Category: Blog

Good News: Starting in January, I will be teaching a new class at the Michael’s store I work at called “Knit/Crochet Projects.” My first class is Monday January 7, 2008 and participants can choose amongst four different hats (2 crochet and 2 knit). I will also be teaching a scarf class on Saturday January 12 and a special Valentine Teddy Bear class on Saturday January 26. My store is located at Power and Mckellips in Mesa, Arizona. If anyone lives near here, come sign up for my classes.

In other news, I figured I should post the last of the Grass Adventure pictures before the New Year. Here is the rest of his escapade captured on camera…

Disneyland:
California Adventure:Grass has now settled in his new home quite comfortably–my yarn bin. He has decided to retire for the rest of the winter and snuggle in my stash.
Now that the busyness of Christmas is over, I will have some time to post more. I have been quite the knitting/crocheting machine and I have lots of pictures of past projects that I will be posting in the weeks to come.

I have a lot of “almosts” right now.

Almost finished with this semester. I managed to write two awesome papers (I’m a little biased, what can I say?) on time without staying up too late or anything. But, here is a picture of me that I took while procrastinating….er, um….brainstorming. Almost entirely fed-up with my job. You can never know how truly stressful retail is until you work in it, or live with someone who does. I’m a pretty optimistic person and usually always upbeat, but this Christmas season is especially trying. I bring yarn with me to work so I can knit or crochet on breaks. It’s the only thing keeping me sane at work. Here’s the project I’ve been carrying around with me: Almost half-way done on some Christmas projects. It’s kind of hard to work on things when these people in my house just won’t leave. What’s with all this family time we’ve been spending together? I mean, a girl has to get some work done here. You people need to go away if you want anything for Christmas.

Almost finished editing pictures of Grass’s Disneyland Adventure. I know, I’m slow, but things like eight-page papers and finals kind of take priority over Grass, and he’s quite upset about it. Here’s a few from Day One for your enjoyment:Grass found out that it’s fun to pose with statues. It made him look dignified. Grass found out that you lose all track of time in Disneyland. Even the white rabbit couldn’t give him a straight answer.
And here Grass is hanging out with some fancy plants that are all shaped into letters and stuff. Show-offs.

Ravelry! I got my invite today. They are inviting people faster than in the past. I only had to wait twenty-one days before I was in. And now I’m in. And of course my username is “kountingsheep.”

I know I shouldn’t be this excited about Ravelry, but I like yarn and that’s what people who like yarn freak out about, right?

Oh, and I went to the yarn store today, Tempe Yarn and Fiber. I got some yummy Nature Spun Sport Weight Brown Sheep Wool in grey to go with some pink Alpaca yarn I got from my secret pal. They will be so cute together in a chevron lace scarf. I also bought some extra Cascade 220 variegated yarn that was the same as another hank I already had. That will be made into a drop-stitch scarf from the new book 101 Designer One Skein Wonders that I just got from Borders this week as a gift to myself for surviving Black Friday. I’m in a scarf mood after finishing My-So-Called-Scarf in some hand-dyed Malabrigo I bought the last time I went to the yarn store. It so warm, and yet light. It was perfect for today; a little chilly, but not chilly enough to warrant a bulky scarf.

The yarn helps me block the terrible time I’ve been having register for my last four classes for my Bachelor’s degree. (Don’t ask, don’t even ask. Think about the yarn. Just focus on the yarn.)

Have you ever noticed how to some people the hotel is more fun than the vacation? Well, Grass quickly discovered that the hotel room was a great place to practice taking photos before the big day in the Disneyland Park:
After claiming his spot, he jumped on the bed and scruffed up all the pillows.
Then he checked out the bathtub. Not to take a bath, but just to check out the free toiletries.
Next Grass noticed the wheelchair sitting unoccupied in the corner. (My sister broke her toe days before our vacation, and since Disneyland requires a lot of walking, which my sister could not do, we had to rent a wheelchair.)
Grass didn’t discover the wheelchair; he ROCKED it!
That wheelchair didn’t know what happened to it after it had been “Grass’d.”
Grass decided that if the hotel room could be this much fun, he could definitely find something interesting in Disneyland. Stay tuned for pictures of “Day One” in Grass’s Disneyland Adventure.

And signed up for Ravelry. I wasn’t going to add my name to the waiting list; I was going to wait patiently until it was available to the public. But, the Alpaca on the waiting list page was too hard to resist. Here are my stats:

• You signed up on Today
• You are #54977 on the list.
• 11708 people are ahead of you in line.
• 0 people are behind you in line.
• 78% of the list has been invited so far

Classes:Busy… Work:Insane… Knitting:Lots and Lots… Crocheting:Yes, that too!
Here are two pictures of me and grass on our vacation to tide you over until I can edit more. Isn’t Grass cute?

Grass’s Disneyland Adventure. He managed to take around thirty pictures or so in various attractions around Disneyland and California Adventure. Unfortunately, he will not let me post any pictures of him without being first edited for red eye, blinking, or blurring due to movement. (Picky, picky!) So here is a sample to keep you waiting patiently (blame the grass):
He wants to live at Disneyland now.

I’ve been knitting a lot, but not taking a lot of pictures. I finished knitting my first pair of socks: just a simple pattern from a new book. They are cute and fit my tiny feet perfectly! Unfortunately, I haven’t had the heart to wear them yet for fear I will wear them out too soon! Oh well. When it finally cools down and feels like Fall, I’ll slip them on.

