Crafting Chaos

Light at the end of the sweater tunnel

I’m so close to being done with Thebes’ sweater. Here it is blocking:

I started this sweater back in September! After it’s dry I’ll put in the zipper and it will be done. We got some more snow here so Thebes will be able to wear it some before spring.

Sieben and I took a walk the other day. He was so excited about the snow it was hard to get a non blurry picture of him. Here he is running by me:

Add comment February 24th, 2010

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

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

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

Dye results

My yarn and socks are rinsed and dried. I’m very happy with the results!

I used Jacquard Acid Dyes in Kelly Green and Chartreuse.

The natural heathering makes the dye job heathered.

I’ll be using these for a fiber art piece. I’m making a Green Man and will be knitting a ton of green leaves.

I’m working on the background now and will post pics soon.

Here’s the original natural gray for comparison:

Awhile back Thebes bought several pairs of kilt hose. One pair ended up being too small so he gave them to me. They’re a wool, angora, nylon mix. But they were white. I’m clutzy and avoid white clothing because I just end up staining it.

I put them into Laura’s purple dye pot.

They turned out pretty cool. One of the fibers must have resisted the dye or reacted to the dye differently.

These socks are toasty warm too.

While doing the photo shoot Sieben came over with his toy bunny. How can I resist such cuteness?

3 comments November 10th, 2009

Samhain socks

As a Pagan I could have celebrated Samhain on the calendar date Oct. 31st, also Halloween. But the full moon was only two days afterwards. Plus the vibe today felt more like Samhain if that makes sense.

Anyway, I finished my green lace socks today so am naming them my Samhain socks. A new pair of socks for the new year. I like it!

This is the Lace And Cables sock pattern from Wendy Johnson’s book Socks From The Toe Up.

These are the best fitting socks I’ve made yet. Side views:

I altered the pattern some. I did short row toes and heels and did a sewn bind off. Wow, does the sewn bind off ever kick some serious ass! Most of the time my sock cuffs are too tight. I have to bind off about three or four times before it’s right. That clearly wasn’t working so I tried the sewn bind off. It’s elastic and stretchy and perfect.

The biggest alteration was putting the lace pattern on the back of the leg.

This is the first time I’ve used Tofutsies yarn. I like it. It’s soft to work with and feels wonderful against the skin. The yarn is somewhat splitty and slippery on needles. I enjoyed this yarn so much I bought another skein of it before these socks were even finished.

Sieben’s fun to model with:

Pattern: Lace And Cables Socks
Source: Socks From The Toe Up
Yarn: South West Trading Company Tofutsies, green
Needles: 2.0 mm
Size: custom
Modifications: several, see above
Started: May 2009
Finished: November 2009

6 comments November 2nd, 2009

Playing in the Rio Grande River

Thebes had a dentist appointment the other day. We took Sieben along and took him down to the river. Here’s Sieben walking down the trail:

We had so much fun!

I’d throw up water and Sieben would catch it in his mouth. So cute.

Lots of flowers are in bloom.

He was so happy on our little adventure.

I took along Tubey for my car knitting:

Add comment July 18th, 2009

Sieben pics

I took this picture of Sieben the other day.

He’s gotten so big. I looked through his puppy pics and found this cute one:

Back then I used to be able to pick him up. We think he’s around 100 pounds now. One thing hasn’t changed-he’s still a cutie.

Add comment May 29th, 2009

Thebes’ first kilt hose

I finished my first pair of kilt hose for Thebes. They fit and he likes them!

Here’s a side view. I didn’t block them because it didn’t seem necessary.

I really like the leg shaping in the back. That’s a clever use of decreases.

Before Thebes put them on they looked too tight. But the ribbing makes them stretch out so they fit fine.

When I knit the first sock the ankle and heel were too tight and Thebes couldn’t get it on. Instead of frogging all my work I altered the pattern. I knit cuff down to the ankle and put the live stitches onto a holder. Then I knit a toe up sock and used kitchener stitch to join the two. It was a bit nerve wracking at first but it worked.

Here’s a pic of the two pieces:

This picture shows the colors best.

This yarn is from Brook’s Farm that I bought at last year’s Wool Fest. Thebes picked out the colorway. The yarn is a wool/silk/viscose mix in a 60/20/20% combination. It was a bit slippery to knit with but after awhile I got used to it.

Sieben watched us do the sock photo shoot.

Pattern: Toirneach Kilt Hose
Source: Knitty
Yarn: Acero from Brooks Farm, 420 yards, wool/silk/viscose mix, 2 skeins
Needles: 3.5 mm
Size: custom size
Modifications: altered construction-see above, also used 3.5 mm sized needles
Started: December 2008
Finished: April 2009

2 comments May 9th, 2009

Tags and snow

I figured out how to sign my art.

These “signature patches” are going on the back of my pieces. While “Twilight ‘09″ seems like the obvious choice I couldn’t resist going with my nickname. Seems more hip.

Thursday night we got an intense spring storm. Friday morning we woke up to this:

Sieben naturally was in doggie heaven. He loves the snow.

Check out this huge icicle:

As I’m typing this blog post it sounds like we’re about to get more snow.

Prana didn’t stay outside for long.

Guess who forgot to turn the wheelbarrow over after using it last time? Oops!

Add comment March 29th, 2009