — karrie @ 7:35 am

I like me some sock yarn. In fact it is possible that I like sock yarn more than actually knitting socks. But let’s leave that for another post. I know of Sweet Georgia sock yarn. i mean I ‘ve seen pictures and seen people rave about it on their blogs…. but I had never seen it in person, let alone knit with it. I also knew that Felicia was planning on taking an extended break from dyeing and everyone was going bonkers trying to snatch up her yarn while they could. And I wasn’t one of them.

Enter Moirae, whose blog is one of my frequent stops. She had a blogiversary contest that I won. And my prize… Sweet Georgia sock yarn

Oh man. It is good looking. I chose the colorway “rusted” and I think it really suits me. And for such an act of kindness on Moirae’s part, I am sure she has just amassed an awesome amount of good knitting karma. I try not to enoy the yarn too much since it might be all I ever get… kinda reminds me of the ribwich

In other news, the Maker Faire and Bazaar Bizarre are happening this weekend (recent craftzine post contains all the links you might need), and I am very excited to attend. I immensely enjoyed the event last year, and by all accounts it should be bigger and better this year. i hope to start the day with a visit to Nine Rubies to enjoy being in the presence of yarn (and podcasters). I think that I might have some local Bay Area readers out there… I will be at the maker faire probably all day Saturday. I will also be packing a load of moustache and i *heart* yarn pins. So if you see me, say hi and i will shower you with buttons. I might be forcing them on strangers anyway. Have to spread the love of ’stache.

Remember how I was bummed that I didn’t get a table at the Bazaar? Now I know that it was so that I could have a relaxing week this week (not caught crafting under a deadline). And the money I had set aside for registering at the Bazaar… Now it is spending money! Expect a full crafty shopping report.

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Even recipes can be cute May 11, 2007

Filed under: Crafty — karrie @ 10:51 pm

I signed up for a recipe swap over at swapbot. I debated typing my recipes, but I like it when things have a handmade touch, so I thought I would write them all up. I ventured over to my little recipe box and discovered that I am totally out of the ancient (1970’s) recipe cards I stole from my mom, and had only plain 3 x 5 cards. yuck. I decided to design my own, and this is what I came up with:

They are 6 x 5 inches, folding in half to 3 x 5 inches and feature hedgehogs and mushrooms.

I still have some more designs in the works (and I am still longing for some cards bordered with avocado green and little vegetables). In the mean time, feel free to download my design and print them out for free* for your own use. The link below is to a .pdf that will allow you to print out two cards on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper (I recommend cardstock for durability).

*if you use them, and you really like them, you can send me a recipe as a thank you :)

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85.8 May 7, 2007

Filed under: Tales of Knitting — karrie @ 8:03 pm

Excuse me if this post if a bit fragmented and nonsensical, but it is almost 8 p.m. as I write this and it is 85.8F in my apartment. hot. People, that is HOT! This is one of those days that make you realize that there are randomly hot or cold days everywhere, and even the famous SF fog can’t save you from a scorcher now and then. Those that know me are aware that I operate in a narrow temperature range - approximately 75F to 50F. I like to think that I can tolerate low temperatures, so I might extend the low end of this estimate, but my friends might disagree. I’m sure I complain when I’m cold, but really its not as bad as the heat. When it’s cold I can hide under a comforter, or wear a ridiculously warm sweater, or two pair of socks. When it is hot, or I am in the sun, my brain hurts. Hurts in an awful way.

Today the only thing Carmen I could do at 5 p.m. to get a respite from the heat was to drink Mint Juleps. I made them in a Mason Jar and felt totally like a Hazzard county Duke while doing so (a feeling which I am always trying to capture). Free mint from the shady courtyard outside my apartment - hooray!

So even though as I write this it has cooled of to 85.5F in my apartment I am going to do some knitting. If it were a weekend I might have attempted some more solar dyeing (it is all my crappy car is good for, really). But instead I am going to pick up some wool and enjoy it. And I am going to have visions of Sweet Georgia dancing in my head - I won some from Moraie. At this point, doesn’t giving away Sweet Georgia qualify you for knitting sainthood? Check out her purse - I love it.


gratuitous photo of Noro that I bought during the ‘Knit Happens’ sale.

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