Hot Pics of Bad Penny!
I am back from a 2-week stint as a babysitter on vacation, and I am tan and rested and happy. My job was very cool and very easy, so I had lots of time in the afternoons and evenings to do nothing but knit. Hence, I finished Bad Penny-- woo-hoo! While I was doing it, it seemed like it would be too big on me, but somehow, magically it fit, and not only that-- I look hot in it!!!!
Now granted, I realize that the shirt was not supposed to come out to be off the shoulder (see the designer's version:
http://knitty.com/ISSUEspring04/PATTbadpenny.html), and I'm really not sure why it did come out off the shoulder, but nevertheless, it looks hot, and that's all that really matters, right?
Another view:
Yeah, the more I look at it, the more it looks like my Bad Penny came out pretty different from the designer's (like for example, the eyelet lace part at the very bottom is not as visible for some reason), but it would be interesting to check out other people's versions cause I'm sure everybody's comes out different. Maybe I just need a Bad Penny therapy session.
Moment of Zen:
Platonic Friend Scarf
This is the scarf I'm calling "Platonic Friend Scarf." It's for Trent, one of my favorite guy friends. Here's the Un-Pattern for the Platonic Friend Scarf:
Yarn:Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece (80% Pima Cotton; 20% Merino, 100 gms / 215 yds)
-2 skeins Grey Dawn (MC)
-1 skein Columbine Blossom (CC)
Needles:Size 10 needles or whatever needle give you the correct gauge
Speaking of gauge:16 sts = 4 inches in garter stitch (knit every row)
Note: Gauge is not THAT important because it's a scarf...
but if your scarf is much wider than mine, you might run out of yarn before the scarf is long enough to wrap around your platonic friend's neck!
Platonic Color Pattern:*Knit 4 rows with MC, Knit 2 rows with CC.* Repeat between **.
Let's get it started:Cast on 45 stitches with MC.
Begin knitting the Platonic Color Pattern in garter stitch.
Work even until you have only enough yarn left to knit 4 rows and bind off.
Knit 4 rows with MC in garter stitch.
Bind off.
Hooray!Wrap the scarf nicely, and give it to your platonic friend with this card:
DIY Day
Click the pics to make them bigger, if you'd like.Yesterday was super DIY day for me. I embellished some knitting needles with fimo in the morning:
I am going to sell those creations on
Etsy soon. I'm still figuring out the packaging.
Then later in the day, I made some stitch markers out of sterling silver wire and glass beads:
Then I dyed yarn with Kiki and Steve. My Secret Pal sent me the undyed yarn and some Kool-aid! There's a sneak preview at the beginning of this post, and here's some more:
Speaking of my Secret Pal, look what she sent in her latest package:
Oh, and look what Mother Nature sent in
her latest package:
Boy Meets World Swap
As I've mentioned pretty much all week, I participated in the
Boy Meets World Swap on Craftster. For my swap pal, I made the pins, magnets, and needle threaders from yesterday's post. I also knit a bit for her.
To get the pictures onto the knitted items, I used Print On Cotton. I bought it at Michael's, and it also comes in silk. It's a fabric sheet that is the size of a peice of printer paper, and you can slip it into the printer feed and print directly to the fabric. It has a backing to keep it sturdy, which peels off. Then you can sew, glue or embroider the peice of fabric to whatever you want (purse, t-shirt, Fluffy, etcetera). I got the idea from the
Luscious Gracious clan. Has everyone seen their
newest design by the way? I am so famous.
Back to the topic: The method I used is called "split stitch" in embroidery. There is a picture and tutorial
here at the Sublime Stitching site. I used embroidery floss.
The bag above is called the Teen Hearthrob Purse. It is very easy to make. I'll write out an un-pattern for it later this week. The yarn is all bulky cotton, doubled up, and knit on size 6 needles. Since the stitches are so tight on such small needles, I did not need to line it. The white yarn is GGH Samoa and the Black and Purple yarn came from
Fiber Factory. I don't remember which yarns they were. I actually ripped the yarns from
one of my first projects ever.
