[knitting] Totally Biased

My handmade Christmas gift for my sister:

Patten: Totally Biased (rav link)

I love my sequined Tiara-lly Biased so much, I wanted to make another. 

Yarn: DyakCraft (formerly Grafton Fibers) batts:

Handspun yarn:

I really like this mix of colors- brick red, autumn orange, teal. 

Here's my sister modeling the cowl:

And doubled-up:

Good pattern for handspun yarn. I think I'll need to made another. For me.

[misc] Murderface Monday

Murderface warming his toes in the weekend sun:

Penny is tired from her nap. Probably needs another nap.

Santana is smiling.

[crochet] Rising Sun Doily

A Christmas gift that I didn't finish on time but will given next year:

Pattern: Doily Number 7274. Not sure when it was renamed but it's called "Rising Sun Doily #7274" on Ravelry. Pattern is originally from 1944!

Yarn: Aunt Lydia's Fashion Crochet (Size 3), 1.5 balls

Ended up quite large because of the heavier crochet cotton that I used.

Too big for the round nightstand that I currently have it on.

[cross-stitching] Li'l Loki

Made this for a swap partner on Ravelry:

She likes Loki from the Thor series, so I Googled a bit for a small cross-stitch project. I had the cloth, thread and frame already, so this was a no-cost project. Apart from the pattern, which I think was only $1.99.

Was easy and fun to make but the gold thread was terrible to work with. Terrible. The payoff is that it is quite glittery and reflective in direct sunlight. It was worth it.

Working on a cross-stitched biscornu at the moment but not really feeling any love for it. I'd rather make a little rug for my iPhone. I hate the rattling/buzzing noise when I have it on a desk or coffee table and I get a text message. I want to make a soft coaster for the phone to rest on to muffle the noise.

[music] Trans-Siberian Orchestra

The weekend before Christmas, Dollar's father took us to see a show in Boston. I heard about the Trans-Siberian Orchestra only a couple years ago and missed getting tickets in time to see them this year. When Dollar's dad called us to say that he had tickets, I was like, "No. Way."

It was the best live music show I've ever seen. Every singer and every musician was amazing. The light show and projected images were precision perfect. This is the type of show that will blow your mind- and it's good for any age. The TD Garden in Boston was packed but every single person was captivated for the entire 2.5 hour show.

Some pictures from the colorful show:

Oh yeah, there was fire, too.

A platform at the other end of the arena that raised up:

Pyrotechnics and arms that swung the musician out over the crowd:

It was awesome. Highly, highly recommend. Borderline insist. It was a great, entertaining show.

[misc] Murderface Monday

Back to work, back to work. Weather is currently rainy, slushy, icy, crashy. I subscribe to the VT State Police blog and it's just report after report of crashes. High temperature today is going to be 45. Low this past weekend was -25. High tomorrow is going to be 10. What's up with that? My car slid sideways down my ice luge driveway this morning bit I was able crawl to work safely.

Had to get a new car battery installed this weekend. It's been so cold that my car was almost not turning over. I don't believe the battery had ever been replaced, so it was definitely time. Also got a (drastic) haircut. Had a nice dinner out.

Now I can start daydreaming about my next vacation.

[misc] Post-holiday fugue state

I hope everyone had a Happy Christmas and Merry New Year. I'm only just coming out of my vacation  stupor and still trying to figure out what day it is. My stay-cataion at home was awesome. It's all kind of a blur now but totally relaxing.

The last of the Christmas pictures:

I think we put the tree up the first weekend in December and by the time we had family over on Christmas eve, so many needles were falling off. Two days after Christmas I decided to take it down- taking off all the ornaments and lights left half of the needles on the floor. This was my first year getting balsam fir and while it made the house smell really nice the first few days, I think I'll go back to Frasier firs- they just hold their needles on better. 

My days mainly consisted of getting up whenever Santana decides she can't wait any longer for breakfast and begins howling in earnest. Then I'd do crafty stuff. Then give the cats some catnip and arrange cage-fighting matches between them. Bakes some bread. Watched a ton of movies. 

The cats were happy to have us home so much (if only for all the extra snacks and treats they were given throughout the days). Here's Dollar with two on him:

Now that I'm done with all my frantic holiday gift-making, it's nice to work on whatever I feel like. I just need to figure out what it is that I feel like making...

