I have liked all of seamripper’s free desktop calendars, and I like December’s even more than usual.
Exploring Si-Mi after heading over there through a post by craftlog about the lovexevol calendar.
Etsy shops in which I have been lingering:
tiny airplanes – the create your own handdyed/handspun yarn has got me dreamy.
Phoenix Fiberworks does custom orders in addition to handdyed/handspun yarn.
Yarn Botanika: I’m just looking.
Spindle Cat Studio: again, just looking.
Etsy recently revamped the site, doing some upgrades and making it more user-friendly. I can attest that it is now even easier to buy stuff. This is not stash enhancement, btw – this is for making gifts! Promise! *sigh* All I did was type “handspun” into the search engine, and boom, page after page of delight. Etsy has been a real boon to the increasing popularity of handspinning (which I am still resisting, feebly, although I do have Spin to Knit: The Knitter’s Guide to Making Yarn
I didn’t need any help. 2 pages in, I was already captivated.
“Sparkling Silver” wool, tencel, lurex. Handspun by Terra Bella Spun.
“Lavender Lily” superwash wool, lurex, beads. Handspun by Terra Bella Spun.
Workspace + easy hat patterns + Dizzy Society + X-Files and Six Feet Under =
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Watchcap for child/small adult (actual circumference 16″, will fit up to 17″ head easily, 6″ deep from center top to brim). Handspun, handdyed animal friendly and mill end wool from Holly of misshawklet
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Knit beanie with crocheted edging for small/medium adult (actual circumference 20″, will fit up to 22″ head easily, 6.5″ deep from center top to brim, made to fit closely and end right above the ears). Handspun, handdyed animal friendly and mill end wool from Holly of misshawklet
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Crochet beanie for small-medium adult (actual circumference 20″, will fit up to 22″ head easily, 6.5″ deep from center top to brim, made to fit closely and end right above ears). Handspun, handdyed animal friendly and mill end wool from Holly of misshawklet. This is the same yarn used for the knit beanie above, same size and fit.
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Knit beanie for small-medium adult (actual circumference 19″, stretchy and will fit up to 22″ head, 7.5″ deep from center top to brim, made to fit closely and come down over ears and eyebrows). Handspun, handdyed animal friendly and mill end wool from Holly of misshawklet. This has been called “thug length” by Mr. Bob.
I’m going to put these up for sale in my etsy shop since they are all wool – I have some cotton beanies that I’m going to take to Stylus.
There’s still stuff over at the lime and violet etsy shop, just two skeins fewer than before I hopped over there and snagged some handspun/handdyed yarn which is going to make a really cute hat. Be my witnesses: provided a certain teenager does not remove said hat from my project bag and declare it hers, I will put it up for sale on Etsy and give 50% of the sale price to Lime & Violet.
I’ve talked about how the difference between one magazine and another is often more about styling choices than actual content – the same sweater could appear in either Vogue Knitting International or Knit ‘N Style and the biggest difference would be the way it was photographed. In my review of Motifs of Crocheting, I noted a particular pattern which would demonstrate this quite nicely.
(yes, it’s a bad photo. One of the drawbacks for NaBloPoMo for me has been that I can either wait until I can get a better image and try to find something else to post about, or post it then come back later and edit the post, potentially leading to the post being re-dated through some process I don’t understand)
This is a simple shawl, made of mesh squares of different sizes which are then overlapped and sewn together. Picture this, if you will, done in different shades and textures of black, say two shiny ribbon yarns (one a dark mossy green instead of black) and a fluffy mohair, then wrap it around a person with multi-colored hair sitting in a coffeeshop in Seattle. Now picture this done in four shades of smooth, soft green yarns and wrapped around my mother, sitting on the couch with a book and a cup of coffee.
I find this pattern tempting – it’s simple, quick, and the variations would be easy. Mom might get one of these instead of another pair of footwarmers this year.
Motifs of Crocheting
www.boutique-sha.co.jp
ISBN 4-8347-2331-3
Barcode 1: 9784834723311
Barcode 2: 1929476009432
Printed in Japan
I went to Hakubundo on a lunch break and came back with this book. One of my co-workers asked if I could read Japanese, and when I said I couldn’t, she asked me why I’d purchased a Japanese book and then spent the next few minutes probably wishing she hadn’t said anything as I extolled the layout, the use of symbolcraft, and the Japanese symbolcraft standards. My illiteracy does limit my use of the book in a couple of respects (I had to get someone else to translate the title for me, for starters), but the hurdles are easily overcome.
