Crafting Chaos

Chicken legs

I’ve decided that Grant’s turkey hat is really a chicken. This project has been a bitch to knit. What a pain. But it’s so funny I stuck with it. Here’s the legs:

I did I-cord for the claws.

Sieben and I went on a walk the other day. He loves the snow. Here’s him looking super cute:

3 comments December 31st, 2009

Beyond The Fringe 2009

There’s going to be a Beyond The Fringe 2010! The page “Beyond The Fringe” will be for the event in general and will link to this post and one for the 2010 show.

Beyond The Fringe
A fine fiber art exhibition

Venue
The Stables Gallery
133 Paseo del Pueblo Norte
Taos, NM 87571
(575)758-2052

April 3, 2009 through April 7, 2009

Opening Reception
April 3, 2009, 5-7 pm

Concept
Invited artists have been asked to create pieces for the exhibit “Beyond the Fringe”. Work submitted is to be fine fiber artwork that is non-functional, non-wearable, weaving, felt, knit, crochet, cloth, embroidery,and quilt in a two or three dimensional form.

Contact curator Merce Mitchell at mercemitchellathotmaildotcom for more information.

Artists
Violette Alby
Noel Anderson
Pat Dozier
Connie Fernandez
Lizzie Gulick
Kimberly Hamill
Carolyn Hinske
Mary K. Lyon
Merce Mitchell
Nina Silfverberg, progress pictures here
Twilight
Faith Welsh, progress pictures here and here
Abigail Z

Art from the show is here and opening reception pics are here.

Progress pics can be found under the Beyond The Fringe category.

Add comment December 28th, 2009

Knit cat

My friend Sera’s daughter’s birthday is in January. I knit her up another toy. I made her an owl and hat a couple years ago.

This is the cat from the World of Knitted Toys book. I used leftover Brooks Farm Acero yarn from Thebes’ kilt hose.

Her daughter currently loves cats but Sera is allergic. So I knit a kitty for her.

I ignored gauge and just found a yarn and corresponding needles to make the pattern. I embroidered the facial details. The whiskers were my idea and they’re my favorite bit.

I think it’s so cute! I gave it to Sera and she likes it too.

Pattern: Cat
Source: World of Knitted Toys
Yarn: Acero from Brooks Farm, 420 yards, wool/silk/viscose mix, not even half a skein
Needles: 2.5 mm
Size: NA
Modifications: embroidered facial details and whiskers
Started: December 2009
Finished: December 2009

Add comment December 23rd, 2009

Abbey legwarmers

Abbey asked what I’d like for my holiday present. I’ve been wanting to wear more skirts in the winter and needed some legwarmers to keep me toasty. She made me a great pair.

Sieben and I went for a walk in the snow and I wore the legwarmers over my jeans.

They’re a wool/mohair blend and kept me nice and warm.

Abbey made up the pattern for me. I’m encouraging her to write it up officially.

They’ll definitely get a lot of use this winter!

After our gift exchange we went to see the Twilight: New Moon movie. OMG it was so fucking funny! I loved it-just not in the way it was intended. The cheesiness, the bad acting, the plot holes, the immortal vampires wanting to conform to Judeo-Christian morals even though they would theoretically live past any religious social trends-it was all so funny. There were points in the movie where I was crying from laughing to hard.

I was laughing so much during the movie the guy in front of us moved away. Later I heard him grumble that I was “worse than the teenagers”. During the climatic ending Abbey actually put her hand over my mouth because I was so out of control. Here’s me afterwards:

If you want to see a hilarious unintentional comedy go see New Moon. It’s craptastic!

Add comment December 15th, 2009

Abbey’s present

Abbey and I had a girls’ day last weekend and exchanged holiday presents. Here’s what I gave her.

These two skeins are 226 yards total and are a wool/silk blend.

I bought 4 ounces of handpainted roving from Fiber Fanatic Roving at this year’s Wool Fest. I plied it with some silk yarn Abbey gave me for my birthday.

Here’s the roving:

And here’s some of the yarn on my wheel:

Last year I spun her almost 400 yards. Somehow I thought I had 16 oz of this roving. But double checking the tag I only bought 4.

I found a wool scarf at the local free pile that I frogged for the yarn. It was single ply and had a nice orange/pink/yellow variegation to it. I plied it up with the silk yarn to make two more skeins.

These two skeins are 200 yards total and are also a wool/silk blend.

She liked the yarn! Next up is her present and our adventure at the movie theater.

Add comment December 14th, 2009

Second Che purse complete

The second Che purse has been done for awhile. The woman that commissioned the piece totally flaked out on me. At first she returned my phone calls but kept having excuses on why she couldn’t pay. Now she won’t answer when I call and won’t return my calls. Argh! Next time I’ll get a deposit.

I’ve had an Etsy account for awhile but only used it to buy stuff. But why not sell the occasional item? I listed the Che purse for sale. If you’re interested you can check out the for sale page here.

It’s so fun knitting a picture. I really enjoy watching it form.

Revolution!

I love having pockets in purses and make four for this one. One’s sized for a pen.

For the strap I put did a stitch in garter on each end to prevent curling.

Pattern: Poster Boy Bag
Source: Stitch ‘N Bitch: The Knitter’s Handbook
Yarn: Halcyon Highland-Washed Skeins
Needles: 4.5 mm
Size: custom
Modifications: knit in the round
Started: July 2009
Finished: September 2009

Add comment December 7th, 2009

Handspun scarf revisited

Remember my handspun scarf?

I pulled it out for this winter and found it had stretched down to my ankles. Now I like long scarves but ankle length is too long. After some hesitation I decided to alter it.

I was a tad nervous-this was my first handspun scarf after all. But I needed a hat to wear with my coat. The coat’s hood is nice but it’s big. When the NM winter wind blew hard last winter my ears hurt. I needed a snug fitting hat to wear under my hood.

I cut off a section of the scarf and frogged it. Then I bound off the now shorter scarf and reattached the fringe. For the hood I picked up fifty stiches centered on one edge. Keeping with the twisted rib pattern I knit until it seemed long enough. I knit two stitches in garter stitch on each end to prevent the edges from rolling.

For the bind off I split the stitches onto two needles and seamed it using kitchner stitch. I added the tassle to up the cute factor. It’s snug and keeps my ears warm. I’m very happy with it!

Though shorter the scarf is still long enough to wrap around twice for those cold winter days.

These pics were taken at our friends M&C’s house. Thebes and I visited them last week. We brought Sieben because he’s friends with their dog Star.

He had a fantastic time!

4 comments December 3rd, 2009