WIP Wednesday – July 23

I’ve cast on the yarn I dyed & spun earlier this year. I’m kind of just winging it for now to see what happens. I’ve got an idea in my head but I’m not quite sure it’s going to work out.

This is not quite a WIP just yet, but I’m going to spin this roving from Miss Babs as my next spinning project. It’s called Shoot and is 100% BFL. I’ve had this roving in my stash for at least 4 years, maybe more. I’m planning to spin it up fingering weight(ish) and knit a shawl with it since it is a monochrome color.

No quilt update this week; I was feverishly knitting all week. You’ll see why on Friday!

How To’s-Day – Adding Beads to Knitting

If you’ve been following the WIP Wednesday posts, you know that I’m working on the Hitchhiker shawl. I’m following the pattern as written except for at the beginning of each row 8, I’m adding a bead to the first stitch. Here’s one way of how to add beads to knitting:

I use a size US 14 (0.75 mm) steel crochet hook for beading. I find this size is suitable for both size 6 and size 8 seed beads.

Start by slipping a bead onto your hook.

Next, slip the crochet hook purl wise into the stitch.

Slip the stitch over to the crochet hook. This is the first stitch in this row and it has stretched the loop. Don’t worry, it will all go back in place in just a moment.

Hold the yarn in place with the hook then slip the bead off the hook and onto the stitch.

Slip the stitch back onto the left hand needle making sure not to twist the stitch.

Work the stitch as instructed. For this pattern, this stitch is purled.

The bead is now secured. Continue your pattern as written.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this edition of How To’s-Day!!

Get ya patterns here!

I’ve decided to put some of the patterns that I’ve designed over the years on Ravelry. Some of them are still only available at the yarn shop I work for, but some are available for purchase.

This is a two piece set I created for teaching the beginning crochet and crochet around classes that I teach.

You can get the ebook version with both patterns here, or you can get the Scarf here or the Hat here separately.

All of my designs can be found here. Not all of them are up yet, but as I have time there will be more patterns. I have two more crochet patterns that will be up very soon.

Shop Update

I added 13 new books to the shop tonight! I have more to list but I need to take photos. This stack of recycled journals were part of the update though. Go check it out!

Eleanor Wears Cashmere

One day at work a package arrived filled with the most amazingly soft yarn, Miss Babs Sojourn (65% cashmere and 45% silk). In it was one skein (their last skein) of a color called Mystery Mine. Although there were threats of hair pulling and mud wrestling, I came out victorious! The skein was mine! I loved it so much I wound it by hand instead of using the ball winder.

It was 200 yards of fingering weight heaven that I knew I needed to make an item that would be close to the skin. The Eleanor cowl from Knitty was the perfect solution, especially since I love lace.

Last night I bound off and this morning I seamed it. If it wasn’t going to be 93 degrees today, I’d wear it all day.

Episode 18 of the Craft Culture Podcast

Here’s the link to episode 18 of the Craft Culture podcast that includes me 🙂 I had such a great time with Dani and I’ll be posting photos as soon as the dust settles here in my life.

Sunday Etsy Finds – Physics

Math and Science Geek 1.25 inch Pinback Button Badges – buttonbistro7

Einstein Tshirt Relativity handwriting Theory Tee WOMENS Shirt – nonfictiontees

Baby’s first physics book – Pat Schrodinger’s Kitty – electricboogaloo

Quantum physics says you’ll never find me if I stand still – PINBACK BUTTON – 1.25 inch round – BAYMOONSTUDIO

periodic table of the elements diagram – peacefultraveler

LARGE HADRON COLLIDER poster (11X18 inches) – jasonpermenter

vintage Tasco Deluxe high quality microscope set NIB – hippiejo74

Heisenberg Portrait // Fine Art Print – themooncraft

Delicate Red Atomic Cutout Necklace – casstasstrophe

Famous Scientist Button Set – scientificculture

Paper Kitty’s Wellness Challenge for Craft Addicts – Week Three

Check out Week One for all the details of how to the Wellness Challenge works and how to join in and be eligible for the monthly giveaway.

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“Try and fail, but don’t fail to try.” – Stephen Kaggwa

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Did you know that it takes an hour of walking 2.0 mph to burn approximately 225 calories but you can burn 250 calories in just 30 minutes of dancing or swimming.

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Don’t be a Debbie Downer. Keep a positive attitude to keep your dreams alive. If you think you can’t you never will. If you dream it, it will come.

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This month’s giveaway: One Crafty Kitten Recycled Mixed Paper Journal stamped with the word or phrase of your choice. (Try to keep it to letters only, I don’t own a number set yet.) Winner will be announced on July 8th.

