Monday, July 31, 2006

I'm excited! I just found out that my Mason-Dixon Knitting book left the Atlanta facilities this evening and it should prolly reach me within the next few days! :D Oh, I forgot to post, I ordered the book. hehe. I know I can't afford it, but I bought the damn thing on the credit card, so it can ride.

I finished a scarf tonight, size 15 needles and some squishy yarn made short work of one another. I think I may line the "wrong" side with fabric because it is kinda see through, then it could be reversible. Wear the cotton lining to the neck when it's warmer and the warm squishy yarn side in when it's cooler. This would also allow for splashes of color to show through on the black open side. I will see how it looks before I cut anything and make it a perm. choice.

AND I joined the warshcloth swap. I'm hoping I can get an international pal and get a real live washrag knitted up. I am not sure I can do it, but hell fire if I won't try.

Sunday, July 30, 2006

I'm excited because I found (thanks to someone in the MD KAL) a yarn shop in ATL that sells peaches and cream. While this isn't a big deal in and of itself, I also went to the website for the yarn and found about 40 new colorways I MUST own. SO, this yarn shop, it ships. And I'm hoping beyond hope that they have/carry/can get the colors I asked for. I cut the list from like 40 down to 19, eh. I'm a broke college student, so I can't get real crazy. Plus, I live in a studio apt with my bf and that leaves little room for stash.

AND great, super, neat-o news, I ordered THE book. Yes, that's right, I ordered myself a copy of Mason-Dixon Knitting. I'm helping to make those some very rich knitty women. I also ordered a copy for a top secret present for a top secret present-getter. No clues as to whom this person may or may not be. He/she/it may read this and put three and five together and get nine. :P I'm off to knit more log cabin. It's getting real old.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

I dyed some cotton yarn for my log cabin. :D


I started with a tie-dye kit from Michaels and three Rit dyes. But those came second.
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We just went for a blob-here-and -there approach. Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting->This was the 2 skiens we dyed with the tie-dye kit
We wrapped these up in saran wrap to sit and stew for 4-6 hours.Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
Then we moved onto the Rit dye in a bottle method where I made up the directions. I rinsed out the bottles from the tie-dye kit and dumped some salt (cause it was cotton) and half a pack of the dye. Then I mixed with water and shook. This method was squirt it around the outside in circles, as described by my assistant Dave.
This one looks kinda like a butcher's table. Eww. But great yarn takes a price, if a few had to dye in the process, well so be it. :PPhotobucket - Video and Image Hosting
Next step, drain the well and rinse the hell out of these things. I even soaked them while I showered before work to help draw the extra dye out.Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
Two days drying in open air and 99% humidity did nothing but irritate me, the yarn was still wet. SO, I borrowed a friend's dryer and spent 2 hours knitting on her couch instead of mine.
These are the four resulting balls of yarn. When we dyed these, I told him to do it the same way as the frist, none of them even sorta match. Eh, hope like hell I don't end up needing more than one ball to get my logs knit up with these. Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Oh D-d-d-dear!

That'a about all I can say about this. WHY?? What purpose could that POSSIBLY serve? Especially if it isn't correct, then you couldn't even use it to teach an anatomy lesson with. Maybe as a gag gift for and OBGYN? Even that is pushing is. Ick.

Sunday, July 23, 2006

I'm very excited now. I read on one of my communities on LiveJournal that Michael's is having a Sugar 'n' Creme sale this coming week! :D I am thinking of taking a trip 45 miles away just to get to one and buy some with money I don't have and gas I can't afford. Eh, whatever. I'm never going to let (I say never but mean until it goes up to the price of like $5 a gallon) gas prices stop me from doing what I want to do. That is just silly cause then I'll be unhappy because the gas is high AND I can't do anything fun. So I'll be headed over to Albany sometime next week.

I am also thinking of starting a baby sized log cabin shortly. My fave professor just had her second son and I think that a log cabin would just be the coolest thing ever. Plus I'm graduating in December and she's gonna be gone with her hubbs somewhere and I'll be gone and all...so I just want to do something nice for her since she's been my lifeline throughout this whole college thing. It will HAVE to be boy colors. I'm thinking of doing it well...duh..blue and green. But I'm going to look into the cones of color and see if there aren't any blues or green on that. Probably not. But IF there are, I might do something more like courthouse steps instead of a true log cabin.

I am pushing for a new sewing machine when school starts and I get my refund checks back. Then I could try sewing a log cabin in fabric. I have TONS of scrap fabric, mainly because that's all I buy, and could make a state-wide blanket from the odds n' ends I currently have. My fabric bin/drawer is also runnething over, so I need to clean out some of the things to make room for future purchases. :D You can never have TOO much fabric...or yarn...or anything craft wise.

Here are a few things I've stitched up over the last year-ish.

This is a school bag and I carry notebooks and such truck with it. Very sturdy little thing.
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And this is a bag made from a pair of men's pants and this cute, pleated, punk rock skirt I dug out of a friend's scrap bag (originally from Goodwill). This was the first major project I started and it took me about a year to finish the stupid thing. Now it holds all my log cabin stuff. :D
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This is going to be another blanket when I get back into the seed stitch mood. I have only 2 more strips to knit and then the putting together of it will be next. It will be like 6 strips long, with the colors running horizontally and being stacked one on top of the other-ish. It's not going to be but like maybe 12inches wider than lap width. I needed a smaller blanket to cover up with on the couch.
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Finally, this is a little clutch purse I sewed up a few days ago. I have had the pieces cut and just kind of hanging out for a while now. It was my first attempt at using a pattern and it also took me about a year (or maybe more) to get finished. I just start things and then loose my enthusiasm.
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Plus a view of the inside
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Thursday, July 20, 2006

Log Cabin KAL

I'm new here and new to bloggin in general. I have been journaling for a while now, but all of that is not the focus of this post. I have been log cabining now for about a month-ish and I'm using varigated yarns. This happened mainly because I'm about as impatient as a lab puppy and HAD TO START as SOON as I found these ladies and this pattern. Since my Walmart is crappy and only had pretty colors in varigated, thus began the varigated log cabin blanket. I'm not so happy with it as I could be, but Oh well. Too late now huh? I hope that it will turn out alright. I'm burning through yards and yards of Peaches and Sugar 'n Cream. I'm going to try puttin a pic in here, so here goes nothin'.

This is where I started.
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And then I picked up some stitches and off I went.
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And going.
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And on the 26th of June, this is where I stood.
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But I didn't stop there, oh no..must keep going.

July 5th I think was the day I took this one.
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This was taken a week or so ago. I can't really remember when. I think it have moved on and added another strip on the both warm sides and am now on the cool side again. I've purchased 3 sets of needles to make this thing and am in need of yet one more set. The first was a pair of 14inch straights, those were too short almost as soon as I bought them. Then a friend tells me of circs, but I shudder at the idea. Well, the need for longer work space called and I answered with a pair of 30 inch circs. Those were too short in about 5 days. Now I'm up to a pair of 36 and I just keep scrunching up the work behind me. I