Experiments!

This post is long overdue, and has been sitting in my drafts for about two weeks now.  What was supposed to be a post-holiday break for relaxation and me-knitting...well, it kinda got away from me.  First of all, Arya has gone from just learning to crawl to trying to walk in about a week and a half -- and is like a hurricane blowing through my living room.  Then, all of us got sick, which was no fun.  Plus, my computer decided to up and die on me, so I'm stuck updating from my iPad (hence the lack of formatting...apologies).  Anyways, there hasn't been a whole lot of time for knitting, but I've been doing what I can.

Still, I did manage to get another Zig-Zag Scarf off the needles, and I absolutely love the colors of this one.  A fiery mix of purple, red and orange, I have kept with my impromptu scheme and dubbed this one "Thor on Fire".  It made me giggle.  I wanted something that didn't require a lot of thinking or pattern reading, and this is a super easy go-to for me.  

I want to make all the things in this yarn

I've been putting in a few rows here and there on a few experiments, as well.  I say experiments because, well, I really have nothing but a vague idea going in that I play around with until it turns into something I'm satisfied with.  This one is a cotton scarf done in fan and feather, on a diagonal.  Because apparently I feel I should be doing more math with my knitting.  (A twelve stitch pattern, over four rows, two increases per repeat...carry the one...divide by zero...)

Love the colors of this yarn -- called "Hydrangea"

I'm also working on a cardigan for myself, but the pattern itself is in French, so it's slow going since I need to translate the terms used as I go.  So far it's turning out great, though!  

On the plus side, I've got a ton of new designs and patterns sketched out, so as long as I can keep up a steady stream of new yarn into my stash (is that ever REALLY a problem?) I'll have a bunch of new stuff to share with you all soon!

Christmas(-ish) Shawl!

Every year, I get myself an Advent calendar.  It's a tradition I've hung onto since I was a kid.  I don't always eat the chocolate each day -- sometimes I'll leave it for a few days, then eat five or six or twelve at a time to catch up.  One year, I got the calendar on Christmas Eve, so I just ate the whole thing at once...but I digress.

Anyways, I decided to get myself a different kind of Advent calendar this year (in addition to the chocolate Avengers one I already got).  It's a knit-along Advent KALendar.  Basically, each day leading up to Christmas, they release another little chunk of the pattern, so that by Christmas, you have a finished project.  I thought this was a super cute idea.

Day 1

You don't get to see the finished design until the end, so there's a bit of trust involved when getting into one of these.  Anna Dalvi, who designed the shawl, has some very lovely designs, so it was a leap of faith I was more than willing willing to take.  Plus, the inspiration for the designs comes from two of the Slavic goddesses, and I'm a sucker for mythology.

With all of the other projects I've had on the go, plus all the regular Christmas preparations like shopping and wrapping, plus the baby...well, I knew that I wouldn't be able to keep up with the pattern releases and be finished by Christmas, and it takes considerably longer to knit up even a few rows than to eat a dozen or so little chocolates.  Still, starting late is better than not starting at all.

Day 2

I've managed to avoid the Ravelry forums for the KALendar so far, since I don't want to ruin the surprise for myself as everyone shows off their work, but from what I've managed to get finished, it's going to look fantastic.  There's little picots along the edge, which is a new skill for me, and I'm working it in red and black, to go with most of my fancier outfits.  I'm also thinking of adding some beadwork to it when I'm done, but I'll figure that part out later.

Day 3

Wishing you all the best for whatever holidays you're celebrating this time of year, and I hope you have had a chance to relax and enjoy yourselves!

Tapestry of Nerd-dom!

Alright, so this here is one of my long-term projects that I've got going on, so I'll be posting progress updates from time to time.  The original idea (as well as a few of the patterns) came from Lattes and Llamas, another great blog run by folks who are after my own geeky heart.  They're hosting a geek-a-long (a knit-a-long, but for geeks) in which each week they release a pattern for a particular square, and at the end of the year, you stitch the squares together to form a blanket.  This is their second year running it, and I give them serious kudos for the creativity of some of their designs.

Arthur keeps a close eye on my projects.

Going through their list of patterns made my inner nerd squeal with delight, but -- as unfortunately happens to all nerds at some point -- I found some of my favorite fandoms hadn't made the list.  Mind you, there were some that I had never even heard of before, but that's what happens in the geek world...everyone's got their own thing, and that's okay.  Well, what do we do when we can't find the pattern we're looking for?  We make it up, of course!

So, I've decided that this is going to be my big project for the year.  Not just for me, but about me.  It's going to be a showcase of the things I'm passionate about -- I'm nerdy and proud of it!  Of course, as soon as I told my husband about it, he immediately started listing squares that he wants included (*go learn to knit your own darn squares!*).  I'm already working on his Christmas gift though, so he'll just have to be happy with that.  But that's a story for another post.

Got a designated blanket stash.

Anyhow, I started it -- as I often do -- without really having a clear idea of the finished work, and formulated my plan as I went.  Here's what I decided:
1) Given the epicness of this work, plus the fact that we have four cats who leave everything they come into contact with covered in fur, I'm actually going to hang this blanket on the wall over our bed, like a tapestry.  Hence the name.
2) Each square is going to be made with not just the particular fandom (which can sometimes be a little broad) but a specific character or person in mind.  That way, it becomes sort of an homage to some of my heroes and, let's face it...some of my favorite sci-fi hotties.
3) As I work on each piece, I'm refusing to tell my inquisitive husband what the finished image will be, and seeing how long it takes for him to guess.  This is purely for my own evil amusement, as not knowing the answer makes him twitchy.

The designs of the squares are made for double-sided knitting (which makes them reversible), which despite how intimidating it sounds at first, is really not all that difficult.  Lattes and Llamas made a great how-to video here that I used to figure out just what I was doing.  The same patterns, however, can also be used if you wanted to simply knit a single-sided piece in multiple colors, crochet, or even cross-stitch.  Whenever I use a pattern that rightfully belongs to someone else, I will post the link back to their site.  Any of the patterns I create myself will be included in my post.