This bag is a pattern from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I used Noro Lily for this bag. Instead of using the instructions for the ties from the pattern, I used the instructions from the back of the same book.
I made a crochet chain for the drawstring part, and then for the fringe holder I used a stitch that I used to call "Chinese Staircase." I used to make a lot of Lanyard bracelets when I was in camp and Chinese Staircase is the one that has a few strands in the middle, and then knots on the outside. It comes out looking like a winding staircase.
Who can resist Eric Matthews in a tuxedo and Mr. Matthews in his underwear? Not me, that's for sure. Hubba Hubba.
Things That Make You Go Hmmm...
Great use of color, unsettling use of 80's fashion.
This book was not published in 1985, though. It's going to be available in a bookstore near you November 2005.
Marbles Tutorial
Well, I was going to make an elaborate tutorial about creating photo needle threaders:
and marble photo pins/tie tacks:
but I realized mine PALES in comparison to
Not Martha's tutorial. So go look at her gorgeous tutorial, and then look at these pictures to see how I made the marbles into pins and needle threaders. My pictures are not as clear as hers, but the marbles look about the same as hers in real life. The pictures are Eric Matthews and Mr. Feeny from Boy Meets World; the gifts were for the Craftster Boy Meets World Swap.
I bought all the supplies at Michael's:
Supplies (as shown in picture above):
a) Aleen's Tacky Glue
b) Aleen's Platinum Bond Glass and Bead Glue
c) Plastic flat colorful needle threaders (from sewing aisle)
d) Cut out pictures of Mr. Feeny that are the same size as the marbles (see g)
e) Flat faced pin backs
f) Magnets (I didn't add pictures of the marble magnet creation because Not Martha already did it)
g) Flat marbles from the floral aisle- usually used to put in vases and make fake flowers look pretty
**Note: I used the Aleen's tacky glue to adhere the photo to the marble. The photos did not show through as clearly as I would have liked, unfortunately. In the future, I would probably use the Silicon Sealer glue that Not Martha used to make the pictures show through better. The photos actually show through a lot better than these digital pictures would lead you to believe, though.
So there it is. It's just some basic gluing. Anyone can have their very own teen idol needle threader. I'll post some pics of the knitted swap projects a little later.
One-Skein Wonder 2: Wonderize This! (a sequel)
Behold! Actual knitting content! I started this second one-skein wonder last night as a quick fun stashbuster. The yarn is Schoeller Stahl Big Stripe (beautiful and hard to find) and the pattern is
Glampyre's. Right now, though, it's a one-SLEEVE wonder.
I don't get addicted to patterns, usually. I generally only make a pattern once because how many of the same thing do I need? I certainly can never understand how people can make Clapo-threes and Clapo-fours and Clapo-sixty-twos. I really like this pattern though. I think I'll finish tonight.
John from the Point
Yes, THE John from
the Point. John is an awesome knitter, designer, spinner, and friend. He is one fourth of the group of New York knitters I didn't want to leave. The other three-fourths are obviously
Hila,
Kelly, and
Lindsey**, in no particular order.
This picture was taken at The Point a few weeks ago in the second most dangerous corner in the city of New York. The first most dangerous corner is the Noro corner on the other side.
I have been knitting for a crazy "Boy Meets World Swap" that I am doing on
craftster. I sent everything out today, and once the package arrives to it's recipient, I'll post pics and maybe a cute tutorial.
**Lindsey does not actually knit. She crochets and I will not make fun of her for it.
Adventures in Canada
Why hello there. Long time no post. This is my one-armed Dynamic Duo sweater waving hello. Oh my do I have lots of stuff to tell. I have knitting gossip about myself. I have been all around town with my knitting, literally. If anybody recalls, I had Bad Penny and Dynamic Duo just started before I left for Montreal for a patriotic July 4th weekend in Canada. Well my friends, Dynamic Duo is officially DONE!