The sections are organized by motif shape (circle, square, hexagon, triangle, and floral), with an illustrated tutorial at the beginning of each section which presumably gives tips and explanations (the illustrations are easy to follow; the text accompanying it is, due to my Latinate-centric education, impossible for me to follow). Each motif is shown in four variations using different yarn textures and colors, from fuzzy mohair to shiny ribbon to smooth cottons and wools, although the yarns used vary from motif to motif (not every motif will be shown in different yarns; some are shown only in different colors). Every pattern is given in symbolcraft, with the sort of added detail that delights me: each row or round of the pattern is in a different color and clearly numbered. Swoon! The sections begin with photos showing projects made using motifs, including handbags, scarves, and shawls, with instructions for the projects given at the end of the book (between the photos and the illustrations, even the Japanese illiterate can manage them). The projects are generally simple and rather conservative, although yarn and color choices could make a big difference – for example, there’s a fringed mesh shawl on page 23 which could be appropriate for my former art school girl of doom self, or for my practical mother who would want something warm that goes with most of her wardrobe (more on this here). There are no people in the photos, just the items, sometimes shown on a wooden mannequin. I like this – it’s easier for me to not delude myself into thinking that a hat strongly resembling a crumpled brown paper sack will look just as cute on me as it does on the kawaiiiiiiii model (please note that no such hat is in this particular book).
Additionally, the book includes a section with step-by-step illustrations explaining each symbol used, removing any confusion that would arise with text-based patterns (such as the US single crochet vs. the UK single crochet), and illustrated instructions for joining motifs.
The book is about the size of a standard magazine, so it fits neatly into my messenger bag. I’ll probably take this to a print shop to have the spine replaced with a spiral binding. $17.35 at Hakubundo.
For more on Japanese craft books and links with information on the symbols used, etc., please check out my earlier post on Japanese Craft Books.
The Perennial Tea Room, Pike Place Market, Seattle. It’s easy for me to get a little overwhelmed and to blow out my olfactories (there is a Victorian Earl Grey blend which is lovely and particularly potent), but that’s part of the fun. Accessories galore, including tins which will keep your loose tea nice and fresh.
Inspired Brew has some wonderful accessories, like the Cielo tea set. Squee!
Adagio has a very nice selection and reasonably priced samplers that come in small reusable tins. I’m particularly fond of the Golden Monkey and Assam Melody.
Lime & Violet just launched their etsy shop (limenviolet.etsy.com) and eeeyow, there is some delightful stuff there – handspun, handdyed yarns and rovings. 50% of the proceeds go towards upgrading the equipment they use to record the podcast, so it’s yummy yarns and roving for a good cause!
I stayed up a little too late last night, working on an idea I’ve had knocking around in my head for a cabled hat and realizing that there are at least 3 errors in the cable pattern I had selected (woven cables in relief, The Ultimate Sourcebook of Knitting and Crochet Stitches
Currently enjoying:
Subterranean Press is moving their magazine from print to an online format, and issue #4 (theme: sf cliches) is now available as a free .pdf download.
Vron and Barb have already put some of my destashing to good use! I love liberating yarn.
The t-shirts over at Modern Yarn. Can you guess my favorite?
Fiber Femmes, a new online magazine featuring fiber.
Yesterday I was just kind of hyper-aware of certain muscle groups. This morning I woke up and hobbled stiffly down the hall. After some stretching, things are easier, but needlework is still off the schedule for today, especially as I have the prep work for dinner to do. Dinner duty gets divided between myself and my glamazon sister (who is now an NCO and will be getting mercilessly teased all afternoon; we’ve already started calling her Sarge and practicing our terrified faces). Last year we stripped down the menu and went for the basics and it went well – this year we are doing the basics and she’s going to try something with fresh artichokes and I have a batch of whole wheat bread rising. I used to bake bread once or twice a week, in addition to pizza dough, cake, pie, and cookies, but I fell out of the habit during my last year in college when I turned out a batch of bread which was completely inedible because when I got to the salt, I’d a) misread teaspoon as tablespoon and b) forgotten that I’d already put it in, and put it in again. My roommate’s boyfriend tried to choke down a slice, insisting that it tasted like pretzels. I said it tasted like really bad pretzels and insisted that he spit it out. Since then, my baking has been infrequent and on a much smaller scale. The peak was when I lived in a large communal house and my housemates would hover around the kitchen with sticks of butter, waiting for the loaves to come out of the oven. One of the biggest consumers was the guy who, at first, didn’t understand why I’d bake just plain bread when you could just buy it cheap at the grocery store. Fortunately we are no longer in touch, because he’d probably wonder why anyone would bother to knit socks when you can just buy them at the store for cheap.