I sent off my Secret Knitting Pal’s second package last Friday. It’s been so much fun finding yarn and goodies for someone I’ve never met. I don’t even know what she looks like, but it doesn’t matter. I like knitting stuff for a knitter because I know that she will appreciate the gift on a different level from non-knitters. I’m still waiting for my second package from my secret pal. I’m driving my mom crazy because I’m constantly asking “did you check the mail today? did I get anything?” Oh package, where art thou?

I think my classmates might consider me crazy. Last Wednesday for my Writing and Being class, I took an afghan with me that was crocheted by my Grandma. I had written a poem about the Christmas that I received my purple afghan, and I wanted to bring the afghan with me to class. So I did. I passed it around so that people could feel it and see it as I read the poem. It felt good just to have the afghan close.

Here’s a picture and my poem:

Purple Afghan

I remember
waking up to my grandparents ringing the doorbell
then sitting in the family room; the Christmas tree,
blinking multi-colored lights hidden behind
hundreds of ornaments and mounds of presents.

I remember
sitting on the floor in my nightgown with my sisters,
lined up in a row like bread rolls baking in the oven,
anticipating each package as Mom handed them to us
one by one, watching our expressions until they were
glowing, golden brown.

I remember
seeing three lumpy packages off to the side
hidden in the office, separated from the others,
knowing that they had only just arrived that morning.

But mostly, I remember
ripping off the green decorated wrapping paper
to find a purple, lilac, and creme afghan,
my favorite colors lined up in rows of yarn,
hand-crocheted by my Grandma.

Aside from afghans and shawls, my favorite thing to knit or crochet is stuffed toys, sometimes known as Amigurumi (Japanese for “small crocheted doll”). I previously posted about a mermaid I had knit for my cousin Karee, whose favorite Disney Princess is Ariel. So I naturally had to make a Princess for cousin Khloe, whose favorite Disney Princess is Belle. Here she is waiting at the window, waiting to meet her Prince Charming (or in this case, her Khloe):I had to, of course, alter the original Princess doll pattern that I was using from the book Dream Toys. I changed the color and shape of the dress to match that of Belle. I also changed the style and color of the hair to be more flowy and natural-looking. My favorite addition, however, is the pantaloons I made for the doll.She did not appreciate me taking a picture of her underdrawers, however discreet I tried to be. But it is important for all young Princesses to have the necessary garments, even if they are a doll. Plus, for some reason, the first thing a little girl does with a new doll is check for the under garments and see if the clothes can be taken off. Why this is, I can’t say for sure…but unfortunately for Karee and Khloe, both of their dolls have all of their clothing securely fastened and irremovable, without considerable force that is.

Now for some more technical details: The only disadvantage to making the Princesses was my choice of yarn. I used “Sugar and Cream” cotton in various colors and discovered that I do not like cotton unless mercerized or in a blend. Since I made the Belle doll second, her hair, apron, and pantaloons are made with some acrylic stash I had. The eyes and mouths were made with felt pieces secured to the face with embroidery thread. The cute little arms and legs were i-cords.

So Belle was sent to Khloe earlier this week. Due to the busy-ness of starting classes again, Belle has been patiently waiting for several weeks to be sent off, but she should now be happily in the arms of cousin Khloe.

Yes, it’s true. I have had my first ever non-reparable, throw-it-in-the-trash, forget-you-ever-made-it disaster. Here’s what happened: I was trying to make a felted messenger bag. I had a pattern, I had the right yarn in a color I really liked, and I had the self-control to stick to the pattern, which is not an easy thing for me. I have made a small felted mp3 player cozy before, so I knew how to felt something. I started knitting. I knit. And knit. And knit some more. When I had used up all my yarn and finished the pre-felted piece, it resembled a chair cover. My sisters thought I was crazy and didn’t believe me when I said it was going to shrink down to the size of a purse. But I was so happy to be finished knitting, and I took this “Before” picture:I took my finished piece and threw it into the washing machine with some towels for agitation. I set it on the right cycle and let it go. I checked on it after ten minutes, all was well. I checked on it after fifteen minutes and it looked fine and had started felting nicely. I checked on it after thirty minutes and……the horrible disaster revealed itself. (Note: The above picture has been censored due to its graphic nature. The following description may be unsuitable for beginning knitters.)

I pulled it out to find that it had stuck to itself in odd places, puckered and crumbled, shrunk in some places, stayed stretched in others. It had felted, but…I can’t even describe how awful it was. I decided to let it dry and see if there was some way I could repair it; maybe cut it or sew parts together. Nope. Nada. No way.

I followed the directions perfectly. I had checked on the piece while felting. The only thing I can figure is that it’s the washing machine’s fault. Our machine is one of those fancy High Efficiency machines that doesn’t have a center-agitation bar like the traditional washing machine. I didn’t think it would make a difference, but I had living proof that it does make a difference. Of course, the directions didn’t say anything about the type of washing machine to use.

The only thing left to do was to throw it away. I had thought about taking a picture of it, but why keep a reminder of my failure? Why torture myself? The best thing to do was to let go. Get rid of the evidence. Purge myself of my guilt, my shame, my disaster.

This is the first thing that I have ever failed at. Sure, I’ve made mistakes before, but those can be fixed, or even frogged. But this, this was beyond the controls of the needle. Once something is felted, there is no going back. So I have learned from my $12 mistake (that’s how much the yarn cost; it was on sale. I’m upset about loosing the yarn because it was wool) and decided that if I ever felt again, I will do it by hand.