I’ve done a little knitting

Ravelry Project Page

A little spinning

California Red locks from A Verb for Keeping Warm Raverly page

and…. i adopted a kitty! Introducing… Bean!

She’s mouthy (like me). This last picture is a video…. Click through to hear Bean!

insane number of kitty pics in my flickr stream.

Now I need to make about 5 more since I eat them about 6 at a time…

[ravelry project page]

last week I was goofing off with my crochet hook and thinking about St. patty’s day. i thought I might make a four-leaf clover… I found a few shamrock patterns, but none of them had 4 leaves! After a few failed attempts, here is my version.

This pattern is probably intermediate in difficulty: it requires that you are able to cast on in a magic ring, double crochet (dc) and treble crochet (tr). it can be done in any yarn as long as you use an appropriately sized crochet hook. The larger one I made used caron simply soft worsted weight yarn and a size F hook.

– [sc in ring, ch 1] 4 times end sc 1.
– sc 2 so you begin work in the space created by the ch1 of the first row.
Work each leaf in the space created by the ch1 of the first row.
– ch1, tr1, dc1, tr1, ch2. slip stitch into sc from first row to end the leaf. sl into space created by ch1 from first row to start the next leaf.

Repeat the leaf pattern 4 times (3 times more) and you should be almost all of the way around.

Make stem:

– ch 5
– sc 4 starting in second ch from hook. (you are working your way back up the stem toward the leaves.
– sl st. break yarn, pull through and weave in the end.

Let me know if you have any problems with the pattern! See if you can trade them for some free beers tonight!

I didn’t bring any knitting needles with me so i crocheted this cozy during the superbowl. I added the ruffley edge so the boys would quit eyeing it. They kept looking so i added a flower. I still didn’t leave it unattended.

[Ravelry project page]

On an unrealted note, i was tagged by Hannah (ages ago) to show everyone my computer desktop. I took the capture and put it in my flickr, but never mentioned it here.

The background is a photo of Arizona where I was collecting rock samples a while ago. Click through to flickr to see the notes.

Want to share yours? Consider yourself tagged!

I already used it to take an Asian Pear to work, and it survived my bag without even a single bruise. [My Ravelry project page]

I found a few other projects that I plan to make to help me work through all of the cotton:

Re-usable swiffer cozy
I can’t believe I missed this when it was a whiplash entry… Green Mountain Mama modified the ballband dishcloth pattern to button on to her Swiffer. Since the cotton is machine washable, you don’t need to buy disposable swiffer cloths any more.

Photos from grnmtnmama’s flickr stream

Bath Puff
This one is for the crocheters out there… Instead of a weird plastic-y bath puff, how about a handmade cotton one? And if you choose your colors carefully, it might look a bit like a brain (which i find totally cool)…

Picture courtesy of Pania’s flickr stream

And there is also the old standby – Dishcloths. I like to make boring ones like the ones my mom used to buy in Amish country. But I am willing to try out something a little more exciting like round spirally ones.

Any way you look at it, my cotton stash will be shrinking.

*I’m not sure I ever officially mentioned that I am on Ravelry as girlontherocks (friend me and I’ll friend you back!). I’ve been on since june, but I was so impatient while on the waiting list. I was fully jealous of everyone that would blog about how they just got in. So I secretly vowed to not mention it here. But now since the wait is only a few days long, I’m okay to talk about it.

Doesn’t the photo look really artsy? That’s because I used my new $4 Kodak Duaflex II to take the picture. The technique is called “Through the Viewfinder” and you use a modern camera to take a picture of the image in the large viewfinder of the old Duaflex or similar cameras. I first noticed this technique through the Make blog, or Flickr, i can’t remember which. I’ve had my eye out for a suitable camera ever since, and I found one for only $4 this weekend. I just used a cardboard poster tube to support my old digital camera. No taping yet, but it would be nice to get rid of the light leaks.

• More info on the technique and apparatus construction here
• Flickr TTV group
• Here are all of my TTV shots so far

A Blanket for Debbie! Debbie has been in our knitting group for years, and when she announced that she was getting married, we wanted to make something for her. The idea of a blanket was tossed around and I vehemently opposed. I really hated seaming together the baby blanket that we knit as a gift a long time ago. Then Abby stepped up and took charge. After a few weeks of pumping Debbie for color and yarn information, we were knitting blue squares.

The blanket is made of Plymouth Encore (superwash wool acrylic blend) and is the combined knitting efforts of Abby, Carmen, Ingrid, Sarah, Sarah B, Wenonah, B, Gen, Mary and myself. The square pattern is from Fun Knits. We added a double crochet border, and Abby hand embroidered a tag. (Peek here if you want to see us piecing it together.)