And now for a closeup:
Now here's the issue I had with seaming. I felt like I was making it all up as I went along. So one side has sort of messed up seaming, which probably would only be noticed by a real knitter, ie. you, and the other side had better seaming when I realized that indeed it was possible to make an invisible seam if I tried hard enough to find the little ladder bars. Here is the "good" seam (though a little crooked in one spot):
And here is the bad seam:
It's hard to really see the difference in the pics, but it's there. The bad seam is more visible than the good seam. Anyway.
Also for your viewing pleasure is Bad Penny, which is coming along smashingly:
I must say I do like knitting in the round much better than knitting freakish seams.
But here is the crazy story of knitting Bad Penny in Montreal. As you can see, you need two stitch holders for this project and I only had one with me when I went on the trip. (And by the way, it is very slippery transferring stitches from addies to a stitch holder and that was by far the most difficult part, so far). So I looked up knitting stores in Montreal and found Knitwits. My parents and I located the store which turned out to be in a very "drekky" mall (I don't even know what language that is, it might be Yiddish or something, and I don't know what it means, but the implication is "crappy.") First of all, it was impossible to find the store within the mall and we almost gave up when someone directed us to the mysterious "third floor," which we didn't even know existed. It was a floor with just random offices and when we finally found Knitwits, it was closed.
So we made the treck to the drek again on July 4th, and it was open. We also made a point of calling the store in advance and asking if they had stitch holders which they said they did. The store was the worst knitting store I had ever seen. It wasn't even really a store, just a carpeted room with one desk and a wall of a few shelves of yarn. The yarn was mostly novelty yarn. I met the woman there and asked for the stitch holder. She came out with a small basket of notions which was the crappiest collection of notions ever, and after sifting through the five items that were in the basket she sadly reported that she actually didn't have any stitch holders. I asked if they might sell stitch holders at Walmart and she said yes. Then I felt bad about not buying anything so I asked how much are the point protectors. She said two dollars, but that I might as well buy them at Walmart too, if I'm already going there. How crazy is that! I was going to buy them out of pity and she actually turned me down!!!! My mom said they don't called that store "Knitwits" for nothing.
So I did find my second stitch holder in Walmart and I sat there on a chair that was part of a patio furniture set (I wish I had a picture-- it was the ultimate knitting in public) and transferred the stitches. And before that, when I was paying for the stitch holder, I fairly cute looking man on line said to me: "I've never seen anyone knitting in Walmart before." That was classic.
And finally, your moment of Zen, this one is just for Illanna's sake:
Dear Mystery Stole,
I started you with haste on size 8s.
Now you are a waste of space in my suitcase.
How could red lace cause me so much angst?
Mystery Stole, I think I hate you.
An E-mail from Hila:
Illanna, guess what! I have become a knitting fiend and I finished the sleeves of Bad Penny and placed the stitches of the sleeves onto the stitch holder (well, one of them... the other one I had to use my size 4 circulars instead of a stitch holder, which was very creative of me and I was quite impressed with myself until I realized I needed the size 4's to do the bottom of the shirt. So now..... I'm going to Knitwits in Montreal tomorrow to buy another stitch holder!!!!!!!)
But my main point is that I have gotten very far and done many things for the first time, so I am a knitting slut. You can quote me on that in the blog, as I don't have time really to post.
I am soooooo happy and excited about the sleeves. I measured the diagonal where the yarn overs are and it measured about 5.5 inches, and then I measured from my shoulder to armpit and it was just about the same! Yay! It looks like it will be fitted.
So now I'm just knitting in the round for 9.5 inches which will take quite a while I'm sure, but I am so so so so into this project. I stayed up till 2am my first night in Montreal and I kept doing more than I planned. Putting the stitches on the holder turned out to be very difficult because the addies are so slippery it was hard to catch each stitch, but the more I practice the more I'll be able to do it.
Love you and miss you!!!!!!! Wish you were here with me at Knitwits tomorrow!
Hilalala
Wow! Go Hila!