[cross-stitching] Baby Blanket

Stitched a baby blanket for Dollar's nephew, whose name we drew for Secret Santa.

Quick and easy. Used an alphabet from the book 2001 Cross-Stitch Designs and some tonal thread. I added some small yellow diamonds across the rest of the blanket, so it wasn't completely bare. 

[misc] Penny Wednesday

If I leave a papertowel or any kind of paper out, Penny finds it and shreds it. With all the Christmas wrapping I've been doing, I've tossed some heavy tissue paper to the floor for her enjoyment-

Penny, you don't look very excited. Maybe if we try to wrap you up in it:

Well that didn't work. 

Murderface came over to inspect the paper and a wrestling match ensued. Here's how 99% of the wrestling matches between MF and Penny end:

MF is a pacifist.

Looks like Penny gets to keep all the paper. Her crazy-face keeps everyone else away:

[crochet] Snowflake Ornaments

Finished all the snowflake ornaments:

SO. CUTE. Used leftover commercial angora for most- so soft and fuzzy. Also made a couple with handspun angora.

[misc] Murderface Monday

Um... where are the rest of my gifts?

[misc] Santana Friday

Finally, a decent amount a snow is forecast for the weekend. Good. 

Santana, what do you think?

Meh. If it's not going to snow food, she doesn't care.

[knitting] Aran Cap #2

A finished gift:

The pattern is from an out-of-print leaflet by Candide Yarn. I made an identical hat 2 years ago for Dollar's father. It's a smidge too short, so I made this one a bit longer.

Christmas presents are starting to arrive in the mail. I'll start wrapping things and putting them under the tree (for the cats to rip apart in the middle of the night). 

"Who? Me? Rip apart presents? I promise I won't this year..."

[crochet] Snowflake Ornaments

Working on ornaments to give as gifts this year:

The pattern is Snowflake Ring Ornaments. Last year I made wreath ornaments by the same designer. She has many other similar Christmas themed ornaments on Ravelry- I'm already planning to do stars for next year!

Oh wait, I have to finish a bunch more snowflakes for this year. Good thing they are SO easy. I made one in 15 minutes and showed Dollar. He said, "Wow, looks intricate." But it's not- it's only three rounds to do and the first two are just single crochets. 

Using up some white DK and light-worsted weight scraps from my stash. I've made a couple angora snowflakes that should only get softer and prettier over time.

[misc] Oh Christmas Tree

Got a Christmas tree at one of Nichol's lots (at I-89 Exit 18). It's an 8 foot tall Balsam Fir. I usually get a Frasier Fir because the branches are so much stronger and the needles stay on better, but the balsam smells so much more Christmas-y. 

Murderface is already waiting for presents under the tree.

[misc] Murderface Friday

Brought Murderface to the vet. Santana scratched/punched him in the eye. He was squinty in his left over after and hid under the bed. The visit to the vet was fine- she put dye in his eye and used a black light to see if his cornea was scratched. It wasn't, so he didn't need any ointment or medicine. 

[knitting] Plain Socks

I rarely knit socks but I started a plain ribbed pair, for something portable and mindless to work on:

I've spent much time recently in the auto mechanic's waiting in room, waiting for scheduled maintenance and winter tires. 

The yarn is dyed by me, during a class at one of the early Green Mountain Fiber Festivals:

Of course, I can't work on these "filler" socks now since I'm busy CRAFTING ALL THE THINGS for Christmas. Last night I finished knitting a gift hat and immediately started cross-stitching a project... But after one letter, I moved on to a knew knitting gift... But I need to make sure to embroider a new handkerchief for Dollar... And crochet a doily... And make some Christmas cards... 

Then I just go hide in bed and play iPad games and cuddle with the cats.

[knitting] Dabbling in Double

After taking the "Dabble in Double" class by Lucy Neatby, I was highly motivated to finally start tackling some double-knit potholders. I started with this elephant one:

I cast-on in brown and worked a couple rounds in brown before introducing the green contrast color. 

The opposite side:

A bit of the circle border design is lost on this side because I was working brown on both sides. In the future, I'd like to do a tubular cast-on for two colors (I think there is such a thing) and immediately start working the two colors on either side.