I think she likes it!

A hat for me
This was supposed to be the hat that preventing me from catching my death while working in the lab early last month. Since I was in a big hurry to finish it and was concerned about running out of yarn, I started the decreases prematurely. Here i am modeling it while at work at about 2 in the morning. At the time, I thought it fit.

I decided to pick up the cast-on stitches at the bottom and knit some ribbing until I ran out of yarn. I couldn’t be more pleased with the result.

Pattern: My own
The top is knit with a seeded rib pattern. The bottom band was picked up from the cast-on stitches and is knit with 2×2 rib. This construction made it so the bind-off row was at the bottom, and I was able to use a stretchy bind-off to finish.
Yarn: 50% wool, 50% silk, dyed by me.

I also finished my Knitpicks Emma Jacket, but I am a little disgusted with it (and don’t have any good pictures) so we’ll talk about that later.

Finally, the cutest FO is last

i bought some amigurumi patterns from Ana Paula’s etsy shop and completed a cactus just in time to give away as a housewarming plant (the kind you can’t kill). All of her patterns are cute cute cute. I made this one on no time from scrap acrylic. Highly recommended.

You will need a bit of worsted weight yarn and appropriately sized needles. I used some leftover Ejido from handpaintedyarn.com and size 7 needles – i think the pattern looks extra-nice with variegated yarn. You might want to scrounge up a button or clasp for extra cuteness.

Materials
About an ounce of worsted weight yarn.
Tapestry needle for sewing up edges
US #7 needles
Button
Sharp needle and thread for attaching the button
Crochet hook or double pointed needles for making button loop

Pattern Notes
The pattern is just a stitch pattern on a rectangle that is folded and sewn together. I added selvedge stitches to either side to make it easy to sew up int he end. The first stitch of every row is slipped as if to knit, and the last stitch of every row is purled. It is important to note that the selvedge stitches are slipped with the yarn in the back (knitwise), while the slipped stitches in the patterning are slipped with the yarn in the front (sl wyif).

Pattern
Cast on 26 stitches. I used a long-tail cast-on and it makes a nice decorative edge.

R1 and all WS rows: sl 1, purl remaining stitches.
R2: sl 1, *sl 3 wyif, k3* 4 times, p1
R4: sl 1, k1 * sl 3 wyif, k3* 3 times, sl 3 wyif, k2, p1
R6: sl 1, k2 *sl 3 wyif, k3* 3 times, sl 3 wyif, k1, p1
R8; sl 1, *k3, sl 3 wyif* 4 times, p1
R10: sl 1, sl 1 wyif, *k3, sl 3 wyif* 3 times, k3, sl 2 wyif, p1
R12: sl 1, sl 2 wyif *k3, sl 3 wyif* 3 times, k3, sl 1 wyif, p1
Repeat until cover is about 6.5 inches long, or desired length

Once your tissue cover is about 6.5 inches long, or long enough to wrap around your tissues, bind off. I like mine to have a bit of a tight fit, so that it will remain snug even as the tissues inside get used.

With the wrong side out, fold up the top and bottom to cover the tissues and hold in place with pins. The fold lines are indicated by dashed lines in the pattern schematic.

Sew up the edges. This is made much easier by the selvedge stitches, so even though they are a pain to remember, they are worth it. I also stitch about 1/2 inch along the two edges of the opening on the tissue cover. This helps secure the tissues inside.

Position and sew on the button. To make a loop for the button, either crochet a short chain, or knit a short i-cord, and attach to the edge of the opening.

The final step is to add tissues to your cover. The ones i bought open on the short edge, which is not cute, and not compatible with my cozy. I just took a pair of scissors and cut an opening along the long edge. Then I put them inside, and everything is complete.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 License.

http://www.girlontherocks.com/knit

Marta was there to help us with our yarn selections and displayed infinite patience while we ran around her store like 6 year olds hopped up on Dr.pepper.

I picked up a center pull ball of about 8 ounces of Mohair boucle, dyed in a chocolately brown color.

yarn with a US 10 needle for scale

I just finished knitting it up into a scarf. I used 22 stitches across on size 10 needles and cranked along in garter stitch until I ran out of yarn. The yarn has such an interesting texture that the garter rows aren’t that visible in the finished scarf.

It was the first time that i have ever knit anything with a boucle yarn, and i am really satisfied with the feel of the finished object. It was a little tricky to knit with. Let’s just say that I am happy that I did not drop any stitches and have to look for them.