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So, last week I became vegan… how did that work out you ask? Well it started out fantastic. I ate a whole lot of fresh fruit and veggies. I tried new vegan alternatives to meat that were fantastic. I love soy milk. I hate soy “cheese”. I had kept to it with only one slip up over the weekend… until Tuesday. I had been haunted by the thought of ice cream for days, then I let myself get too hungry, and then the “I want a heavy comfort food meal” feeling set in and I was done for. I caved and went to McDonalds. Yes, I know I could have picked something healthier but my tummy threw a temper tantrum and I gave in. I’ve done much better since then though.

That leads me to this week’s goal. I’m going to try adding back diary and eggs. I think that with those, I’ll still keep up the healthy veggies and fruit but I won’t feel deprived.

This week I’m thankful for the loving and supportive people in my life. My life is getting ready to change drastically and it’s all because there are people out there willing to take a chance on me. I love each and every one of them dearly.

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So tell me, what’s your small goal this week and what are you thankful for?

Oh, and please invite your friends and help spread the word 🙂

Wednesday WIP’s

Not much on the needles this week. A pair of plain vanilla socks made out of Intentions yarn in Courage. The Nightingale socks haven’t been touched since last week.

A few weeks ago I was asked to be a demonstrator at the local 4-H center. I was an avid 4-H’er so I checked my schedule and said a quick yes! Last night I gave four 15 minute demonstrations on drop spindling and a speech on where yarn comes from. I was pleasantly surpised that the kids were interested and asked really good questions. My biggest surprise was the interest the little boys took in spinning. I got a few really good kid comments that made me giggle. I had the kids name off animals they thought would be good for making yarn from their from and one little boy insisted that elephant hair would be great. At least one kid in each group asked if you could spin and make a sweater out of cotton candy because that is what the wool looks like. I had a wonderful time and I think the kids did too.

Thoughts Dump Post

To elaborate more on the 10k Hours project that I talked about in the last post, I stated that I wanted to “do one creative thing a day”. That is somewhat vague. What I mean is: I didn’t want to say I’ll be binding books for 10k Hours because there is so much more to it than just stitching paper together. There are so many things that I am incorporating that I would have felt very boxed in by that statement. As, I have said before, I am no longer going to just make pretty journals. Not that I won’t make journals but that is not my focus anymore. What I will be making will likely be a piece of “art” and not a functional/useable book. I am not limiting myself to techniques on paper either. I do so many things that I do not want to just say something like “No, quilting, you don’t have a place here” because I can incorporate it into a book (and have big plans to do so). So, that is why I’m saying that I’m going to do one creative thing a day. They will all (most likely) be associated/incorporated into a book because that is what I want in life, to be a Book Artist.

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Yesterday, I took my camera along with me on my afternoon walk around town. The day before a gorgeous pink tree caught my eye (and nose) so I *needed* to take a photo of it. I wish I could bottle up the scent too. I don’t have a clue what kind of tree it is but I would love to have one in my yard.

I also snapped a few photos of the lilac bush outside my office and the churchyard gate across the street.

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I finished knitting the April Fools Socks that is the April pattern for the Star Athena Sock Pattern Club. This sock was fun! All that is left is to snip the scrap yarn and bind off. They look so cool that I just want to keep them together for a few days.

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The Everyday Adventures class started on Monday. I’ve had so much fun thinking about my surroundings in a different way and documenting them. I haven’t finished the first few assignments yet but I’m working on them. I’ll post photos of them sometime soon. This is the Goggles of Enhanced Perception which was the preclass assignment. I had so much fun making them.

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April 9th & 10th there was an event at the Southwest Virginia Community College called Minds Wide Open Celebrating Women In Art that focused on the women of Tazewell County that are artists and makers and supporters of the arts. I had two pieces in the gallery and I did a bookbinding demo on Saturday afternoon. Before I went to the event I spent the morning at Thistle Cove Farm’s Sheep Shearing day and some little *Wild Thing* followed me home. I had so much fun and got to spend the morning with wonderful women that I love dearly. You can spot a photo of me on Sandra’s blog, I’m wearing my favorite green hat (photo #5).

There was a giant sigh of relief on April 16th. Tax season is finally over. Me & the hub cleaned the house from top to bottom. I started cleaning out my studio and already have a bunch of supplies that I want to get rid of. I also started cleaning the second batch of the fleece. I carded the first batch and it is so pretty. I’m torn between dying it first and then spinning it or spinning it then dying it. I’m not sure what color(s) yet either. I’m leaning toward spinning it first so I’ll know how much yardage I have, then picking a project to make (hopefully a sweater) and then dying it. That’s a long way off though, I’m on batch #2 and the bag is still overflowing.

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I’ve had great mail all week. Monday, I got the Intentions Yarns in Courage from The Loopy Ewe. Yesterday, I finally got my package from Jlist (things take forever to get here from Japan) which was full of Bento goodness.

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I’ve been meaning to post the flowers in bloom around my house.

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I’ll leave you with a photo of a very happy Raisin.