Next, because I've had this idea and wanted to do it for a while, I charted out a USACE castle logo and double-knit that:

I like it but need to revise the chart a bit. Also, I'm not so sure why my stitches are so zig-zaggy. That didn't happen with my elephant potholder and I wrapped all the stitches the same way. Huh. Hm. 

The inverse side:

I like making these potholders- they are small and quick projects. Once I feel more comfortable, I'll move on to larger double-knit projects.

[misc] Murderface Monday

Had a good weekend- apart from crazy weather. Saturday evening we had to go out to a family dinner but left right in the middle of a squall. Visibility on our hill was zero and I don't have winter tires on yet, so I was sliding. I said, "Nope." We turned around to come home and decided to wait about an hour. We were able to make the dinner but it was slow getting there and back home. 

Sunday I braved the wind and cold to go to the Green Mountain Fiber Festival in Wilder, VT. I saw some friends and picked up some new yarn and spinning fiber. And buttons! For future biscornus. 

Hurray for a short work-week! I just hope the impending snow-storm-of-doom, sure-to-ruin-any-holiday-plans-that-you-might-have, hope-you-enjoy-ramen-on-Thanksgiving, isn't going to making driving terrible. 

[misc] Santana Friday

Used a cartoon filter on a recent picture of Santana:

Looking forward to this weekend! Will be stopping by the Green Mountain Fiber Festival tomorrow in Wilder, VT! 

[knitting] White Tree of Gondor

One of the challenges this month is to make something based on a nerdery other than your own team's (I'm Team Iron Throne). I'm still slowly-but-surely working on afghan squares for a aran blanket, so I chose this block to make:

It's from the Great American Aran Afghan booklet but looks like the White Tree of Gondor from the Lord of the Rings.

I saw the chart for this block and through, "Oh man, here we go." But it was a quick and fun pattern to work on- the landscape and tree and side cables progressed logically. Based on someone else's recommendation, I printed out the chart and color-coded all of the different cables, which helped immensely.

[misc] Murderface Monday

Old picture of Murderface:

He doesn't sleep belly-up in total abandon anymore :'(  Now he has to worry about Penny dive-bombing him in his sleep.

Had my Lucy Neatby class this past Saturday. It was a double-knitting class called Dabble in Double. The class was three hours long- I got there, sat down, blinked and class was over. The time went by so fast. I didn't have too much trouble with the techniques and it's something that I could teach myself, but you learn extra tidbits that only experience and time will reveal- like purling the far side stitches in a clockwise (rather than anti-clockwise) manner. My purl stitched can be loosey goosey at times and this trick helps to sort that out. I've started a double-knit potholder to practice, practice, practice.

[knitting] Pup Tent 3

3rd time making the Pup Tent pattern:

Modifications: Cast on for a k4p4 brim, long enough to fold over. For the main portion of the hat, I converted the twisted Left and Right stitches to purl the stitch being passed behind. The original pattern has you knit both stitches, I believe just to keep things easy, but on the following round you purl the stitch that was passed behind. So I just did it when the small 2-stitch cables came up. This makes the design pop more. I like it.

I used practically all of one ball of Berroco Weekend. Nice, smooth yarn- perfect for the hat and stitches used- the only negative aspect is that it's made up of a lot of plies that were easily speared by my needles.

The plan was to add a big, foofy pompom to the top. I know I bought two balls. I mean, I'm pretty sure I did. I'm, like, 99.99999% sure. But after looking through the usual stash spots, dumping out bags of yarn, rummaging through tubs and essentially tearing apart the craft room, I couldn't find the other ball. I decided to stop looking and simply make the pompom when the other ball magically appears (I didn't give it away did I? Did I use it for something else?). 

I'm sick. I've been sick since Carnage this past weekend. I only had a day or two of headaches and chills, now it's just cough-cough-cough. I've mostly lost my voice. And I'm taking a knitting class tomorrow that my local yarn shop organized. Lucy Neatby and Sally Melville are coming for the weekend and I'm taking a double-knitting class with Lucy Neatby! I'm so excited for it but kind of bummed that I sound like a raspy boy going through puberty. Oh well :(