Crabby Knits

What I brought home from my LYS

2008-03-25T20:10:00.003-04:00

Today I made a new friend at my LYS.

Isn't he a cutie? While shopping at my LYS today he scurried across the floor, and the owner said she had already taken another of his siblings outside, but the poor thing had died only a few hours later. It's still way too cold outside for mice, especially baby ones, so I picked the little guy up, put him in a cup, and with the blessing of the owner, brought him home! I've been feeding him, and he seems to be doing very well.

Isn't it amazing what you can bring home from one short trip to the LYS? ^_^

The evolution of my first felting project

2007-10-08T21:49:00.000-04:00

As a blob:

As a hat:

As a pumpkin basket:

Excuse the random crap popping out; I'm still blocking it.

Felting? Absolutely amazing.

Knitting World Cup!

2006-06-10T15:24:00.000-04:00

And it begins! I've completed the first eight or so inches of my new cardigan from Katia 61. It's coming along slowly but surely, and so far I love it! The color, the yarn, the pattern... All great.

Two things are bothering me, though: I'm afraid of (1) running out of yarn (despite Niko being awesome and buying me two more skeins without a single complaint!) and (2) running out of desire to work on it.

I'll post a picture once I get the back completed.

I'm back...

2006-06-05T00:58:00.000-04:00

...with both pictures and FOs! Finally.

I've really been into knitting baby sweaters lately. I've been working on the Trellis pattern from Knitty (only the one arm and the collar to go!), as well as this:

It's the Snow Baby hoodie from Lion Brand, and it's made out of Baby Teri, which I think is really great. It reminds me of a soft bath towel! Overall, I'm pretty happy with the pattern, although I was infuriated to see that the armholes did NOT match the arms at all. There was about a two-inch difference! I was right on gauge, and I reread the pattern five or six times, so I'm positive it wasn't my fault. I had to seam a little more than an inch down the "seamless" sides, which annoyed me, but it looks alright. Just look at the beautiful texture:

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If the buttons appear crooked, it's because they are. I haven't sewn them on yet, and Teddygraham found the sweater irresistible the second I picked up my camera. He ran over it repeatedly and even sat down on it! So silly.

My newest knitting project is going to be the cover cardigan from Katia 61 (patterns for otoño/invierno). It's somewhat simple but interesting, and I'm making it out of the most beautiful 60% acyrlic/40% wool cranberry-colored yarn called Pittsburgh (which is where I bought it!). Supposedly it's Norwegian. I love it, though I'm in fear of running out because the store where I bought it is going out of business, and I couldn't find the yarn online at all. For a 34" inch cardigan, 7 skeins of 220-yd worsted weight is enough, isn't it? I sure hope so!

In other craft news, I went to the Boiling Springs Foundry Day Art & Craft festival, which was interesting. I'm considering possibly setting up a stand there next year with some knitted goods. It all depends how much I can complete this fall (as I'll be in Japan in the spring) and how much a stand will cost! I did pick up two adorable bracelets for $3 each. They're childrens' size medium, so they fit my wrist perfectly - very rare.

Don't you just love these horsies? :)

And as for Teddygraham, he's been quite active lately. I bought him a brand-new place to live, and he loves it! It's probably three times bigger than his last place, and it even has a second-story!

And here's one last pic to share: Last night Teddygraham became a little piggy and stuffed his cheek pouches FULL of food! He proceeded to run on his wheel for almost fifteen minutes before spitting it out in his hiding place. This requires a big AWWWWWW!!!

It's down to days

2006-05-09T14:27:00.000-04:00

With only three more days left on the Hill (as Hamilton College is known) this year, I'm pretty happy. Things have been hectic – thus, the lack of pictures – but I have been knitting. Not much has been accomplished, though. I think I've frogged more than I've knitted this week. Ugh. Pictures in a few days, hopefully!!!

A New Kind of Stash

2006-04-23T15:04:00.000-04:00

I am powerless in the grip of the 75%-off Easter-candy aisle at Target.

All this:

$13.30. That includes the ridiculous 10%-tax here in New York.

On the knitting front, things are getting done little by little. I'm skipping around on projects, so there isn't much visible progress on any of them. My plan is to finish both scarves by Friday, so I can start making lace purses for both Tanemura-sensei and Yang-lao-shur. The squirrel mittens are getting put away until this summer; there's no time for them now! I designed the purse pattern myself last night – in theory it works out, but I'm curious about whether it does in process too. Wish me luck!

And the obligatory Teddygraham picture:

Aww.

Splurge

2006-04-14T00:53:00.000-04:00

After signing up for a free three-month trial of Amazon Prime (i.e. free two-day shipping!), I ordered three new knitting books: A Gathering of Lace, Folk Mittens, and Christmas Stockings: 18 Holiday Treasures to Knit. Amazon says I'll receive them on Tuesday, and I can't wait!

I cast on for my professors' squirrel mittens today (see the pattern at Hello Yarn), but I had to put it down after only the first few rows of ribbing. Classes sure do get in the way, don't they?

Perhaps some new knitting pictures will appear Saturday... Wish me luck on accomplishing something (anything, really) tomorrow!

Teddygraham, America's next Top Model

2006-04-11T14:02:00.000-04:00

No new news on the knitting front, but in Teddygraham news, the little darling posed for a fifteen-minute photoshoot last night! Usually he runs around endlessly, causing all my pictures to come out blurry, but last night he calmly posed and chirped for what seemed to be an eternity. Here are a few of the highlights:

Last week he was really grumpy, and I was getting worried about whether or not he'd ever accept me, but yesterday was a real turning point. No "buyer's remorse" for me!

Back to work

2006-04-10T12:20:00.000-04:00

Well, I didn't get much knitting done this weekend, but I accomplished a lot more than usual as of late. I began my Marble wrap for the SIXTH time (let's just say I couldn't count very well - instead of casting on the necessary 75 stitches, I casted on 74 and 73 multiple times). I've only gotten a few inches done, but it's a fun knit.

Here it is stretched out, showing what it will look like once I block it. It's much wider than that, but I needed to use my feet to hold it, so a lot was cut out of the photo.

Here's a closeup of it unstretched. Aren't the colors gorgeous? I'd like to use a skein of this green Marbles and a skein of the red variegated Marbles to make striped mittens this summer.

I've been thinking quite a lot about upcoming projects, but I've told myself NO MORE until I finish the scarves for my professors! After that I have to make squirrel mittens for my other Japanese professor, who's absolutely enthralled by squirrels because of "their fancy tails." So right now all I can do is look online and sigh... What's been catching my eye? The Memories fingering-weight yarn by KnitPicks in the Smores colorway, for one. Isn't that beautiful? It's so cheap, too... Sigh... Aside from that, I've been staring at the shawls on Fiddlesticks Knitting, especially Creatures of the Reef and Flirty Ruffles. Peacock Feathers is also pretty nice – can you imagine it in a beautiful variegated yarn?

And of course, here's a picture of the adorable Teddygraham:

Mark and I went off campus again this Saturday, and I bought him a house and some chew toys (i.e. the orange triceratops). This morning I completely cleaned his habitat while he rolled around my room for an hour. Look how beautiful it is!

Lately he's been a bit of a crab, but today he let me pick him up without much of a fight! Perhaps it was his way of showing gratitude for the carrot I gave him earlier. :)

A few projects

2006-04-04T14:10:00.000-04:00

Finally, some proof that I do indeed knit.

Here is a hat (my own design). I made it this past November at home on break. The top is rather weird when you put it on (the shape reminds me of one of those Russian buildings), but it's 100% wool, so I wear it when the temperature goes subzero.

I made this scarf last summer and have worn it nonstop since the middle of October. The yarn is Caron's Simply Soft, and the pattern can be found on Knitty. This was probably the most interesting scarf I ever made – the pattern wasn't hard to memorize, but it had a long-enough repeat that I never got bored.

Next are two scarves I'm making for my professors. I started them a few weeks ago, worked on them perhaps two days, and then took them off the right needles to begin other projects! These need to be finished by the beginning of May.

Here's some of my newest yarn acquisitions. The left is James C. Brett's Marble, and the right two are Socks that Rock. The Marble is going to be an openwork wrap, the reddish STR is for socks for my mom, and I'm undecided about the green STR. Definitely something for me (green is my favourite color!), but I can't decide between gloves, mittens, glittens, or socks.

And here's another (blurry) picture of Teddygraham!

Hopefully from now on I'll update every other day or so. I created this blog a few weeks ago but completely forgot about it once spring break was over! :)

Hamster Time

2006-04-04T13:45:00.000-04:00

On Sunday Mark took me off-campus for a yarn run. After I scooped up two skeins of cotton (dishcloths for my mom's birthday), we decided to pop into the pet store next door...

...and I fell in love:

Isn't he adorable? I've only had hermit crabs (thus the name of this blog) and a few fish until now, and I must say, it's really nice to be able to finally pet my pet! I named him Teddygraham. Pets are not allowed in my dorm, but he's very quiet and doesn't smell, so I'm sure I shouldn't have any problems between now and the end of the year.

Knitting updates VERY soon!

Welcome!

2006-03-14T20:04:00.000-05:00

Hello, everyone! This is my very first post on my very first blog. Wow.

Right now it's the fourth day of my seventeen-day spring break, and I'm feeling somewhat bored.

As for knitting, I currently have four projects on the needles: Squirrel mittens, the Misty Garden scarf from Scarf Style, the Vintage Velvet scarf from the same book, and an afghan for my dad.

More interesting posts later. I still have to set the rest of this blog up! :)